PDF Documents - Umbrella Exemption
Web Guidelines Exemption for PDF Documents
At their meeting of 15 November 2005, the e-GIF Management Committee approved an umbrella exemption for the sole use of PDF documents on agency web sites. This exemption applies to the following exemption criteria as long as the alternative access measures apply.
Exemption Criteria
This exemption applies where the agency is unable to convert the document to HTML, as required by the Web Guidelines, in the following situations:
- The PDF documents are photographs or maps,
- The PDF documents are authored and owned by third parties, or
- There are legal requirements that the document is provided in a specific format.
Alternative Access
Agencies publishing PDF documents under this exemption must provide the following alternative measures:
- Text descriptions of images
- The key message of the PDF document in a HTML paragraph
- A contact point where the content of the PDF document can be obtained in an accessible format
- Disclaimer information stating why the web site only provides the document in PDF and stating alternative delivery options
Interim Measure
Agencies should offer "on demand" conversion where possible, thereby reducing the risks and costs associated with converting unnecessarily. This exemption is available to agencies until completion of a formal review and rewrite of the Web Guidelines.