The regulatory landscape in Germany
Aletheia does not make a third-party site compliant and does not relieve an institution of its own obligations. This section is context for a buyer, not legal advice, and each instrument below is named with its source.
| Instrument | What it requires | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz (BFSG) | The German transposition of the European Accessibility Act, in force since 28 June 2025. It applies accessibility requirements to covered products and services placed on the German market and designates the market surveillance authority that enforces them. | Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz (BFSG), Federal Law Gazette I 2021, p. 2970 |
| BFSG penalties | The BFSG provides for administrative fines for non-compliance, to a maximum of EUR 100,000. | Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz (BFSG), Federal Law Gazette I 2021, p. 2970 |
| Reasonable accommodation duty | Requires employers to take appropriate measures to enable a person with a disability to have access to, participate in, or advance in employment, unless that would impose a disproportionate burden. This duty runs continuously and is independent of the EAA compliance schedule. | Council Directive 2000/78/EC establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation, Article 5 |
What Aletheia offers a German institutional buyer
The accommodation duty applies to the disabled employee a German employer has today. Aletheia gives that person a tool that works on their own device now, regardless of where the employer's own remediation programme has reached.
The specific thing Aletheia is good at is the gap between when access is owed and when it is delivered. An institution running a multi-year remediation programme still has a disabled employee or student today, reading a scanned PDF that no one has tagged yet, or a form with no labels. Aletheia is an accommodation that can be given to that person immediately: it runs on their own device, it does not require the publisher to act, and it does not require the institution to have finished anything.
- An accommodation you can grant today. A seat can be assigned to a specific person who needs it, without waiting on the remediation queue.
- Nothing leaves the device by default. Documents are processed in the reader's browser and stored in a local library on their device. That keeps the data-protection footprint of an accommodation small, which matters when the person receiving it is identifiable as disabled.
- Procurement-ready documentation. A VPAT, an EN 301 549 mapping, a pre-completed HECVAT response, a DPA template, a sub-processor list, a DPIA, scoped SCCs, and a Transfer Impact Assessment are all published rather than sent on request.
- Honest conformance reporting. Aletheia is partially conformant with WCAG 2.2 Level AA and says so, with the criteria it has not finished proving named individually.
Pricing in Germany
Aletheia's published per-seat pricing is in United States dollars, and billing is in United States dollars. Aletheia does not currently publish a EUR price list or bill in EUR. For a quote in local currency, including any applicable tax treatment, contact sales.
The published USD baseline, for reference:
- Campus (schools and higher education, volume pricing sized by enrollment): from $12.99 per seat per month at the first band, minimum 50 seats. See Campus for the full band table.
- Enterprise (employers, healthcare, government, large nonprofits, graduated pricing sized by seat count): from $24.99 per seat per month at the first band, minimum 25 seats. See Enterprise for the full band table.
Accessibility of Aletheia itself, for German buyers
Aletheia exists to remove accessibility barriers from other people's content, so the tool has to meet the standard it helps people enforce. It is partially conformant with WCAG 2.2 Level AA. Self-evaluation. No third-party accessibility audit has been conducted, and no SOC 2 or comparable certification is claimed. A formal audit by an independent third party is planned and has not yet been carried out.
Aletheia's EAA Conformance Statement names the German market surveillance authority route in its enforcement section, and the EU Accessibility Statement follows the Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2018/1523 template used in German public sector procurement.
The statements that apply here, in the form a reviewer in Germany is most likely to want:
- Accessibility statement, in plain language, with every known limitation listed.
- VPAT accessibility report covering every WCAG 2.2 Level A and AA success criterion and the Revised Section 508 standards, also available as a tagged PDF.
- EN 301 549 conformance mapping, clause by clause.
- European Accessibility Act conformance statement under Directive 2019/882.
- EU Accessibility Statement in the Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2018/1523 template.
If you find an accessibility barrier in Aletheia, tell us at support@lonia.ai. Accessibility reports are treated as defects, not feature requests, and we aim to respond within five business days.