Consumer authority creates tool to improve online shopping accessibility

Latvia’s Consumer Rights Protection Centre has created a website to help e-commerce businesses make digital services accessible to people with functional impairments, LSM reported.

The centre said online services should allow people with visual, hearing, mobility or other impairments to shop independently, buy tickets and pay bills.

The Law on the Accessibility of Goods and Services has been in force for a year, but some people still cannot use digital services without help because websites and other online resources have not been adapted.

Information must be available not only visually and audibly, but also through other alternative formats that people can perceive, the centre said.

The centre’s website, Neredzamaskerslujosla.lv, explains the basic requirements for digital environments. Businesses can use it to assess their own websites, identify common barriers and find advice on how to remove them.

Reinis Darkēvics, who began losing his sight six years ago, uses digital aids every day to understand text and images on his phone and the internet.

“It is simply tiring. It is mentally difficult as it is. And then you want to buy someone a Christmas present, and the holidays are approaching. You still have to ask for help. It is much better when you can do it yourself. You can feel like a normal person even if you simply have poor eyesight,” he said.

There are currently 224,000 people with disabilities in Latvia.