BITV 2.0 (Barrierefreie-Informationstechnik-Verordnung)

The German Barrierefreie Informationstechnik-Verordnung (BITV) 2.0 sets the accessibility standard for German federal institutions for web sites and other public information sources. BITV 2.0 follows the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 of W3C with some minor additions.

An important difference of BITV compared to WCAG is the integration of WCAG levels A und AA within just one BITV priority (Priorität I). The general requirement for German Federal web content is to meet this priority I. The directive also mandates that "central navigation and entry points" must meet the requirements of priority II (which largely correspond to WCAG level AAA).

BITV does not define in any precise way what "central navigation end entry points" are. The requirement seems applicable to Federal sites which serve as portal to information at a lower level, such as the site Einfach teilhaben of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.

For the start pages of Federal institutions, BITV 2.0 also mandates general explanations of content and navigation in German sign language and easy language. In this, BITV goes beyond WCAG 2.0 requirements on level AA.