Accessibility Statement

1. Commitment and scope

The International Council for Education Quality Certification (ICEQC) is committed to providing public information, digital services and certification processes that people with disabilities can perceive, understand, move through and use with an appropriate degree of independence. Accessibility is treated as a continuing design, publication, procurement and service responsibility rather than a one-time technical exercise.

This Statement applies to the official public website at iceqc.org, the application centre at portal.iceqc.org, public registers, online forms, ICEQC-produced public documents and remote interactions administered by ICEQC. It also explains how an applicant, representative, complainant, appellant, consultation participant or other user may report a barrier or request an accessible method.

An external website, payment page, browser extension, operating system, device or third-party document is controlled by its respective provider. ICEQC considers accessibility when selecting and operating such services and provides an alternative route where reasonably practicable, but cannot make a conformance statement on behalf of an external operator.

2. Accessibility reference standard

ICEQC uses the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2, Level AA, as the principal design and evaluation reference for its websites and digital content. The four WCAG principles—perceivable, operable, understandable and robust—inform page structure, interaction design, content preparation and testing.

This Statement records the reference standard and ICEQC’s accessibility measures. It is not a formal claim that every page, file, workflow and third-party component fully conforms to every WCAG 2.2 Level AA success criterion. A formal conformance claim would require the defined scope, technologies, testing basis and known limitations required by WCAG. ICEQC does not use this Statement to conceal an unresolved barrier or to limit a right arising under applicable law.

3. Measures incorporated into the public website

• Semantic page regions, a logical heading hierarchy, descriptive page titles and structured lists intended to support screen-reader navigation.
• Keyboard-operable navigation, menus, links, forms, dialogs and document controls, with a visible focus indicator and no intentional keyboard trap.
• Text alternatives for informative images and omission of redundant alternative text for decorative images where the implementation identifies them as decorative.
• Labels, instructions, error identification and status information intended to make forms understandable without relying only on colour, position or visual appearance.
• Responsive layouts and text reflow for common desktop, tablet and mobile viewports, together with browser text enlargement and zoom support.
• Colour and non-text contrast considered in the design system, without using colour alone to communicate a required distinction.
• A skip link, consistent primary navigation, breadcrumbs and descriptive link wording to assist orientation and bypass repeated content.
• Reduced-motion handling for users whose device expresses that preference and print styles for public information that may need to be read offline.
• Declared page language and language-specific direction, including right-to-left presentation where supported by the published language version.
• Security and privacy controls designed to remain keyboard accessible and to return focus appropriately after a modal interaction.

4. Public documents and alternative formats

ICEQC publishes core public information in HTML where that format is suitable. Controlled documents may also be offered as structured web text, PDF or another format required for document integrity, printing, signing or archival use. A downloadable file must be read together with its Standards Register record so that edition, status and authoritative language remain clear.

When an ICEQC-produced document presents a material access barrier, a person may request the same information in an accessible electronic format or request assistance locating the equivalent structured web content. The alternative must preserve the substance, document identity, status, requirements and limitations of the authoritative record. An alternative format does not create a different requirement or alter the legal effect of the controlled document.

Complex tables, forms, diagrams, signatures, mathematical notation, historical scans and third-party source materials may require an individual alternative rather than automated conversion. ICEQC will identify a practical method after considering the person’s access need, the purpose of the material, document integrity, confidentiality and the time sensitivity of the request.

5. Application centre, forms and secure evidence

Account registration, authentication, application forms, evidence requests and payment records are designed for keyboard use and labelled interaction. Some functions necessarily use time-limited verification codes, secure sessions, anti-forgery controls, file restrictions or security challenges. A user who cannot complete a security step with the available method should request assistance rather than share credentials or ask another person to impersonate the account holder.

Accessibility assistance does not require a user to disclose a diagnosis. ICEQC needs only the functional barrier, the task the person is trying to complete and the adjustment or communication method requested. Information supplied for an accessibility request is handled under the Data Protection and Privacy Notice and is shared only with persons who need it to arrange or deliver the adjustment.

Confidential certification evidence must not be sent by ordinary email as an accessibility workaround. ICEQC will identify an authorised secure method where the standard upload route is not accessible to the person using it.

6. Accessible participation in certification and review

Applicants, authorised representatives, interview participants, complainants, appellants and other persons participating in an ICEQC process may request a reasonable accessibility adjustment. Depending on the functional need and the nature of the activity, an adjustment may include an accessible document, compatible electronic form, additional navigation support, a different communication channel, scheduled breaks, captioning, qualified interpretation, use of an assistive technology, an accessible interview format or additional time where timing is not itself a substantive requirement.

ICEQC assesses requests individually and in good faith. The person requesting an adjustment should make the request as early as reasonably possible, particularly where an interpreter, captioner, document remediation or scheduling change is required. A late request is not rejected solely because it is late, but the available immediate measures may be more limited where a third-party service or substantial preparation is necessary.

