Given the upcoming implementation of the European Accessibility Act in June 2025, the publishing industry and organizations serving persons with print impairments are actively working on the production and distribution of digital accessible publications. This legislative change is prompting a significant shift in how digital accessible content is produced, ensuring that materials are available to all readers.
The European Accessibility Act is a European directive that aims to improve the way the European internal market works regarding accessible products and services. This Directive applies to many products and services such as consumer general purpose computer hardware systems and operating systems for those hardware systems, self-service terminals (ie. payment or ticketing terminals), consumer banking services, but also e-books and dedicated reading software. As e-books are considered a service, the concept of a service provider includes publishers and all the other economic operators involved in their distribution. The Directive requires publishers to produce their digital publications in an accessible format and requires the entire supply chain (retailers, e-commerce sites, hardware and software reading solutions, online platforms, DRM solutions, etc.) to make content available to users through accessible services. Accessibility is thus becoming a major theme in the publishing world.
In this new context, the initial step of the Apace project was to gather data on the adoption of accessibility practices among EU publishers and to identify the training needs necessary to provide the skills and knowledge required to comply with EAA requirements. This effort aimed to better define the future actions planned within the project.
This analysis was carried out for the first part through an online survey and for the second part through interviews to key experts and stakeholders. This report, the first of its kind at the European and international level, collect the results of these two actions.
The first chapter focuses on publishers and details the methodological approach used to gather information. It covers the development of the survey, the composition of the sample, the evaluation of the results, and the survey findings. The chapter explores the measures publishing houses have implemented or plan to implement to meet the requirements of the European Accessibility Act (EAA), and provides an overview of e-book production, especially in regard to accessibility, distribution with an emphasis on metadata and DRM, and concludes with an analysis of the skills and training most needed by the industry.
The second chapter is specular to the first and shifts focus on organizations traditionally producing specialized accessible versions (mainly print Braille, enlarged characters and digital special formats like DAISY) and serving individuals with print impairments. It provides an overview of the composition of their catalogues, the production of text-based publications and audio ones, the distribution of accessible digital publications and presents a focus on training needs.
The third chapter includes interviews with key industry stakeholders form the different sector involved in the new scenario foreseen by the EAA. Representatives from the DAISY Consortium, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the Federation of European Publishers (FEP), the European Educational Publishers Group (EEPG) and the European and International Booksellers Federation (EIBF) share their insights on the current state of accessibility adoption.
The report concludes with an outline of the next steps and discussion points, which will be instrumental in drafting APACE training activities planned for 2024 and 2025.
This report is the result of collaborative work made by APACE partners. Its reach extends across 7 countries, further amplified by the collaboration with the Federation of European Publishers (FEP), which represents 29 publishers’ associations in the EU-EEA area, the DAISY Consortium, as well with the extended networks of the partners involved. It analyses data gathered from 17 countries (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK).
PLEASE NOTE: The full report will be available for download on 16 October and will be presented during the seminar „The Accessibility Era. Are you ready for it?“ during the Frankfurt book fair.