VARAM's 2024 Accessibility Audit — Zero of 132 Latvian Public-Sector Websites Fully Compliant

Under EU Directive 2016/2102, Latvia's Ministry of Smart Administration and Regional Development (VARAM) ran the 2022–2024 monitoring cycle combining in-depth expert review (17 websites and 8 mobile apps checked against 50 WCAG 2.1 AA criteria via the WCAG-EM methodology, plus tests with users who have disabilities), a simplified evaluation (132 websites checked by experts against 11 VARAM guideline criteria, cross-checked against 134 self-assessments submitted by the institutions themselves), and automated scanning. An initial list of 719 candidate websites was shortlisted from Latvia's National Open Data Portal before sampling.

Both expert reviewers and the institutions themselves assessed sites against the same 11 simplified-evaluation criteria, allowing VARAM to compare independent expert findings against self-reported compliance.

None of the 132 expert-reviewed or 134 self-assessed websites met all 11 simplified-evaluation criteria. The worst-performing criteria were the textual alternative to images (90% non-compliant), the 'Papers' criterion (88%), and visual-focus tracking (80%); main navigation (76%) and colour contrast (73%) also failed on most sites. The best-performing criteria were text-size range (83% compliant), basic structure (65%) and page naming (64%). Year on year, non-compliance with sign-language provisions fell by more than half.

VARAM's own report flags that self-assessment data is less reliable than expert findings, and that zero full compliance across two independent evaluation methods points to a systemic gap rather than a sampling artefact.