ICEQC may propose an equally effective alternative where the exact adjustment requested would compromise security, confidentiality, another person’s rights, assessment validity or a mandatory procedural requirement, or would impose a disproportionate burden in the circumstances. Any refusal or substitution will be based on the relevant facts and will not be used to avoid the underlying duty to provide meaningful access.

7. What an adjustment does not change

An accessibility adjustment changes the means of access or participation, not the applicable certification requirement, evidence threshold, scope rule, impartiality control or decision criterion. ICEQC applies the same substantive standard while preventing the method of interaction from creating an avoidable disadvantage.

A person may use assistance to move through a service, communicate or prepare an accessible submission, but identity, authority and declarations must remain attributable to the person or organisation responsible for them. An assistant must not answer an interview in place of the participant, create evidence that did not exist or obtain access to confidential information beyond the authorised role.

8. Supported use and compatibility

ICEQC designs for current standards-based browsers and commonly used assistive technologies. Accessibility can be affected by the browser, operating system, assistive-technology version, security settings, translation tool, display configuration and extensions in use. Users are encouraged to use a current browser and current assistive technology and to enable the accessibility settings needed for their device.

Compatibility with every possible device and software combination cannot be guaranteed. A compatibility limitation does not close the matter: if it prevents access to a material page, document or process, ICEQC will investigate the barrier and identify an alternative route where reasonably practicable.

9. Known classes of limitation

Some legacy documents, complex archival files and materials supplied by third parties may not satisfy every current accessibility criterion. A third-party payment or security interface may also change independently of the ICEQC public-site release. ICEQC prioritises barriers that prevent access to a current requirement, application step, payment record, complaint or appeal route, certificate verification or other consequential information.

ICEQC does not rely on an automated accessibility score as proof of conformance. Automated testing can identify only part of the relevant issues; keyboard review, content inspection and assistive-technology testing are used according to the risk and function of the release.

10. Governance and responsibility

Accessibility responsibilities follow the lifecycle of the service. Content owners are responsible for structure, plain and accurate instructions, meaningful link text, alternatives and document quality; design and engineering functions are responsible for interaction, semantics, focus, reflow, contrast, error handling and compatibility; procurement owners are responsible for assessing material third-party barriers and contractual support; process owners are responsible for accessible participation and timely adjustments. Allocation of these duties does not transfer ICEQC’s responsibility to the person encountering the barrier.

A material accessibility issue is assigned according to consequence as well as technical severity. A barrier preventing a person from verifying a certificate, meeting a filing deadline, submitting an appeal, accessing a requirement, authenticating an account or receiving a decision is treated as more urgent than a cosmetic deviation that does not impair access. Repeated individual workarounds are reviewed as evidence of a systemic issue requiring correction.

Persons who publish or approve ICEQC content are expected to use the authorised components and publication controls and not to defeat accessible behaviour through unstructured formatting, image-only text, ambiguous links or colour-only instructions. Exceptions are documented with the reason, affected users, interim alternative and remediation owner where an immediate accessible implementation is not practicable.

11. Accessible content and document production

Public web content is prepared with a meaningful reading order, descriptive headings, understandable labels and instructions, and text alternatives appropriate to the function of non-text content. Tables are used for genuine data relationships and include the structural information needed to associate headings and cells. Documents and pages do not rely solely on shape, position, sound or colour to communicate a requirement, error, status or required action.

For ICEQC-produced PDF files, remediation may include document title and language metadata, tags, heading and list structure, table headers, reading order, bookmarks for longer documents, meaningful links, alternative text and form-field labels. PDF/UA may be used as a production and validation reference where appropriate, but this Statement does not declare that every PDF is PDF/UA conformant. The HTML record remains the preferred access route where it contains the same authoritative information.

An office document, spreadsheet or slide deck published for a defined purpose is checked in its intended format. Automatic conversion is not assumed to preserve headings, formula meaning, speaker information, table associations or alternative text. Where a complex source cannot be made fully equivalent in that format, ICEQC provides an explanatory text, structured data, accessible presentation or individual assistance suited to the information and use.

12. Procurement and third-party components

Accessibility is considered when ICEQC selects a material website component, document tool, meeting platform, authentication control, payment route or other third-party service. The assessment may include supplier accessibility documentation, an Accessibility Conformance Report or equivalent evidence, keyboard and assistive-technology testing of the relevant workflow, known defects, remediation commitments, support routes and the feasibility of an independent alternative. A supplier’s general statement is not accepted as conclusive where the implemented function shows a material barrier.

Contracts and service arrangements seek appropriate commitments to maintain accessibility, give notice of material interface changes, support defect investigation and provide information needed for ICEQC to offer an alternative. The weight of those requirements is proportionate to the service and the consequence of failure. A service is not considered accessible merely because an alternative provider might exist elsewhere on the market.

Where a third-party component cannot immediately be remediated by ICEQC, the responsible function records the limitation, raises it with the provider, protects any deadline or consequential action and supplies an alternative route that is as independent, timely, private and equivalent as reasonably practicable. Users are not required to surrender unnecessary personal data or accept a lower substantive service to obtain that alternative.

