What is the Accessibility Statement and what changes from June 28, 2025?

The Accessibility Statement is the document that Public Administrations, public bodies, and entities providing public services must publish to declare the accessibility level of their websites and apps.

This document is mandatory under the provisions of the Stanca Act (Law 4/2004).
It must be drafted exclusively through the online form available on the website of the Agency for Digital Italy (AgID).

It is an essential tool because it contributes to promoting a culture of inclusion and digital accessibility within the public sector.

What must be included in the Accessibility Statement

The Accessibility Statement provides a snapshot of a website’s or app’s level of compliance with accessibility criteria. It must indicate:

• the existing accessibility barriers
• the corrective measures implemented to eliminate these barriers
• the contacts users can use to send feedback or comments
• the reference to the Digital Ombudsman

All these elements allow users to understand whether a website or an app is truly accessible.

Who must publish the Accessibility Statement and when

There is a key date to remember: September 23.
By this date each year, the Accessibility Statement must be published or updated. Who is required to do so?

Public Administrations, public bodies, and public service concessionaires.

It is also mandatory for private entities that offer services equivalent to those provided by the public sector: banks, insurance companies, transport companies, and private healthcare providers.

An annual update is required, and it may also be necessary to update the statement before September 23 if significant changes or updates are made to the website or app.

How to publish the Accessibility Statement

The Accessibility Statement must be completed exclusively through the online form available on the AgID website. The key steps are:

• accessing the AgID portal
• selecting the organization or application to be declared
• filling in the required fields
• publishing the link on the institutional website

But there is one essential step before publishing the Statement: gathering all the information needed to complete it!

Before publishing: the analysis

This is where the analysis process comes in: the technical and content audit.
The technical audit verifies how accessible the website, app, or digital document is from a structural perspective. Among other things, it checks:

• color contrast
• alternative text for images
• operation of the site or app via keyboard and screen readers
• proper use of code
• link labels and link behavior

The content audit primarily checks the quality of written content:

• text quality
• clarity, readability, and consistency
• presence of subtitles or transcripts in videos or other multimedia materials
• link labels and link behavior

These analyses describe the state of compliance before completing the Accessibility Statement.
They are essential to defining the interventions needed to remove barriers through a process called remediation — the set of technical actions required to fix the identified issues.

Who monitors compliance?

The Accessibility Statement must be published in the website footer or in a designated section.
AgID is the authority responsible for verifying its presence and the quality of its content.
Users can submit reports through the contact details provided in the Statement.

In case of violations, administrative sanctions and notifications to the Digital Ombudsman may be applied.
It is important to underline that publishing the Statement is not just an obligation but also a commitment to inclusion for all users.

Are the Accessibility Statement and the Conformity Statement the same thing?

These two terms are often confused, but they refer to different documents.

On June 28, 2025, the European Accessibility Act came into force.
This European Directive requires private companies that produce or offer digital products and services intended for the European market to comply with accessibility criteria.

Among the obligations is the requirement to publish a Conformity Statement, which is very similar to the Accessibility Statement required by the Stanca Act.
In essence, their objectives and purposes are the same, but the subjects required to publish each one are different.
Unlike the Accessibility Statement, the Conformity Statement can be created independently and does not need to be completed using the AgID form.

In short: both documents communicate the level of accessibility of digital services, but the Accessibility Statement applies to public entities, while the Conformity Statement applies to private companies.