Accessibility Statement

The Architekturzentrum Wien makes every effort to ensure that its website complies with the Web Accessibility Act (WZG, as amended) Directive (EU) 2016/2102 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 October 2016 on the accessibility of the websites and mobile applications of public sector bodies (Official Journal L 327 of 2 December 2016, p.1).

This web content accessibility statement is for the website www.azw.at.

Compliance Status

This website is not entirely compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines as it includes the incompatibilities and exceptions outlined below. We are committed to rectifying the identified accessibility issues on an ongoing basis.

The underlying criteria are based on WCAG 2.2 Conformity Level AA and the equivalent European Standard EN 301 549 V3.2.1.

Non-accessible Content

The content listed below is not accessible for the following reasons:

a) Non-compliance with Accessibility Guidelines

  • • Not all images have meaningful alternative text. Some images are missing alternative text. (WCAG Success Criterion 1.1.1 Non-text Content)
  • • In the press images download form, the ‘Title’ field consists of radio buttons which are not semantically marked as such, while they are visually recognisable as a group. (WCAG Success Criterion 1.3.1: Information and Relationships)
  • • Text intended to serve as a heading is not always semantically marked as a heading. (WCAG Success Criterion 1.3.1: Information and Relationships)
  • • HTML markup is sometimes used incorrectly — for example, through incorrectly nested elements in interactive components. (WCAG Success Criterion 1.3.1 Information and Relationships and 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value)
  • • On mobile devices, the elements for country selection in the online shop are not focused correctly, meaning that users can only find the list by placing their finger in the correct position. (WCAG Success Criterion 2.4.3 Focus Order)
  • • There are concealed elements that are visible to screen readers. (WCAG Success Criterion 2.4.3 Focus Order)
  • • The focus styling for some control elements is insufficient across all browsers. (WCAG Success Criterion 2.4.7: Keyboard Focus Visibility)
  • • There are links that are not spaced far enough apart, which makes them difficult to use on touchscreen devices, for instance. (WCAG Success Criterion 2.5.8 Target Size (Minimum))
  • • The English titles of the exhibitions and books do not have language labelling, so they are read aloud in the screen reader’s default language (e.g. German). (WCAG Success Criterion 3.1.2 Language Labelling of Parts)
  • • The asterisk used to mark mandatory fields in forms is not explained. (WCAG Success Criterion 3.3.2 Labelling of form fields provided)
  • • For filters and tabs (e.g. in the calendar), the states are not correctly conveyed by screen readers. (WCAG Success Criterion 4.1.2: Name, Role, Value)

b) Exceptions due to Disproportionate Burden

  • • PDFs of print publications can be downloaded from the website, while they are not fully accessible. These PDFs contain content that is also summarised and presented directly on the website. For newer publications, we strive to conform with the accessibility requirements. For older publications, this undertaking constitutes a disproportionate burden as outlined in the Accessibility Regulations.
  • • Videos on the website do not have an audio description (WCAG Success Criterion 1.2.5 Audio Description (Recorded)). This is because it is not easy to provide audio descriptions on YouTube. We regard rectifying this as constituting a disproportionate burden as outlined in the Accessibility Guidelines.
  • • The AzW provides a large number of images. Due to the sheer volume, it is not possible to provide relevant alternative text for all of these images. We aim to ensure that all of the newer images comply with the Accessibility Guidelines.

c) The following content does not fall within the scope of the applicable legislation

  • • The videos made available on the platform are hosted and published on YouTube.com. Videos published before 23 September 2020 do not fall within the scope of the legislation.
  • • Third-party content, such as e-books, studies or presentation materials, over which we have no control, is excluded from Directive (EU) 2016/2102. No general statement can be made regarding the full compliance of third-party content with the Accessibility Guidelines.

Preparation of this Accessibility Statement

This statement was prepared on 18 November 2025.

The assessment of the website’s compliance with the Web Accessibility Act, which implements the requirements of Directive (EU) 2016/2102, was carried out in the form of an external accessibility audit in accordance with WCAG 2.2 at Conformity Level AA in September/October 2025.

The following were reviewed:

Feedback and Contact Details

The content and services on this website are continuously being improved, updated and expanded. Usability and accessibility are a priority. New page content is regularly checked by the web editorial team upon publication.

If you notice any access issues that prevent you from using our website — issues not described in this statement, or shortcomings regarding compliance with the Accessibility Guidelines — please let us know by email.

We will review the matter and contact you as soon as possible.

Please send all reports and suggestions to the following contact address with the subject line ‘Report of an accessibility issue on the website www.azw.at‘ (or: ‘Meldung einer Barriere auf der Website www.azw.at’). Please describe the issue and provide the URLs of relevant web pages or documents.

Contact

Architekturzentrum Wien
Museumsplatz 1
A-1070 Vienna
Tel.: +43-1-522 31 15
E-mail: presse@azw.at

Enforcement Procedure

If you are not satisfied with the responses received via the contact given above, you may lodge a complaint with the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG). The FFG accepts complaints electronically via the complaints office’s contact form.

The FFG examines complaints to determine whether they relate to breaches of the provisions of the Web Accessibility Act, in particular failures to comply with accessibility requirements, by the Federal Government or an institution under its authority.

If the complaint is justified, the FFG must issue recommendations for action to the Federal Government or to the relevant legal entities, and propose measures to remedy said shortcomings.

Further information on the complaints procedure