The Act on the Provision of Digital Services obliges the public sector and some private and third sector organisations to comply with accessibility requirements. This section provides information on the requirements of the Act and the kind of actors that are obliged under the Act.
Accessibility requirements and obligations for digital services
The Act on the Provision of Digital Services contains accessbility requirements and obligations that the digital services in its scope must meet. The requirements common to all can be summarised as follows::
- The digital service and its contents must meet the relevant technical accessibility requirements , i.e. the technical requirements for the service and its contents determined in the European standard EN 301 549. The standard refers to the WCAG.
- The accessibility of the service and its contents must be evaluated, and the state of accessibility and any shortcomings must be presented in the accessibility statement. We have also provided a tool for filling in the statement (External link) (currently, in Finnish and Swedish only).
- The digital service must include an electronic feedback channel so that users can leave feedback on the accessibility of the service. The user must receive a response to their feedback within 14 days.
- In addition, the Act on the Provision of Digital Services lays down service-specific additional requirements and notification obligations for the following digital services intended for consumers: e-commerce services, e-books, certain passenger transport and banking services, services providing access to audiovisual content and communications services. You can read more about these requirements on this page.
The Act on the Provision of Digital Services
The Act on the Provision of Digital Services (306/2019, available in Finnish and Swedish only) (External link) entered into force in Finland on 1 April 2019 and the amendments to Chapter 3a on 1 February 2023. The Act is based on EU´s accessibility directives. In addition, the Act is impacted by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (available in Finnish and Swedish only) (External link), which emphasises the inclusion of persons with disabilities and the possibility of using services independently also in the digital environment. Accessibility is one of the key principles of the Convention.
The aim of the Act is to improve everyone’s possibilities to use digital services on an equal basis. Accessibility should be understood as a key operating principle that should be taken into account in all planning, implementation and maintenance of online content and services.
Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom´s Digital Accessibility Supervision Unit is the authority supervising compliance with the the Act on the Provision of Digital Services.
European standard EN 301 549
The technical accessibility requirements of the Act on the Provision of Digital Services are defined in the harmonised European standard EN 301 549. The standard includes references to the international Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), but it is more comprehensive than the WCAG in terms of accessibility requirements.
To meet the accessibility requirements, websites must in practice comply with the Level A and AA criteria of the WCAG. For mobile applications or documents downloadable from websites and mobile apps, the relevant WCAG guidelines are applied where applicable for several individual requirements.
In addition to the WCAG criteria, it is also necessary to take into account those accessibility requirements of EN 301 549 that are not based on WCAG. The standard includes requirements, for example, for media players, two-way voice communication, and real-time text. It also contains requirements concerning, among other things, the use of biometrics, activation of accessibility features, and preservation of accessibility information during conversion. There are also specific requirements for product documentation and support services.
In the case of mobile applications, the standard also defines requirements, for example, for interoperability with assistive technology and for considering user settings.
The standard also includes requirements for authoring tools.
The standard is available in Finnish and English and can be downloaded from the SFS website. Read the SFS EN 301 549 standard in Finnish and in English (External link).