Website legislation including the Disability Discrimination Act
The Disability Discrimination Act and a series of legislation such as the Privacy Directive and E-Commerce regulations deal with internet web sites. Regular websites are affected by legislation, and not just interactive sites. Ad Finem offer compliant websites and web development and are pleased to discuss requirements with businesses and organisations.
Disability Discrimination Act
The Disability Discrimination Act of October 1999 requires that companies and individuals make reasonable adjustments to their websites in order to provide access to the disabled. Most web sites have been in breach of the legislation since that date. The Act applies to all service providers and breach of the legislation means that a claim can be made against the service provider.
The Disability Rights Commission carried out a format study and found that 81% of websites did not meet their lowest accessibility standard despite it being a legal requirement for several years.
Ad Finem develop accessible websites to W3C and DRC specification and assess websites using manual testing, automatic testing, and user testing.
Other legislation affecting websites
Privacy Directive Affects websites using cookies or other tracking devices, and businesses that use email marketing such as newsletters.
E-commerce Regulations The Electronic Commerce Directive Regulations 2002 set out a series of requirements for businesses that advertise or sell online (either B2B or B2C). The regulations specify features which must be provided and information which must be available. E-commerce is also affected by the Distance Selling Regulations.
Data Protection Affects websites that collect personal information or use contact forms.
Advertising Standards Authority Regulations Affects organisations that advertise on the internet
Copyright & Intellectual Property laws
What we offer
- Redevelopment of existing websites to ensure accessibility
- New development of web sites and web applications to ensure accessibility
- Assessment of existing web sites