13. Evaluation and testing approach

Accessibility evaluation combines automated checks with manual review. Depending on the release and risk, manual review includes keyboard-only operation, focus order and visibility, zoom and reflow, headings and landmarks, form names and instructions, error recovery, status announcements, colour and non-text contrast, text alternatives, motion preferences and inspection of the accessibility tree. Automated results are evidence for investigation, not a certificate of conformance.

Representative testing is selected from critical journeys and content types, including navigation, search, public-register records, document pages, contact and application forms, privacy controls, account access and error states. Authenticated and conditional states are included where public scanning cannot reach them. Assistive-technology testing is performed according to the risk, change and reported barriers of the function and may include screen-reader, speech-input, magnification and mobile accessibility use.

A defect is recorded with the affected component, reproducible condition, relevant criterion or functional impact, severity, owner, interim measure and disposition. Regression review is targeted to the shared component and downstream pages where a common design-system defect could recur. Testing cannot cover every device and user configuration, so reports from people using the service remain an essential part of evaluation.

14. Audio, video, meetings and live participation

For prerecorded ICEQC media that communicates substantive public information, captions, transcript, audio description or an equivalent text alternative are provided according to the information conveyed and the applicable accessibility requirement. Automatically generated captions are reviewed where accuracy is consequential. Decorative background media is not used as the sole source of instructions or evidence.

For a webinar, interview, committee appearance or other live interaction, a participant may request live captioning, interpretation, accessible materials in advance, a compatible dial-in or platform route, scheduled breaks or another effective communication adjustment. Availability may require advance coordination with a qualified provider, but ICEQC will consider late requests and immediate alternatives rather than treating advance notice as an absolute condition.

A recording or transcript made for accessibility is governed by the stated process, confidentiality and retention rules. Accessibility support does not make a closed assessment, complaint, appeal or confidential meeting public and does not authorise a participant to make or distribute an independent recording contrary to the applicable procedure or law.

15. Deadlines, security and continuity of access

A person should report a barrier as soon as it becomes apparent where a deadline applies. ICEQC will determine whether an accessible alternative can be provided immediately and whether the barrier materially prevented a required act. A deadline is not automatically extended by every support request, but a person will not be disadvantaged by an ICEQC-controlled access failure where an extension, alternative filing record or other protective measure is required by fairness, the governing procedure or applicable law.

Security controls remain necessary for accessible services. ICEQC will not ask a person to disclose a password, bypass identity checks or send confidential evidence through an insecure channel as the price of accessibility. Where a CAPTCHA, one-time code, session limit, file control or identity method is not usable, ICEQC will seek an alternative that maintains materially equivalent protection and records the authorised exception.

During a material outage or third-party failure, ICEQC prioritises access to current requirements, certificate status, time-sensitive submissions and contact routes. A temporary telephone, email or document alternative is confirmed in an attributable record and later reconciled to the authoritative system. Emergency publication does not permanently replace remediation of the affected standard service.

16. Reporting an accessibility barrier

Report an accessibility barrier to contact@iceqc.org with the subject ‘Accessibility’. Identify the page URL or document title, the task being attempted, the barrier encountered, the browser or assistive technology if relevant, and the assistance or format requested. Do not include a medical record, password, full payment-card information or confidential certification evidence.

If email is itself inaccessible, written correspondence may be sent to the registered office at Quai de l’Ile 13, 1204 Geneva, Switzerland. The registered office is not a public counter or an alternative channel for filing an application. The request should provide an accessible means by which ICEQC can respond.

17. How ICEQC handles a report

• The report is recorded and assigned to the function responsible for the affected content or service.
• ICEQC determines whether an immediate alternative is needed to protect access to a time-sensitive or consequential process.
• The barrier is assessed using the applicable WCAG criterion, content requirement, functional need and any relevant legal duty.
• A correction, accessible alternative, provider escalation or reasoned response is recorded according to the nature of the issue.
• Material recurring barriers are considered in design, procurement, publishing and quality-control improvements rather than treated only as individual support cases.

18. Complaints and escalation

A person who is dissatisfied with the handling of an accessibility request may ask ICEQC to review the matter. The review should identify the original request, the response challenged, the continuing barrier and the outcome sought. Where the issue concerns a certification complaint or appeal deadline, the person must also use the designated procedure or ask ICEQC to confirm how the accessibility issue will be recorded within it.

Nothing in this Statement removes a right to approach a court, authority or other body competent under applicable law. The existence of WCAG as ICEQC’s reference standard does not by itself determine which statutory accessibility regime applies to a particular person, service or jurisdiction.

19. Preparation and review of this Statement

This Statement is maintained by reference to WCAG 2.2, the functions currently provided by the ICEQC public website and application centre, and the accessibility requirements of ICEQC certification activities. It is reviewed when a material service, interface, document system or applicable requirement changes and after a material barrier identifies a wider control weakness.

The English version is the authoritative version. Translations are provided for access and must not reduce a mandatory right.