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Good practice Imported

AnySurfer — Belgium's National Digital Accessibility Label

Belgium · Brussels · See the Belgium profile · See the Brussels profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 24% 92/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Since 2001, Belgian nonprofit AnySurfer has audited websites against WCAG and awarded a public accessibility label; as of Sept 2026 it lists 60 labelled sites spanning government, healthcare, transit and NGOs, with WCAG AA mandatory for federal sites.

60
Currently labelled websites (September 2026)
AnySurfer — Belgium's National Digital Accessibility Label

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
AnySurfer vzw (Blindenzorg Licht en Liefde)
Period
2001–present
Region (NUTS)
BE10
Keywords
web accessibility, certification, disability inclusion, digital government

Context

AnySurfer is Belgium's national digital accessibility label, founded in 2001 as "BlindSurfer" by blind IT pioneer Rudi Canters with support from the NGO Blindenzorg Licht en Liefde, gaining structural public funding from Gelijke Kansen Vlaanderen in 2002 and renamed AnySurfer in 2006 to signal it serves all users with disabilities, not only blind users.

Objectives

To give websites a public, third-party-verified accessibility credential — at level A, AA (mandatory for Belgian government sites) or AAA — so users, procurers and the public can identify genuinely accessible sites.

Activities

AnySurfer audits sites against WCAG (now 2.2) and issues a public, dated status page per labelled site valid for up to two years before re-audit. It also runs a biennial national accessibility-monitoring exercise with roughly ten partner higher-education institutions, maintains a registry of accessibility-trained developers, and delivers accessible-design training.

Results

As of September 2026, AnySurfer's public listing shows 60 currently labelled websites spanning government and municipal services, hospitals, public transport and NGOs, but the label is voluntary outside the government AA mandate and AnySurfer does not publish an aggregate national compliance percentage — its verified reach is limited to sites that opt in for audit.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k)
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills
AnySurfer vzw auditors and trainers, network of accessibility-trained developers (registry maintained by AnySurfer), ~10 partner higher-education institutions for the biennial monitoring exercise

Conditions for success

  • A recognised, publicly visible label with dated, re-auditable status pages to keep credibility current
  • A statutory anchor for at least part of the market (mandatory AA for Belgian government sites) to guarantee baseline uptake beyond voluntary participation
  • Sustained public co-funding (e.g. Gelijke Kansen Vlaanderen) to keep a nonprofit audit body operating for two decades
  • Partnerships with higher-education institutions to run recurring national monitoring at a manageable cost

Common failure modes

  • Being voluntary outside the government mandate means the labelled population is self-selected and may not represent overall market accessibility
  • No aggregate national compliance percentage is published, limiting external accountability

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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