As defined by the European Commission (and the respective Greek legislation – 4994 FEK Α 215/18.11.2022), the European Accessibility Act (EAA) is a directive, that aims to improve the functioning of the EU internal market for Persons with disabilities and elderly people, by making Products and Services more accessible to them and by removing barriers created by divergent rules in member states.
Worldwide, more than 15% of human beings live with some form of disability! This staggering statistic underscores the urgent need for organizations to invest in digital accessibility.
By creating content that everyone can access, not only extends your reach but also begins to foster an inclusive environment that values diversity and equal access to information.
In this context, traditional PDF documents can be challenging for people with disabilities, hinder them from comprehending and often prevent them from taking necessary actions on critical business communications like policies, terms & conditions, bills, statements, contracts and so on.
The PDF/UA (Portable Document Format and Universal Accessibility) is a DIN and ISO14289 standard that was created to respond to this challenge and enable Universal Access to documents. Embracing PDF/UA compliance creates an equitable digital landscape where all users can navigate, read and interact with your content using assistive technologies.
PDF/UA mandates the requirements that an accessible PDF must fulfill and the set of rules of authoring tools for creating accessible PDFs, to readers but also to Assistive Technologies such as:
- Screen Readers
- Speech Recognition systems
- Adaptive Keyboards
- Semantic Tagging
As of June 28th, 2025 the alignment with these standards isn’t just a noble cause; it’s a legal obligation! Adoption of the PDF/UA enhances your organization’s reputation as a leader in inclusivity and Social responsibility.
It ensures that you avoid legal penalties and helps you meet compliance obligation of regulations such as the European Accessibility Act (EAA), WCAG 2.2.
As accessibility standards continually evolve, IDEAL Software Solutions has designed, built and offers solutions, which help organizations stay on top of these changes. Our propositions are essential not only for ensuring long –term compliance with all mandates of the PDF/UA (ISO 14289) regulation, but also for reinforcing your organization’s commitment to inclusivity, sending a strong message that your content is designed for everyone.
It is important to note that all documents generated by i-DOCS CCM are validated using the authorized PAC 2024 accessibility checker.