Standards & Compliance
Accessibility you can verify technically
EqualDoc is designed around established standards for accessible documents. A PDF should not merely be described as accessible; it should be traceable and technically verifiable.
The standards EqualDoc builds on
These standards and legal requirements shape what is expected of accessible PDFs in Germany.
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PDF/UA – ISO 14289
The international standard for accessible PDF documents. It defines how content must be tagged, ordered and described so that screen readers and other assistive technologies can use it reliably. PDF/UA is one of the central standards EqualDoc targets.
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EN 301 549
The central European standard for accessible information and communication technology. It contains its own requirements for documents, based on WCAG. EqualDoc uses these requirements in its implementation and its validation.
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German legal framework
Different rules apply depending on the provider: BITV 2.0 sets the requirements for public bodies and refers to EN 301 549. The Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz (BFSG) has applied since June 2025 to certain products and services offered by businesses.
How EqualDoc applies these requirements
EqualDoc translates the standards into concrete remediation steps. Whatever can be automated reliably, EqualDoc handles itself.
Where the meaning of content is ambiguous, EqualDoc flags the spot so that a human review remains possible.
- Document structure and tagging
- Reading order
- Headings
- Lists
- Tables
- Forms
- Figures and alternative text
- Metadata and document language
- Validation of the resulting PDF
Validation is not the same as accessibility
A PDF can pass every automated PDF/UA test and still be hard to use, for example when a heading is chosen wrongly, the reading order does not match the content or an alternative text does not describe the image. A validator checks the form, not the meaning.
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Technical validation
The resulting PDF is checked against the machine-testable requirements of PDF/UA, among others with the open-source validator veraPDF.
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Semantic analysis
EqualDoc also checks whether structure and content fit together: headings, reading order, tables and text in the context of the document.
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Open points in the report
Where a decision remains uncertain, the accessibility report names it explicitly instead of hiding it.
Quality assurance
EqualDoc is tested continuously on several levels.
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Automated regression testing
Every change is checked against a growing test collection so that improvements do not make existing results worse.
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PDF/UA validation
The resulting PDFs are validated with veraPDF against the machine-testable PDF/UA rules.
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Large benchmark corpora
Large collections of test PDFs with known expected results cover structure, tables, forms, figures and other areas.
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Real-world PDF documents
Real PDFs from a wide range of fields show how EqualDoc handles the characteristics of real documents.
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Targeted manual review
Selected results are reviewed by hand, especially where automated checks reach their limits.
EqualDoc follows the standards and requirements described on this page. There is currently no certification by ISO, ETSI or government bodies. The standards named here are the basis we align our development and testing with.