Act on Electronic Communications Services, chapter 22 a, accessibility requirements for communications services and services giving access to audiovisual content services, with Government Decree 180/2023

Section 194 a applies chapter 22 a to the services that give consumers access to audiovisual content services and to communications services offered to consumers. Section 194 a excludes from chapter 22 a the microenterprises providing the services and the machine-to-machine transmission services. Section 3, paragraph 11 a, defines a microenterprise as a microenterprise within Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC concerning the definition of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.

Section 3, paragraph 2 c, defines a service providing access to audiovisual content services as a service offered over electronic communications networks by which audiovisual content services and their accessibility features are identified, selected and viewed and information on them is received.

Article 4(3) of the Directive requires all services to comply with Section IV of Annex I. Section 194 b requires a provider offering communications services or access to audiovisual content services to consumers to ensure that procedures are in place to keep the applicable accessibility requirements met for as long as the service is provided.

Section 194 b requires the provider to give information on the operation of the service and, where products are used to provide it, on how the products relate to the service, their accessibility features and how they work with assistive devices. Section 194 b requires the provider to ensure that its support services give information on the accessibility of the service and its compatibility with assistive technology, using accessible means of communication.

Section 194 b treats services that conform to the harmonized standards under Article 15 of Directive (EU) 2019/882, or to the technical specifications in Commission implementing acts, as meeting the requirements of sections 194 b to 194 d that those standards or specifications cover. Section 194 b applies the requirements to interpersonal communications services, internet access services and services that give access to audiovisual content services.

Section 194 b applies the Act on the Provision of Digital Services (306/2019) to the extent the services are digital services within section 2, paragraph 3 of that Act. Section 194 c requires communications services to offer real-time text in addition to voice, and full interactivity features where video is offered in addition to voice. Section 194 c applies those additional requirements to interpersonal communications services.

Section 194 d requires services that give access to audiovisual content services to offer electronic programme guides that are easily perceivable, controllable, understandable and robust and that include information on the availability of accessibility features.

Section 194 d requires those services to ensure that the accessibility features of the audiovisual content services are transmitted in sufficient quality, accurately presented, synchronized with audio and video, and controllable by the user. Section 194 e requires a provider whose service does not meet the accessibility requirements to notify Traficom of the shortcomings and the corrective measures.

Section 194 e requires the provider, at Traficom's request, to supply all information needed to show that the service meets the accessibility requirements and to cooperate in bringing the service into conformity. Section 194 f lets a provider depart from the accessibility requirements only if an assessment shows that meeting them would fundamentally alter the basic nature of the service or impose a disproportionate burden on the provider.

Section 194 f bars a provider from relying on the disproportionate burden if it receives funding from public or private sources outside its own funds that is granted for improving accessibility. Section 194 f requires a provider that departs from the requirements to notify the supervisory authority of the departure. Section 194 f requires the provider to document the assessment and keep it for five years from when it last offered the service.

Section 194 f requires the provider to give the supervisory authority, on request, a copy of the documented assessment that explains how its service meets the accessibility requirements. Section 194 f requires the supervisory authority, where it finds shortcomings in the assessment, to call on the provider to correct them within a period it sets, and lets it order the provider to make a new assessment within a set time.

Section 194 f requires the assessment to be made again when the service is changed and at least every five years. Section 194 g requires a provider to publish in accessible form a description of the service and its operation so that it can be assessed how the service meets sections 194 b to 194 d, and to state which requirements the service does not meet where it departs under section 194 f. Section 194 g requires the provider to keep that information for as long as the service is offered.

Section 194 h does not require a service to meet sections 194 b to 194 d if at least one alternative way of using it that follows the functional performance requirements is offered and the service is then at least as accessible. Government Decree 180/2023 was made on 16 February 2023 under sections 194 b and 194 h of the Act.

Section 1 of the Decree requires a provider to give information on the operation of the service and on the products used to provide it in forms that are available through more than one sensory channel, understandable, perceivable, available in text formats suitable for alternative assistive formats, in a suitable typeface with sufficient contrast, and supplemented with alternative presentations of non-text content.

Section 1 of the Decree does not apply in so far as the services are digital services within section 2, paragraph 3 of the Act on the Provision of Digital Services. Section 2 of the Decree lists ten functional performance requirements that apply where they are applied instead of the accessibility requirements. The Decree entered into force on 20 February 2023 and applies from 28 June 2025. Act 105/2023 added chapter 22 a, which applies from 28 June 2025.

Act 105/2023 requires the products that a provider uses to provide its services to be brought into conformity by 28 June 2030. Act 105/2023 lets service contracts within chapter 22 a concluded before 28 June 2025 continue unchanged until they expire, but for no longer than five years from that date. Act 105/2023 was made at Helsinki on 19 January 2023.

Section 304 gives Traficom the task of supervising and inspecting that the services within chapter 22 a meet its requirements and of following the handling of complaints and reports made under it. Section 313 lets Traficom take up a matter within chapter 22 a on the request of any other party with a legitimate interest, as well as on its own initiative. Section 330 lets Traficom give a remark to a person who breaches the Act and oblige that person to correct the failure within a reasonable time.

Section 332 lets that obligation be backed by a conditional fine or by the threat that the activity is discontinued or the omitted measure is carried out at the defaulter's cost.