Accessibility of French town hall websites: what 168 home pages show

By Mohammed Ouinas, published on 12 October 2026.

In October 2026, AANC analysed the home page of 168 French municipal websites, drawn at random from the official directory of public administrations. The aim was not to point the finger at any particular town hall, but to take a snapshot of the situation. No municipality is named here.

Nine sites out of ten do not display their accessibility status

Under French law (Act of 11 February 2005, article 47), every public sector website must display on its home page a mention such as “Accessibility: not compliant”, “partially compliant” or “fully compliant”, with a link to an accessibility statement. This is the French implementation of the European Web Accessibility Directive.

Out of 168 home pages:

• 149 carry no mention at all, which is nearly nine out of ten;
• 6 declare themselves partially compliant;
• 3 declare themselves not compliant;
• for the remaining 10, the analysis was inconclusive.

None declares itself fully compliant.

This mention is the simplest part of the obligation: one line of text and one link. Its absence usually means that the question of accessibility has not been raised yet.

The three defects that come up most often

On each page, we recorded the most frequent defects detected by an automated analysis. Three of them stand out clearly. The criteria quoted are those of the RGAA, the French accessibility framework based on WCAG.

1. Text with insufficient contrast (RGAA criterion 3.2): at least 111 sites out of 168, two out of three, with nearly 1,300 elements affected. Light grey text on a white background is hard to read for a person with low vision, and for anyone using a phone in bright sunlight.
2. Links with no text (RGAA criterion 6.2): at least 81 sites, nearly one in two. Typically a clickable icon or image with no label. A screen reader then announces “link”, without saying where it leads.
3. Images with no description (RGAA criterion 1.1): at least 32 sites, nearly one in five. A blind person does not know what the image shows, or whether it matters.

Next come buttons with no label (21 sites) and links that only colour distinguishes from the surrounding text (13 sites).

We write “at least” because only the main defects of each page were counted.

What these figures do not say

An automated analysis sees only part of the problems. It cannot tell whether a form to request a birth certificate can be used with the keyboard, whether a menu opens correctly with a screen reader, or whether a PDF of the council minutes is readable. These checks require manual testing, by a person who actually uses these tools.

We only looked at the home page. Online procedures, often supplied by different vendors, hold other surprises.

What it feels like on the other side of the screen

I am blind and I browse with a screen reader. Landing on a link with no text or a form that cannot be used is truly frustrating. On an online shop, what happens next is simple: I leave, and I buy from a competitor whose site is more accessible.

With a town hall, that is not possible. You do not change municipality to request a birth certificate or register your child for school meals. When the site does not work for us, what remains is the phone, a trip in person, or help from a relative. That is exactly what accessibility is meant to avoid.

One example stayed with me: a major digital identity app, the kind used to prove who you are for official procedures. When the time comes to enter the secret code, my screen reader does not read the keys. Entering a code is a simple thing, and it remains inaccessible to us. In those moments, you feel that you do not count.

And you tell yourself that in 2026 we are still a long way behind. Yet this is the age of artificial intelligence and modernity: the tools to do things properly exist, they just need to be used.

Where to start when you are a small municipality

1. Display the mention and publish a statement, even if the site is not compliant. Saying where you stand is better than saying nothing.
2. Fix the three defects above. They can often be solved in a few hours with the site's vendor.
3. Write accessibility into the specifications before any redesign. That is when it costs the least.
4. Have the essential procedures tested by a person who uses a screen reader.

AANC supports public bodies and companies on these four steps: write to us, or discover our monthly accessibility monitoring.

Our method

• 168 home pages of municipal websites, analysed between 2 and 12 October 2026.
• Municipalities drawn at random, department by department, among those that publish a website and a contact address in the official directory of public administrations.
• Automated analysis of the RGAA criteria that a tool can detect, and search for the accessibility mention on the home page.
• The findings were sent by email to the vast majority of the town halls concerned.

Mohammed Ouinas is a digital accessibility consultant and the founder of AANC. He is blind and tests websites with a screen reader.