What Is RGAA and Why Does It Matter?
RGAA stands for Référentiel Général d’Amélioration de l’Accessibilité — France’s official web accessibility framework. Built on top of the international WCAG 2.1 level AA guidelines, it translates broad accessibility principles into 106 precise, testable criteria organized across 13 themes.
In concrete terms, RGAA ensures that people with visual, auditory, motor, or cognitive disabilities can perceive, navigate, and interact with websites and applications. In France alone, over 12 million people live with a disability. Globally, the WHO estimates that 16% of the world’s population experiences significant disability. Ignoring accessibility means excluding a massive portion of your audience — and exposing your organization to legal risk.
Who Must Comply With RGAA?
The scope of RGAA obligations has expanded significantly in recent years:
- Public sector (since 2005, reinforced in 2019): all government websites, local authorities, public hospitals, and state-funded organizations.
- Large private companies (since 2023): businesses generating over €250 million in annual revenue in France.
- European alignment: the European Accessibility Act (EAA), effective June 2025, will extend digital accessibility requirements to most private-sector products and services across the EU.
What Are the Penalties?
Non-compliant organizations risk fines of up to €50,000 per year per non-accessible digital service. Beyond fines, failing to display a mandatory accessibility statement can trigger additional penalties. The reputational cost can be equally damaging.
How an RGAA Accessibility Audit Works
An RGAA audit is a systematic evaluation of your website against all 106 criteria. Here’s how the process typically unfolds:
1. Define the Audit Sample
A representative sample of pages is selected. RGAA mandates that the sample include at least:
- The homepage
- The legal notice and contact pages
- The accessibility statement page
- The sitemap
- Pages with key user journeys (forms, checkout, account creation)
For a typical e-commerce site, this might mean 15–25 pages are tested.
2. Test Against the 106 Criteria
Each criterion is evaluated across the 13 RGAA themes:
- Images — alt text, decorative vs. informative images
- Colors — contrast ratios (minimum 4.5:1 for normal text)
- Forms — labels, error handling, input assistance
- Navigation — keyboard accessibility, skip links, focus management
- Multimedia — captions, audio descriptions, transcripts
- Structure — heading hierarchy, landmarks, lists
- Scripts — accessible interactive components
Testing combines automated tools (axe, Wave, Lighthouse) with manual expert evaluation. Automated tools catch roughly 30–40% of issues. The rest require human judgment — screen reader testing, keyboard-only navigation, and contextual analysis.
3. Calculate the Compliance Rate
Results are expressed as a percentage compliance rate. A site achieving 100% meets full RGAA conformity. In practice, the French government’s own dashboard (Observatoire des démarches en ligne) shows that most public services hover around 50–65% compliance — proof that reaching full conformity takes genuine expertise and sustained effort.
4. Deliver an Actionable Report
The audit produces a detailed report listing every non-conformity, its severity, and prioritized remediation steps. At Lueur Externe, our accessibility audits go beyond a checklist — we provide developers with exact code-level fixes, prioritized by impact on real users.
Practical Steps to Improve RGAA Compliance
You don’t have to fix everything at once. Start with the highest-impact improvements:
- Add meaningful alt text to every informative image. Empty alt attributes for decorative images.
- Fix color contrast — use tools like Colour Contrast Analyser to verify ratios.
- Label all form fields properly using
<label>elements associated viaforattributes. - Ensure full keyboard navigation — every interactive element must be reachable and operable without a mouse.
- Publish your accessibility statement — it’s legally required and must include your compliance rate, known limitations, and a feedback mechanism.
These five actions alone can lift a website from 40% to 70%+ compliance in many cases.
RGAA vs. Other Frameworks: A Quick Comparison
| Framework | Scope | Criteria | Legal Force (France) |
|---|---|---|---|
| RGAA 4.1 | France | 106 criteria, 13 themes | Yes — fines up to €50K/year |
| WCAG 2.1 AA | International | 50 success criteria | Indirectly (via RGAA) |
| Section 508 | United States | Based on WCAG 2.0 | No (US law only) |
| EN 301 549 | European Union | Based on WCAG 2.1 | Yes (via EAA from 2025) |
RGAA is essentially the most operationally detailed framework available, making it both rigorous and practical for developers.
Conclusion: Accessibility Is Not Optional
RGAA compliance is a legal obligation for many organizations and a strategic advantage for all. With the European Accessibility Act taking effect in 2025, the window for voluntary action is closing.
Whether you manage a public-sector platform or a high-traffic e-commerce site, a professional accessibility audit is the essential first step. Lueur Externe, with over 20 years of web expertise in development, SEO, and accessibility, helps organizations across France achieve measurable compliance — and deliver better experiences for every user.
Ready to make your website accessible to all? Contact our team for a free initial assessment and discover your current compliance level.