Accessibility Statement

This statement applies to the website published under www.research-in-germany.de by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

As a public sector body according to the EU directive 2016/2102 we hereby comply with German law, specifically legislation regarding equity and equal opportunity for persons with disabilities (BGG) as well as accessibility of information technology (BITV 2.0). The requirements of the German BITV 2.0 are based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA and some success criteria of the WCAG Level AAA, as well as the Harmonised European Standard EN 301 549 “Accessibility requirements for ICT products and services”.

Compliance

Accessibility requirements are based on §12d of BGG as well as §3 and §4 of BITV 2.0. Compliance with requirements was examined in a BITV audit conducted in August 2022. This assessment has found the website to be partially compliant with accessibility regulations:

  • Not all images have text alternatives according to success criterion 1.1.1. We are working on amending this.
  • Most linked images and some linked icons or logos do not have text alternatives according to success criterion 1.1.1.
  • Videos do not have media alternatives according to success criteria 1.2.3 and 1.2.5. Visual information from imagery or presentation slides is not accessible.
  • Some headings do not follow proper structure and hierarchy according to success criterion 1.3.1. Some Components have empty headings or headings with no associated content. We are currently working on amending this.
  • Some components do not follow a meaningful sequence according to success criterion 1.3.2. This affects mostly the site search. We are currently working on amending this.
  • The main navigation distinguishes the active page and hover states only via colour. Use of colour is not compliant with success criterion 1.4.1. We are currently working on amending this.
  • Some components such as figure captions and the bread crumb navigation do not have sufficient colour contrast according to success criterion 1.4.3 (Level AA). We are currently working on amending this.
  • Some images, specifically diagrams, do not have sufficient non-text contrast according to success criterion 1.4.11. We are currently working on amending this.
  • The main navigation is not dismissible according to success criterion 1.3.24.
  • The main navigation, skip navigation and site search are not completely keyboard operable according to success criterion 2.1.1.
  • There is currently no mechanism to bypass blocks of content according to success criterion 2.4.1. We are currently working on amending this.
  • The focus order of elements in the website’s header and main navigation as well as some lists is not ideally suited to operability according to success criterion 2.4.3. Some teaser lists have several consecutive links with the same target.
  • Some links do not communicate their purpose sufficiently to meet success criterion 2.4.4. We are currently working on amending this.
  • Since the site search is not sufficiently accessible according to success criterion 2.4.5, we are currently working on a sitemap. This will offer another point of access to all our pages.
  • Very few pages do not offer headings or labels according to success criterion 2.4.6. We are currently working on amending this.
  • In some instances, names and passages of text cannot be programmatically determined to be in a different language than the surrounding text according to success criterion 3.1.2. This applies mostly to names of institutions in German.
  • Error suggestions in forms are – in some instances – not specific enough to meet success criterion 3.3.3.
  • Some elements in our pages are not nested according to HTML-specification, therefore the pages do not meet success criterion 4.1.1. This is an issue with the content management system and is likely to persist for some time.
  • The input field for the site search does not currently have the role “search”. It does not meet success criterion 4.1.2. We are currently working on amending this.
  • Some status messages in the site search are not programmatically determinable according to success criterion 4.1.3. We are currently working on amending this.
  • Some icons used in this website do not conform to user preferences according to criterion 11.7 of the Harmonised European Standard EN 301 549. When custom styles are applied to these icons, they take on the background colour and become invisible.

This statement was made on March 3, 2023. It is revised and updated regularly.

How to get in touch

Please contact us if you encounter any further issues with this website. You can use our contact form or contact the webmaster via e-mail or phone:

Arbitration Service

The Federal German Government offers an arbitration service for people, whose rights guaranteed under the German Equality for Persons with Disabilities Act (BGG) have been infringed upon.

You can contact the arbitration service via e-mail or phone:

Arbitration Service pursuant to Section 16 of the German Act on Equal Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities (external link)

phone: 49 (0) 30 18 527 2805

e-mail: info@schlichtungsstelle-bgg.de