Accessibility statement

Before February 1, 2023, all public sector organizations are required to have an accessibility statement in place on their websites.

Accessibility statement on laptop

You can find more info at uutilsynet.no.

In October 2022, Digdir launched a solution for accessibility declarations, which all public sector organizations are required to have in place on their websites before 1 February 2023.

Here you can read more about accessibility declarations on the uutilsynet website.

What is it?

An accessibility statement must describe how and to what extent websites and mobile applications meet the requirements for universal design. This means that everyone in the public sector must map the accessibility status of their website. The results of the mapping must be presented in an accessibility statement that is open to all and available on the website.

Here you can see an example of such an accessibility statement.

Is it me?

The requirement applies to enterprises in the public sector and other enterprises that perform tasks on behalf of the public sector and that are wholly or partly financed by the public sector. In addition, the requirement covers private entities that make decisions under the Public Administration Act and private entities by agreement with, and on behalf of, the public sector.

It is the companies themselves that are obliged to make this assessment. Read more at uutilsynet.no

What can I do?

The Norwegian Directorate of Digitization has developed a common solution for accessibility declarations. You will be sent a PIN code that you log in and fill in together with your organization number.

Here you can see the test procedures for websites.

Filling in the form requires some knowledge of coding. Therefore, it may be easier to contact us at Gasta if we have developed your website. We have tools to analyze the website and know a lot about accessibility. We generally know how to resolve the discrepancies that arise, often with the help of coding.

Our approach

  1. We will test your website and correct deficiencies and errors. In the event of major errors, we will contact you and agree on how much time is needed to complete the work.

  2. Once these errors have been corrected, we fill in the accessibility declaration from Digdir. This is a standard form. We need access to the PIN code you have received from Digdir to log in together with your organization number.

  3. Once the declaration has been filled in and the contact form has been created, we post a link on the website. Often in the footer, next to the privacy statement.

  4. Then we'll give you an introduction. There are a few things you should know about when working with content on the website. In addition, the declaration must be updated once a year, or in the event of major changes. If you are good at working on it along the way, the annual update will be less work.

This takes one to two days of work for us, unless there is something special about the website.

Want to know more?

Contact Astri Knudsen: astri@gasta.no - 984 08 619

General about Squarespace and accessibility

All existing websites must be universally designed before January 1, 2021. It is the owner of the website who is responsible. The owner can demand that the website is universally designed by the supplier through tenders and contracts, but the owner is ultimately responsible. Websites must meet 35 of the 61 success criteria in the standard Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0.

If you use Squarespace and standard templates, you will not be able to meet accessibility requirements, but we at Gasta have HTML libraries that we add to websites to ensure they meet the requirements.

Here you will find the minimum requirements for universal design with our comments.