ADA, the EAA and Norwegian law: which rules actually apply to your site?

“Is our website ADA compliant?” is a question we hear often from Norwegian businesses. The short answer is that the ADA is US legislation that rarely applies directly to a Norwegian company. The long answer is that the requirements you do have to meet point at the same technical standard anyway.

Three regimes, one standard

The point is that whichever regime catches you, you end up at WCAG. Build against WCAG 2.2 AA and you cover all three in practice.

What Norwegian law requires today

The Equality and Anti-Discrimination Act and its accompanying regulation set requirements for universal design of ICT solutions aimed at the general public. The Norwegian Digitalisation Agency (Digdir) supervises compliance and can order remediation and impose coercive fines.

• The requirements cover websites and apps used by the general public, including in the private sector
• Public bodies must additionally publish an accessibility statement
• The statement must be current and linked from the site
• Non-compliance can be followed up with orders and coercive fines

Four reasons this is worth the work

1. 1Legal exposureOrders and fines are the obvious cost. The reputational cost of a complaint case is often larger.
2. 2Search engines reward the same thingsSemantic structure, descriptive link text and good performance are both accessibility requirements and ranking factors.
3. 3A bigger marketAround 15–20 per cent of the population has a disability. Add temporary and situational limitations and the share is far higher.
4. 4A better product for everyoneThe requirements force clearer structure, better error handling and simpler flows. It shows up in conversion.

Three persistent myths

• “It is expensive and slow”

  Most findings are contrast, alt text, labels and focus indication. Handled early it costs almost nothing. Handled after launch it costs a great deal more.

• “Only public sites have to”

  The regulation also covers private organisations serving the general public, and the EAA extends the scope further.

• “It only helps a small group”

  Captions are used mostly by people without hearing loss. Good contrast helps everyone in sunlight. Keyboard navigation is used by power users every day.

What to do now

1. 1Establish a baselineRun an audit combining automated testing with manual review and screen-reader passes.
2. 2Prioritise by riskStart with anything affecting the purchase or application flow. That is where legal and commercial risk are both highest.
3. 3Fix the codebase, not the overlaySo-called accessibility widgets bolted on top of a site rarely solve the underlying problems.
4. 4Build it into your routinesPut automated checks in the build and accessibility into your acceptance criteria.
5. 5Document itA current accessibility statement shows what has been tested, what remains, and when it will be fixed.