Accessibility statement

Dutch Payments Association (Betaalvereniging Nederland) wants everyone to be able to use this website, including people with visual, hearing, motor or cognitive disabilities. We therefore use the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2(opens in new window) at level AA as our framework.

Dutch Payments Association is a B2B industry association. This website is not an online shop and does not itself provide a banking service to consumers. We publish this statement voluntarily, irrespective of whether a particular statutory obligation applies. It is not a formal EAA declaration of conformity, certification or independent quality mark.

Conformance status

This website partially conforms to WCAG 2.2 level AA. Many important parts have been built accessibly, but known limitations remain. We therefore do not currently claim full conformance.

This statement applies to the intended public content and functions of:

• the Dutch website at www.betaalvereniging.nl;
• the English website under www.betaalvereniging.nl/en/;
• the search function and public forms on these websites;
• documents and downloads made available by Dutch Payments Association through these websites.

Websites operated by other organisations that we link to are outside the scope of this statement. Where third-party content is displayed within our website, we nevertheless try to provide an accessible alternative when needed.

What currently works well

Our self-assessment and follow-up review of 11 August 2026 found, among other things, that:

• pages identify their main language as Dutch or English;
• the main templates assessed have identifiable main content, navigation and footer regions;
• a skip link is available to move directly to the main content;
• the main menu, mobile menu and search interface can be operated with a keyboard, and keyboard focus is visible;
• the pages assessed remained usable at a narrow viewport of 320 CSS pixels without horizontal scrolling of the main content;
• visible fields in the contact form have associated labels;
• the charts on the ‘Is my bank available online?’ page now expose their values as readable text, and the quarterly table has programmatic header cells;
• the English Instant Payments and Open Banking pages provide the essential information from their infographics in the surrounding text;
• all twelve recent PDFs in our technical sample contained document tags.

Known limitations and alternatives

Older charts and infographics

For some older charts and infographics, the exact information is not yet fully available as text or in an accessible data table. Some charts distinguish data series by colour alone. In addition, the English website still contains some charts in Dutch or text alternatives written in Dutch. Examples include pages about payment cards, online payments, Acceptgiro, and partners and stakeholders.

Impact: blind and low-vision visitors may miss details. Visitors who cannot distinguish colours or do not read Dutch may be unable to interpret a chart correctly.
Alternative: the main trend or conclusion is usually included in the surrounding text. Please contact us if you need the exact data or an explanation in another format.

Video and audio

Not all older Vimeo and YouTube videos have demonstrably reviewed captions in the appropriate language. In some videos, text that appears only on screen is not yet provided through the audio track, audio description or a complete transcript.

Impact: Deaf and hard-of-hearing visitors may miss spoken information. Blind and low-vision visitors may miss information presented only visually.
Alternative: for many videos, the main information is also available on the page. Ask us for a summary, transcript or another accessible alternative if that is not sufficient.

Search and contact form

The technical name of the search fields does not correctly include the visible label. This may cause problems for speech input users. The email address field in the contact form does not yet provide the technical purpose required for automatic completion.

Impact: some visitors may find it harder to operate a search field by voice or may have to enter their email address manually.
Alternative: use the navigation or the Search button. You can also contact us by telephone.

Images, maps and tables

Some content pages contain an informative image without an appropriate text alternative. Map frames on four route pages do not have a descriptive technical title. On five historical pages, the row and column headers of data tables are not yet fully identified programmatically.

Impact: a screen reader may not reliably convey the meaning of an image, map or relationship within a table.
Alternative: route information is also provided as text. Contact us if you need an explanation of an image or a table in another format.

Language on the English website

Some pages, charts, text alternatives and download titles within the English website still contain Dutch text without a programmatic language indication.

Impact: text-to-speech software may pronounce Dutch text using English pronunciation rules, and English-speaking visitors may miss information.
Alternative: use the Dutch page where possible or ask us for an explanation in English.

PDFs and other downloads

The Dutch and English media libraries contain a combined total of 732 PDF files from different years and different creators. All twelve recent documents in a technical sample contained tags. One document did not have a demonstrable document language, and another did not have a demonstrable internal document title. Reading order, headings, tables, contrast and text alternatives have not yet been manually assessed for all 732 documents.

Impact: older or external documents in particular may be difficult to use with a screen reader or keyboard only.
Alternative: ask us for an accessible version or the information in another format. Please include the title or URL of the document.

Technical relationships and external components

Some technical relationships in the mobile menu and sidebar menus are not unambiguous. Screen readers may announce some figures on the homepage twice. For cookie settings and bot protection, we partly depend on software from other suppliers; not every exceptional state of these components has been tested end to end.

Impact: some combinations of browser and assistive technology may announce unnecessary repetition or make a relationship less clear.
Alternative: use the skip link, ordinary page links or contact us for assistance.

Feedback and assistance

If you encounter an accessibility barrier or need information in another format, please let us know:

• through the contact form;
• by telephone on +31 20 305 19 00.

If possible, include the URL of the page or document, what you were trying to do, the browser and any assistive technology you used, and the alternative you need.

Assessment approach

Dutch Payments Association assessed the website through self-evaluation on 11 August 2026. At that time, the public XML sitemaps contained 1,803 URLs: 911 Dutch and 892 English. All URLs were automatically checked for availability and a set of structural accessibility characteristics. In addition, 21 representative page and functional tests were carried out. We also rechecked the post-launch improvement list from March and technically sampled twelve recent PDFs.

The manual checks included keyboard operation, focus, accessibility structure, form labels, accessible names, language, tables, text alternatives, contrast indications and reflow. Accessibility of this website relies on HTML, CSS, JavaScript, WAI-ARIA and SVG. Some information is provided through PDF documents and embedded video.

Automated testing cannot assess every WCAG requirement. A full user test with multiple screen readers, speech input and people with different disabilities is still needed before full conformance can be established. This statement is a transparent summary of our current self-assessment, not a certificate from an independent auditor.

Improvement plan

We publish this action list intentionally so that the remaining work is visible.

High priority

• Provide complete text alternatives or accessible data tables for the historical charts and infographics with the greatest user value.
• Create English versions of relevant Dutch charts and text alternatives.
• Do not distinguish chart data by colour alone; also use labels, symbols, patterns or line styles.
• Review and improve captions for older videos and provide transcripts and audio description where needed.
• Correct the technical names of search fields, email autofill purpose, missing image alternatives, map titles and data-table headers.
• Translate remaining Dutch content on the English website or identify language changes programmatically.

Phased work

• Inventory PDFs by use, currency and importance, giving priority to current and frequently used documents.
• Provide an accessible HTML version or an alternative on request for documents that cannot be remediated immediately.
• Repair technical relationships in menus and repeated screen-reader text on the homepage.
• Test the complete form flow, including validation messages and bot protection, with a keyboard and screen reader.

Ongoing

• Check new pages, images, charts, tables, videos and documents for accessibility before publication.
• Include accessibility in design, development, procurement and content processes.
• Periodically test important user journeys with assistive technology and, where possible, with people with disabilities.
• Update this statement after major changes and at least once a year.

Date

This statement was prepared and last reviewed on 11 August 2026.