Web Accessibility Directive in Norway is a bit simpler than in the countries of European Union

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I received a brief question about Web Accessibility in Norway and if it is different from the EU and decided to write a short post as an answer.

I got some questions to my last post, where I wrote about accessibility legislation in Norway, and decided to make a separate post to answer the question, hoping that it will help others as well. The question was: “Does WAD in Norway require whole EN 301 549?” And the answer is no.

Web Accessibility Directive in Norway doesn’t require whole EN 301 549!

WAD in Norway isn’t like WAD in European Union, to simplify it. EU uses whole Harmonised European Standard EN 301 549 (version 3.2.1, PDF opens in new window), that includes WCAG 2.1 on levels A and AA, but it also includes criteria beyond WCAG.

This is no the case in Norway! In Norway only WCAG 2.1 on levels A and AA are required for web, native mobile apps and documents. EN 301 549 does go beyond that and covers also non-web software (like desktop applications) and also electronic devices.

Norwegian legislation therefore focuses on chapters 9, 10 and parts from 11 of the EN 301 549, that are:

  • Chapter 9 is dedicated to Web.
  • Chapter 10 is dedicated to Non-web documents (like for example PDF, Word etc.).
  • Chapter 11 is dedicated to Software that covers not only mobile applications but also authoring tools, software that operates as assistive technology, platform software and so on.

Conclusion – go beyond WCAG 2.1 if you can

Although Norway’s legislation doesn’t require whole EN 301 549 at the moment it can change in the future, especially with the coming European Accessibility Act (EAA, opens in new window) that is currently still not implemented in Norway.

Author: Bogdan Cerovac

I am IAAP certified Web Accessibility Specialist (from 2020) and was Google certified Mobile Web Specialist.

Work as digital agency co-owner web developer and accessibility lead.

Sole entrepreneur behind IDEA-lab Cerovac (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility lab) after work. Check out my Accessibility Services if you want me to help your with digital accessibility.

Also head of the expert council at Institute for Digital Accessibility A11Y.si (in Slovenian).

Living and working in Norway (🇳🇴), originally from Slovenia (🇸🇮), loves exploring the globe (🌐).

Nurturing the web from 1999, this blog from 2019.

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