Accessibility statement

Last reviewed date:

This is an accessibility statement for efsa.europa.eu from the European Food Safety Authority, first published on 19 October 2022.

The European accessibility standard for ICT products and services EN 301 549 defines requirements for designers, developers, content managers and customer support to improve accessibility for people with disabilities. EFSA conducted a professional accessibility audit by an external evaluator and will periodically repeat it in the future to ensure the accessibility of EFSA's website.

Some parts of EFSA's website (listed under “Limitations and alternatives”) do not fully conform to accessibility standard EN 301 549 v 3.2.1 and EFSA is working to fix them.

Compatibility

EFSA's website is designed and tested to be compatible with the following assistive technologies:

  • Chrome browser with JAWS screen reader;
  • Safari browser with VoiceOver screen reader;
  • Chrome browser for Android with TalkBack screen reader.

The EFSA website’s conformance with accessibility standard EN 301 549 relies on HTML, CSS, JavaScript and WAI-ARIA to work with the web browser and any assistive technologies or plugins installed on your computer.

Feedback and complaints

If you encounter accessibility barriers on EFSA's website, additional to those listed under “Limitations and alternatives”, or urgently need information which is currently not available in an accessible format, please e-mail accessibility [at] efsa.europa.eu . Be sure to specify the web page or file that has the accessibility issue. We aim to respond to feedback within two business days.

Limitations and alternatives

Below is a list of known accessibility issues that EFSA is actively working to resolve. For some, there are known alternatives that are described together with the issues. For others, we are working to fix them and apologise for any inconvenience.

General

  • Some images' text alternatives are uninformative or missing
  • Embedded YouTube and Twitter plugins and their content do not entirely meet accessibility requirements.
  • Non-HTML documents that can be downloaded from the website do not entirely meet accessibility requirements.
  • Solved: Most status messages are not automatically read out by screen readers. Alternatively, you can navigate to the message to hear it.
  • Solved: Mainly on mobile browsers, the content may not always scale up properly.
  • Solved: Keyboard focus is sometimes automatically moved to the beginning of the page, for example when changing the values of certain filters.
  • Solved: When modal dialogues are open, keyboard and screen reader focus may move under the modal.
  • Solved: Some of the texts in Infographics may be difficult to see
  • Solved: Infographics lack text alternatives
  • Solved: For certain pages, the only way to reach them is through the main navigation
  • Solved: TalkBack screen reader may read some event dates out wrong, reversing the month and day, for example "the first of February" instead or "the second of January". Alternatively, you can open the event and check the "Date" field under the heading.

Links

  • In a few cases, keyboard focus may be missing from a clickable element and disappear occasionally.
  • In a few cases, the link text alone may be uninformative. The meaning can be derived from the context.
  • Some links may include repetitive or unnecessary title texts.
  • In lists of documents or articles, multiple adjacent texts may be linked to the same page.
  • Solved: Links under “Related topic(s)” may not be possible to activate with voice commands. Alternatively, the topics can be found on the Topics page.
  • Solved: Not all links to document files are marked with the respective icons (PDF or other).
  • Solved: Lists of links are not always marked as lists in a machine-readable way.
  • Solved: Social media share buttons do not have text alternatives and are not usable with a keyboard.

Mobile experience

  • Some images in articles may be too small to read on mobile. Alternatively, you can view the article on a device with a larger screen.
  • Solved: The mobile menu is not fully usable with assistive technologies or a keyboard. Alternatively, you can use the search to reach the desired page or use the desktop version of the website.
  • Solved: The selected element in the mobile menu may be difficult to distinguish visually. Alternatively, you can close the menu and navigate to the first heading of the page which usually describes the topic of the page.
  • Solved: On iPhones, the “Scroll to top” button may not correctly move keyboard focus.

Header

  • Search box results cannot be selected with a JAWS screen reader. Alternatively, you can click “Search” and navigate the results displayed on the “Search” page.
  • Solved: The language selector may be uncomfortable to use with a screen reader.
  • Solved: Main menu's submenus may be uncomfortable to use with a mouse.
  • Solved: Entering submenus in the main menu with a keyboard requires a combination of arrow keys and the Tab.
  • Solved: The submenus of the desktop navigation may be impossible to open with certain screen readers. It is possible to navigate to most submenu pages from the pages listed in the main menu. Alternatively, you can find most pages using the search box in the header.
  • Solved: The submenu under "Engage" may be difficult to read. The submenu elements are Careers, Procurement, Grants, Calls for data, Consultations, Observations, Research platform and Stakeholders.
  • Solved: The "Skip to main content" link does not work with a JAWS screen reader.

Cookie consent

  • The cookie consent dialogue is the last element on the page.
  • The cookie consent dialogue’s close button is not usable with assistive technologies or a keyboard. Alternatively, you can declare your privacy consent and the notice will close automatically
  • The text on the cookie consent dialogue doesn’t respond to the browser’s word, letter, line, and paragraph spacing settings.
  • The cookie consent dialogue’s language selector may be uncomfortable to use with assistive technologies or a keyboard.

Filters

  • The selected and focused options in the filter selectors look identical.
  • The calendar in the “Date” filter may not be usable with assistive technologies or a keyboard. Alternatively, you can type dates in YYYY-MM-DD format into the “From” and “To” fields before the calendar.
  • The weekdays and arrows in the “Date” filter calendar may be difficult to see. The week starts with Monday. There are arrows on both sides of the month label: the left arrow decreases, and the right arrow increases the month.
  • Solved: The label and selected option in the "Sort by" selector are not marked as selected in a machine-readable way and may be difficult to use with assistive technology. By default, the results are sorted by “relevance”.
  • Solved: It may be unclear for screen reader users that selected filter tags can be removed by clicking on them. Alternatively, you can click the “Reset all” button in front of the selected filter tags to remove them all.

Autocomplete

  • Solved: The “Autocomplete” button is not correctly labelled and may be difficult to read. Clicking it opens a search field with an autocomplete function.
  • Solved: The “Autocomplete” button may be difficult to use with assistive technologies and a keyboard.

Definitions and abbreviations

  • Solved: Some articles contain defined words (italic and underlined), for which the definitions can be impossible to open. Alternatively, the definitions for the words can be found in the Glossary.
  • Solved: In a few cases, abbreviations are not defined. For example, “asc” means “ascending” and “desc” means “descending”.

Issues that occur on a certain page

  • The filters on the Eurobarometer page may be impossible to use with a JAWS screen reader. The search field cannot be emptied with assistive technologies or a keyboard.
  • The map on the Eurobarometer page is connected to its legend by colour only and may be difficult to read due to low colour contrast.
  • On mobiles, the map on the Eurobarometer page can only be moved by dragging it with a finger or a pointer device. The map cannot be moved with a keyboard. Clicking the “home” button zooms out to show the entire map.
  • Solved: On the Glossary page, the selected letter in the alphabet is not marked as selected in a machine-readable way and may also be difficult to distinguish visually. Alternatively, you can go to the second heading of the page which presents the selected letter.
  • Solved: On the Management Board members page, the selected value of the “Role” filter is not visible when the filter is closed. By default, the value is “All members and alternates”.
  • Solved: On the home page, the banners cannot be changed with assistive technologies or a keyboard. The banners change automatically and there is no way to permanently stop them from changing. The banners may be confusing or uncomfortable to use for screen reader users. Alternatively, the latest news can be found on the Newsroom page, below the filters section.
  • Solved: On the Climate change page, there is video-only content which starts automatically in most browsers. On iPhones, it may be impossible to play the video. The video has text transcriptions which can be opened by clicking on “Transcript”.