Accessibility Statement

The Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Regions and Water Management is committed to ensuring that its websites are accessible in accordance with the Web Accessibility Act (WZG), as amended, implementing Directive 2016/2102/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 October 2016 on the accessibility of the websites and mobile applications of public sector bodies (Official Journal L 327, 2/12/2016 p. 1).

This accessibility statement is for the website www.bml.gv.at/english.

Status of compliance with the requirements

Due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below, this website is partially compliant with conformance level AA of the 'Web Content Accessibility Guidelines - WCAG 2.1' and with the applicable European Standard EN 301 549 V2.1.2 (2018-08).

We plan to progressively correct the failures that require mere editorial changes (for example, text alternatives for images) by the end of the year. We will be correcting the failures that require programming next year subject to availability of staff and budgetary resources.

The failures mentioned below are to be found on the German website. As the English website is a pared-down version of the German website, not all of the mentioned failures will be found on it.

Non-accessible content

The content listed below is not accessible for the following reasons:

a) Non-compliance with the accessibility provisions

  • Not all images have a useful text alternative. Some images do not have the alt attribute, causing VoiceOver to read out the path (WCAG Success Criterion 1.1.1 Non-text Content).
  • The structure of the headings is not consistent throughout these Web pages. The texts are not always optimally structured, sometimes labels are missing in the forms (while placeholders have been provided) and there are marginal failures in the semantic tagging of data tables. The reading flow of screen readers is disrupted by a hidden delimiter inserted by a hyphenator script. (WCAG Success Criterion 1.3.1 Info and Relationships).
  • Most, but not all, of the embedded YouTube videos in the video portal have sufficient text descriptions (1.2.3 Audio Description or Media Alternative).
  • The contrast ratio of several texts and controls (for example, the copyright information for images, the mobile menu toggle button and slider controls) is insufficient. 
  • (WCAG Success Criterion 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum) and 1.4.11 Non-text Contrast).
  • At 200% zoom or with resolutions of 1024px, the horizontal menu on the right-hand side is cut off (WCAG Success Criterion 1.4.4 Resize text).
  • In the slider on a subordinate page (Tourism and the SDGs), images with long quotes have been used that provide insufficient text alternative and where use of text form would be preferable (WCAG Success Criterion 1.4.5 Images of Text).
  • Sliders with linked content and embedded videos are not completely keyboard-operable. (WCAG Success Criterion 2.1.1 Keyboard).
  • Several Web pages (for example, Photo service and Events) only bear the page title of the superordinate section, the page title is thus not clear (WCAG Success Criterion 2.4.2 Page Titled).
  • At several points, the focus order has been incorrectly implemented, especially when it comes to asynchronously loaded elements, image walls and light boxes with screen readers. Active setting of the focus in the search field and positioning of the skip link jump label for the main content in the page menu on Web pages is not ideal for screen readers and keyboard users (WCAG Success Criterion 2.4.3 Focus Order).
  • The linked preview images for videos and publications under Service have no link text as text alternative is missing; the preview images for the image gallery are not clearly labelled (WCAG Success Criterion 2.4.4 Link Purpose).
  • Focus styling in several operating elements is insufficient in all browsers (WCAG Success Criterion 2.4.7 Focus Visible).
  • Several links and insertions of English-language content (for example in Search and Publications) have not been identified as English (WCAG Success Criterion 3.1.2 Language of Parts).
  • In the mobile menu, superordinate menus of all the levels are hidden and can only be reached through button activation. This behaviour is unfamiliar but can be learned; however, some target groups may find it confusing and consider it inconsistent navigation. (WCAG Success Criterion 3.2.3 Consistent Navigation).
  • The mobile search has no visible search submit button, the magnifying glass icon serves as a toggle button to close the search or as an icon to enlarge slider images. If the search is started without entering anything in the search field, no notice appears to point out that no results have been found. Occasionally, labels are missing in the forms (WCAG Success Criteria 3.2.4 Consistent Identification, 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions and 3.3.1 Error Identification).
  • In publications, the order forms do not have unique IDs, so screen readers are unable to clearly interpret them. On some Web pages, the HTML validator indicates other errors that relate to previously mentioned failures. (WCAG Success Criterion 4.1.1 Syntax Analysis).
  • Sometimes, WAI ARIA Markup is not correctly used, for example in image sliders and image walls. Screen readers will read but are unable to navigate the slider and image wall content. Wrongly used Aria Live identifiers cause this content to be read repeatedly while the screen reader cursor is located at a different point on the page (WCAG Success Criteria 1.3.1 Info and Relationships and  4.1.2 Name, Role, Value).
  • For screen reader users, the status of toggle buttons to expand or collapse content is unclear; likewise, the change in results with filters is not clearly communicated; nevertheless, the content can be reached in the reading order (strictly speaking WCAG Success Criteria 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value and 4.1.3 Status Messages).

b) Disproportionate burden:

  • Videos on the website have no audio description (1.2.5 Audio Description (Prerecorded). The videos can be considered additional content because the information provided is generally also available in text form on the website. Audio description is not easy to provide in YouTube. We believe that remedying this would constitute a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility provisions.
  • PDF versions of print publications can be downloaded from the website. They are not completely accessible. In this case, too, the content presented is communicated directly in summary form on the website. We are keen to comply with the accessibility specifications when adding new publications. With older publications, the required effort would constitute a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility provisions.

c) This content falls outside the scope of the applicable legislation

  • The website offers documents (office application formats like PDF and Office documents) to download that were published prior to 23 September 2018. They are not relevant for the administration and thus fall outside the scope of the applicable legislation.
  • The videos made available on the platform are hosted by and have been published on Youtube.com. Videos published prior to 23 September 2020 fall outside the scope of the applicable legislation.
  • Content from third parties, including studies or presentation material from external lecturers over whom BML has no control, are exempted from Directive (EU) 2016/2102. No statement can be made with regard to the compliance of such third-party content with the accessibility provisions.

Drafting of this accessibility statement

This statement was drafted on 17 June 2021.

The website's compliance with the Web Accessibility Act (WZG) implementing Directive (EU) 2016/2102 was assessed in an external accessibility audit based on WCAG 2.1 conformance level AA in September 2020 – the audit performed was of the German website www.bml.gv.at.

Feedback and contact details

The offers and services on this website are being continuously improved, replaced and expanded. In so doing, operability and accessibility are our primary concern.

Should you become aware of any barriers preventing you from using our website – issues not described in this Statement, a lack of compliance with the accessibility requirements – please let us know about them by email.
We will review your enquiry and get back to you as soon as possible.

Please send all messages and suggestions to infomaster@bml.gv.at quoting "Reporting a barrier on the website bml.gv.at" in the subject line. Kindly describe the issue and specify the URLs of the Web page or document you are referring to.

Contact:
Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Regions and Water Management
Stubenring 1
1010 Vienna
Email: infomaster@bml.gv.at

Enforcement procedure

If you are not satisfied with the replies from the contact provided above, you can file a complaint with the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG). The FFG accepts complaints submitted electronically using the contact form.

Contact form for complaints

FFG will review the complaints and check whether they relate to violations of the requirements set forth under the Web Accessibility Act (WZG), particularly to any lack of compliance by the federal government or any affiliated institution with the accessibility requirements.

If the complaint is justified, the FFG will suggest courses of action or measures that the federal government or the affected legal entities can implement to remedy the indicated failures.

More information about the complaints procedure