APACE

The problem

Accessible ebooks became a legal requirement across the EU on 28 June 2025. Most European publishers had no in-house capability, and the expertise sat with specialist print-disability organisations outside the trade.

The solution

A capacity-building network: surveys of current practice, training, a European Summer School, pilot projects on accessible EPUB production, and published guidelines – pairing commercial publishers directly with libraries that have produced accessible formats for decades.

What is distinctive

Accessibility treated as shared sector infrastructure rather than as each publisher's separate compliance problem, solved six times over in six countries.

Evidence

• Coordinated by Fondazione LIA (Italy) with AIE, the Börsenverein, the Bulgarian Book Association, Dedicon (NL), Celia (FI) and the Lithuanian Audiosensory Library.
• Co-funded by Creative Europe; ran January 2024 to December 2025.
• Fondazione LIA has certified more than 35,000 accessible titles; BISG, EDItEUR and STM joined as members in 2025.

Compiled from public sources, August 2026. Not yet reviewed by the organisation.