At the end of 2016, the European Parliament adopted the Accessibility Directive. The Directive sets minimum accessibility requirements for online public services and provides for the monitoring of accessibility.
Accessibility of a digital service means that the service is accessible to all people. Accessibility is therefore an essential part of digitising public services and improving the quality of digital services. If accessibility is not taken into account, many people will be excluded from services. It is estimated that more than one million Finns face specific challenges in using online services: for example, disabilities, ageing, reading difficulties, mental health problems and poor Finnish language skills can all pose difficulties when it comes to doing business online.
The Directive is based on the WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) standard. The standard includes a number of different criteria that an accessible online service must meet.
Accessibility of the online service
Accessibility of online services is related to technical and content accessibility. In addition, the usability of the web service is essential for accessibility.
- Technical accessibility means, for example, that a web service can be used with technical aids (e.g. screen readers). Technical accessibility includes, for example, the fact that the web service is coded correctly and in accordance with standards. The WCAG 2.0 accessibility guidelines can also be found on the website of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which maintains them.
- Content accessibility means cognitive accessibility, i.e. that the content is understandable and easy to assimilate and use. Content accessibility can be improved, for example, by using clear general language, avoiding special and difficult-to-understand terms, and breaking down textual content into easy-to-see chunks. One way to improve accessibility is to use plain language wherever possible. More information on plain language can be found on the website of the Clear Language Centre.
When should websites and other digital services be accessible?
The accessibility requirements of the law do not come into force all at once, but have transition periods depending on when the online service or content was published and by which operator.
The transition period for older online services published before 23 September 2018 is two years, meaning that they must be accessible from 23 September 2020. New online services must be compliant from 23 September 2019. To the extent that the private sector is covered, their websites must be compliant by 1 January 2021.
Mobile apps will have to comply from 23 June 2021. Intranets and extranets used in the workplaces of public authorities and public law bodies will have to comply with accessibility requirements after 22 September 2019, when a new intranet is published or when an old intranet is completely renewed.
Make your organisation’s online service accessible
Achieving a website requires expertise from the designer, developer and administrator. We can either help you make your existing website accessible or ensure that your completely new website is accessible from the moment of launch.