WCAG and BITV

In addition to the international Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), Germany has the Barrier-Free Information Technology Ordinance (BITV). The goal of the WCAG and BITV is to create uniformity with regard to accessibility. The WCAG sets the international standard in the European Union for the barrier-free design of Internet offerings. The BITV is the implementation of this standard in Germany.

What are the WCAG requirements?

The WCAG specify the international standard for the accessible design of online offerings in the EU.

The W3C guidelines are not official legal regulations. However, they serve as the basis for many laws.

There are now several versions of the WCAG.

  • WCAG 1.0 (1999) - This focuses on HTML and CSS as the most important standards of the Internet.

  • WCAG 2.0 (2008) - This deals with layouts and interactions and their design.

  • WCAG 2.1 (2018) - This deals with contrast requirements and informative graphical elements, among other things.

  • WCAG 2.2 (expected in August 2023)

What are the BITV requirements?

The BITV (Accessible Information Technology Ordinance) is based on the guidelines of the WCAG. It represents the framework for compliance with WCAG in Germany.

The BITV was enacted in 2002, but at that time it was not yet binding with regard to the web pages of German federal agencies. It was not until the end of 2003 that the BITV became mandatory for websites providing services for persons with disabilities, after it was incorporated into legislation. In this way, the WCAG 1.0 was implemented in Germany.

Different versions of the BITV exist, much like the WCAG. In 2008, BITV 2.0 was introduced, which referenced WCAG 2.0, placing an increased emphasis on the design of layouts and interactions. In the updated version of BITV 2.0 in 2019, the standards being considered were no longer directly mentioned in the regulation, but reference was made to the standards announced in the publications of the Official Journal of the European Union (New BITV 2.0 in force).

More information

Handouts on the BITV 2.0

Accessibility Strengthening Act (BFSG)

The (German) Accessibility Strengthening Act (BFSG) transposed the European Accessibility Directive (Directive (EU) 2019/882 on Accessibility requirements for products and services). The law was promulgated in July 2021 and goes into effect on June 28, 2025. For the first time, private economic actors will be required to comply with accessibility requirements if their products or services fall within the scope of this law.

More information

Accessibility Strengthening Act (BFSG)

Video - Accessibility Strengthening Act (BFSG)

Here you can find information about the WCAG and BITV

A helpful site related to accessibility that also compares the WCAG and BITV is BIK for all. BIK stands for "accessible information and communication" (in German).

The "BIK for all" project was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs from 2015 to 2018 to increase awareness for accessible web pages and promote compliance with corresponding standards. Numerous educational initiatives were carried out together with partners. The project has also produced many solutions for implementation and a WCAG test, which can also be used to test web pages in accordance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

WCAG and BITV and Intrexx

These sections of the online help are based on both the WCAG and BITV guidelines.

Starting with the section WCAG, BITV and Intrexx, you will find a detailed list of all the WCAG guidelines and their relevance and implementation in Intrexx. Parallel to this you will find the BITV guidelines. The WCAG and BITV guidelines do not always have one-to-one correspondence. If they match, they are handled together in the online help. If there is no equivalent, you will find separate descriptions.

The WCAG guidelines are marked like this:

The BITV guidelines are marked like this: