FinlandÅland Act on Accessible Digital Services, chapter 2a, accessibility requirements for consumer passenger transport and audiovisual media access services, with Landskapsförordning 2023:71
Landskapslag (2019:7) om tillgängliga digitala tjänster 2a kap. (8 a–8 i §), 9 och 11 §, sådana de lyder i landskapslagen 2023:61, och landskapsförordning (2023:71) om tillgänglighetskrav för vissa digitala tjänster
In force since .
An accessibility requirements rule binding public and private bodies.
What it requires
- If you professionally provide consumers in Åland, within the legislative competence of the Åland Parliament, with a passenger transport service by sea, inland waterway or bus (not urban, suburban or regional transport) or with a service that gives access to audiovisual media services, make your website or app meet the requirements of section 5 and the additional requirements of section 8 b from , and keep procedures in place so that it stays compliant (ss. 1, 8 a and 8 b).
- Chapter 2a does not apply to services that microenterprises provide; section 2 defines a microenterprise as an enterprise with fewer than ten employees and an annual turnover or annual balance sheet total of at most EUR 2 million (ss. 2 and 8 a).
- Give information on how the service works and on the products used to provide it, and have any support services give information on its accessibility and compatibility with assistive technology through accessible means (s. 8 b).
- Follow the harmonized standards or technical specifications that Article 15 of Directive (EU) 2019/882 refers to if you want the service treated as meeting the requirements they cover (s. 8 b).
- Depart from the requirements only where your accessibility assessment shows that meeting them would fundamentally alter the service or impose a disproportionate burden, not if you receive outside funding for improving accessibility; tell the Government of Åland, document the assessment, give it on request, keep it for five years and repeat it when the service changes, on request and at least every five years (ss. 8 c and 8 d).
- Publish, besides your accessibility statement, a general description of the service and how it meets the additional requirements, in written and oral form accessible to persons with disabilities, and keep it for as long as you provide the service (s. 8 e).
- Tell the Government of Åland of any accessibility shortcoming in the service and of the corrective measures (s. 8 f).
- If you operate a passenger transport service or hold a station, terminal or port for it, give on your website and in your app the information you hold on the accessibility of the vehicles, infrastructure and built environment, assistance for persons with disabilities, smart ticketing, real-time travel information and further use of the service (s. 8 g).
- If you provide a service giving access to audiovisual media services, offer accessible electronic programme guides that show the accessibility services, and pass the accessibility services through in full, in adequate quality, synchronized and under the user's control; or offer an alternative mode of operation that meets the ten functional performance requirements of Landskapsförordning 2023:71 and is at least as accessible (ss. 8 h and 8 i; ÅFS 2023:71 ss. 2 and 3).
- Make the service meet chapter 2a within a reasonable time when the Government of Åland orders it; anyone may complain to the Government that you have not observed chapter 2a (ss. 9 and 11).
- Service contracts made before may continue unchanged until they expire, but for no longer than five years from that day, and chapter 2a does not apply to content archived, or to pre-recorded media and office files published, before that day (ÅFS 2023:61, entry into force).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
The Government of Åland (Ålands landskapsregering), the supervisory authority under section 9 of the Act
What it reaches
Instrument type
an act of a legislature
Obligation class
Disclosure, Governance, Reporting
Applicability criteria
Section 8 a excludes services provided by a microenterprise, which section 2, paragraph 6 defines as an enterprise that has fewer than ten employees ("färre än tio anställda") and an annual turnover not exceeding EUR 2 million or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding EUR 2 million.
- As of
- Combinator
- Any of
- Criteria
- consumer passenger transport services within the legislative competence of Åland, other than urban, suburban and regional transport (section 8 a, paragraph 1)
- consumer services that give access to audiovisual media services (section 8 a, paragraph 2)
What this law does
Åland Act 2023:61, made in Mariehamn on , renamed the Åland Act on Accessible Websites and Mobile Applications in the Administration (2019:7) the Act on Accessible Digital Services and added chapter 2a, sections 8 a to 8 i. Section 1 states that the Act implements Directive (EU) 2016/2102 and, in part, Directive (EU) 2019/882.
Section 1 applies chapter 2a only to the digital services of section 8 a, provided by service providers in the Åland and municipal administration and by service providers within the legislative competence of the Åland Parliament that professionally provide services to the public.
Section 8 a applies chapter 2a only to the providers of services aimed at consumers that are passenger transport services within the legislative competence of Åland, other than urban, suburban and regional transport, or services that give access to audiovisual media services. Section 8 a excludes from chapter 2a the services that microenterprises provide.
Section 2 defines a passenger transport service as a service provided to consumers as part of the transport services that Regulation (EU) No 1177/2010 on passenger rights in sea and inland waterway transport and Regulation (EU) No 181/2011 on passenger rights in bus transport cover.
Section 8 b requires a service provider to make its digital services meet the requirements of section 5 and the additional requirements of section 8 b, and to have procedures that keep the applicable accessibility requirements met for as long as the service is provided.
Section 8 b requires the provider to give information on how the service works and on the products used to provide it, and, where support services exist, to have them give information on the accessibility of the service and its compatibility with assistive technology through accessible means of communication.
Section 8 b treats additional requirements 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 those standards or specifications cover.
Section 8 c lets a provider depart from the requirements where an accessibility assessment shows that meeting them would fundamentally alter the basic nature of the digital service, sets the test for a disproportionate burden by net compliance costs against operating and capital expenditure and against net turnover and by estimated costs and benefits, and bars a departure where the provider receives funding outside its own resources for improving accessibility.
Section 8 d requires a provider that departs from the requirements to inform the supervisory authority, to document the assessment, to submit it on request and to keep it for five years from when it last provided the service, and to repeat the assessment when the content of the service changes, at the authority's request and at least every five years.
Section 8 e requires the provider, in addition to the accessibility statement of section 7, to publish a general description of the digital service and information on how it meets the additional requirements of the Directive, in written and oral form accessible to persons with disabilities, and to keep that information for as long as the service is provided.
Section 8 f requires a provider whose digital service does not meet the requirements to inform the supervisory authority of the shortcomings and the corrective measures.
Section 8 g requires the operators of passenger transport services and the holders of their stations, terminals and ports each to give on websites and in mobile applications the information they hold on the accessibility of the means of transport and of the surrounding infrastructure and built environment, assistance for persons with disabilities, smart ticketing systems, real-time travel information and further information on use of the service.
Section 8 h requires a service that gives access to audiovisual media services to provide electronic programme guides that are perceivable, operable, understandable and robust and give information on the accessibility services, and to transmit the accessibility services of the audiovisual media services fully, in adequate quality, synchronized with sound and video, and so that the user can control their display and use.
Section 8 i does not require a service giving access to audiovisual media services to meet sections 8 b and 8 h if it offers at least one alternative mode of operation that meets the functional performance requirements and is then at least as accessible.
Section 9 makes the Government of Åland the supervisory authority and lets anyone complain to it that a service provider has not observed the requirements of chapter 2a. Section 11 lets the Government of Åland, in supervising chapter 2a, order a service provider to make its digital services meet the requirements of chapter 2a within a reasonable time. Act 2023:61 entered into force on , and chapter 2a applies from .
Service contracts within chapter 2a concluded before may continue unchanged until they expire, but for no longer than five years from that date, and chapter 2a does not apply to website and app content archived, or to pre-recorded time-based media and office files published, before .
Landskapsförordning 2023:71, made in Mariehamn on under sections 8 h and 8 i, lists ten functional performance requirements for a digital service that applies them instead of the accessibility requirements.
Section 3 of the Landskapsförordning requires a provider of services giving access to audiovisual content services to give information on the service and on the products used to provide it through more than one sense, in an understandable and perceivable way, in text formats suitable for alternative assistive formats, in a suitable typeface with sufficient contrast, and with alternative presentations of non-text content, except where the services are websites and mobile applications. The Landskapsförordning entered into force on and applies from .
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app ships a consumer interface or ships a mobile app.
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