Legal basis

The legal basis is the EU Directive 2016/2102 of the European Union (EU) on the accessibility of the websites and mobile applications of public sector bodies. The standard for designing accessible websites is the European Standard EN 301 549. This standard refers to the internationally recognized "Web Content Accessibility Guidelines" (WCAG) regarding accessible websites. The WCAG defines the requirements for accessible web design in three conformance levels: A, AA, and AAA. Level A corresponds to basic accessibility, level AA represents a professional standard, and level AAA is for expert-level accessibility. In Germany, it is recommended that web offerings from public institutions comply with level AA conformance. The Lower Saxony Disability Equality Act (NBGG) governs the implementation of digital accessibility in Lower Saxony. This means that accessibility is mandatory for websites in the public sector in Lower Saxony. Websites must comply with these requirements by September 23, 2020, and content for mobile applications must comply by one year later. Specific regulations are outlined in the Lower Saxony Ordinance on the Creation of Barrier-Free Information Technology according to the Lower Saxony Disability Equality Act (Lower Saxony Barrier-Free Information Technology Ordinance - Nds. BITV).

The website of Clausthal University of Technology is designed to be accessible. According to §9b of the NBGG, public bodies must publish a declaration on the accessibility of their websites or mobile applications. This declaration lists the accessible and missing elements in accordance with the WCAG guideline. The accessibility declaration can be found on the TU Clausthal website.