MeAC – Measuring Progress of eAccessibility in Europe

Legislation/regulations

While there is no direct legislation on the accessibility of websites, the Decree on the Government Authorities’ Responsibility for the Implementation of Disability Policies (2001:526) states that government authorities shall especially focus on providing the same accessibility to their premises, activities, and information to disabled people as to the rest of the population. The decree says that all government authorities shall conduct their activity with concern to the goals of the disability legislation.

The Government Bill on the Swedish ICT-policy (2004/05:175) states that certain measures shall be taken to promote the availability of ICT for people with functional disabilities. The proposal states that public websites must be available to everyone, however, it is reportedly difficult to point to concrete actions that have resulted from the proposal.

The 24-hour web (www.verva.se), published in 2006, is a government guideline set up so that all public authorities shall be always available to everyone. The document contains an updated version of the WAI guidelines for accessibility of web pages. A Swedish government agency, VERVA is leading a network that public authorities can join to get information about how to make their website available for all, in line with the national guidelines. There is no official certification of public web sites and no sanctions if an authority does not follow the guidelines of the 24-hour web. Verva regularly performs automated testing on the accessibility of 900 public websites and the results are available on its website.

The 24-hour web document is only binding for governmental authorities, but it has also become, on a voluntary basis, a guideline for municipal authorities and private companies. Some private companies use the guidelines, but these are reportedly mostly companies that provide tools or services to the public sector, such as web consultants.

Other initiatives

There are also Guidelines for accessible public administrations from the Office of the Disability Ombudsman. These include, amongst other things, web and e-services (WAI guidelines).

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