Enforce Regulations for Universal Design of ICT (NO0065)

Summary of the commitment

The regulations require that websites, apps and self-service machines that the public and private sectors, including voluntary organisations, use in contact with the general public must be universally designed. The purpose is to promote equal participation in society, reduce and prevent new digital barriers and prevent discrimination. The regulations must be enforced and followed up through supervision, control, guidance and area monitoring. The regulations have been extended for the public sector with effect from 1 February 2023, so that from this date, more and stricter requirements are set for universal design of ICT in the public sector, compared to the private sector.

Description of the problem

1. What problems will the commitment solve? The purpose is to ensure equal participation in society and prevent digital exclusion and discrimination. Digitalisation of society makes everyday life easier for many people. Social media, news, timetables, shopping, banking and public services can be accessed via PCs and mobile phones. While nine out of ten people go online several times a day many people experience digital exclusion. Disabilities, advanced age, skills and language challenges mean that many people are unable to participate in society on equal terms. Between 630,000 and 800,000 people over the age of 15 have a disability, and more than 600,000 feel that their digital skills are inadequate. Digital exclusion has major consequences for society and the individual. Universal design of ICT should reduce exclusion and discrimination. The regulations shall in particular safeguard persons who are/have • Visually impaired or blind • Hearing impaired or deaf • Mobility impairment or other motor disabilities • Cognitive disabilities • A primary language other than Norwegian Deficiencies in the codebase of digital solutions can exclude those who use functionality for reading content, such as the blind, those with severely impaired vision, dyslexia or cognitive challenges. Poor contrast and insufficient possibilities for enlarging content make it difficult to use digital services for those with impaired vision. Without subtitles on videos and audio files, the content is inaccessible to those who are deaf or hard of hearing. Headings and links should be descriptive and help users find relevant content. This benefits everyone. If a website cannot be operated with a keyboard, those with motor disabilities, whether permanent or temporary, are excluded. Without good prompts on what to enter in the various form fields and sufficient time to complete and submit, those with visual impairments, cognitive disabilities, advanced age and little experience with digital services may miss out on necessary information, services they are entitled to and obligations they must fulfil. This is an example of the consequences of a lack of universal design. This will benefit those who need it most, but will also improve the quality of use for everyone.

2. What is the cause of the problem? Digital exclusion has multiple causes. The benefits of digitalisation are often linked to the reduction of staffed services. Research from a user perspective shows that disabilities, health challenges, age, language barriers, a difficult financial or life situation and insufficient connection to the labour market make people vulnerable to exclusion in digital social arenas. These are also factors that mean that many people lack the necessary digital skills and knowledge of rights, obligations and organisation (often referred to as administrative or bureaucratic skills). Circumstances on the provider side are also of great importance. A lack of universal design, too little user involvement in the development of digital services, difficult and inaccessible language in digital solutions, a lack of user guidance and few resources for staffed provision of services mean that the demands placed on individual users for digital self-service are too great. The gap between society’s requirements and many users’ individual preferences is therefore too great. This creates digital exclusion – the bigger the gap, the more exclusion.

Description of the commitment

1. What has been done so far to solve the problem? Norway was one of the first countries to demand universal design for ICT solutions in the private and public sectors. The EU followed suit in 2018 with similar regulations, but limited to the public sector. Since 2014, the regulations in Norway have been enforced through supervision of compliance in the private and public sectors, orders and other sanctions for violations of the regulations, guidance to entities that must comply with the regulations, communication activities and dialogue with industry and user organisations, area monitoring in the form of analysis and surveys to increase knowledge of the status of compliance and the consequences of digital exclusion in the absence of universal design.

2. What solution is proposed? The initiatives/solutions presented here are in line with Digdir/the Authority for Universal Design of ICT’s plans: 1. Enforce expanded regulations for the use of ICT in line with the imposed guidelines for increased control volume. In 2023, sector supervision was carried out in the education sector, with at least 10 controls. Subject to available resources, from 2024, approximately 280 simplified controls and 30-35 in-depth controls of digital solutions in the public sector will be carried out. In addition, supervision and controls will also be carried out in the private sector after 2023. 2. Continue the work to digitise methods for control and supervision to effectively scale up the control activities. 3. Roll out the solution for accessibility declarations to help ensure that all public sector activities have declarations of compliance with the regulations. 4. Continue the work on guidance, communication, information work and contact with industry and user organisations. 5. Analyse data and disseminate knowledge about the status of universal design of ICT, digital participation and digital exclusion. 6. Contribute to updated and relevant regulations.

3. What results will be achieved by implementing the commitment? The purpose is to promote equal participation in society, reduce and prevent new digital barriers and prevent discrimination. The result of enforcing and following up the regulations through control and supervision, guidance and communication, analyses and surveys is • that citizens, regardless of disability, will be able to participate in digital social arenas on equal terms. • increased awareness and knowledge about universal design of ICT and contribute to ensuring that universal design is a continuous endeavour that is included from the start of all development projects and is maintained in further development and administration. • increased knowledge and awareness of the extent and consequences of lack of universal design and digital exclusion.

Analysis of the commitment

1. How will the commitment promote openness? The commitment promotes openness by making information and services more accessible through universal design of ICT, thereby promoting equal participation.

2. How will the commitment contribute to greater predictability? The ICT regulations require the entities to ensure that digital solutions are universally designed. From 1 February 2023, public sector activities and bodies governed by public law must also have accessibility declarations for all websites and apps. The declarations show the degree of compliance with each individual requirement in the regulations for universal design of ICT, and have functionality for users of digital solutions to report accessibility challenges. Through the Authority for Universal Design of ICT, Digdir shall annually control the extent to which the entities comply with the regulations, and the results of the controls shall be reported to ESA/EU and made publicly available.

3. How will the commitment improve the opportunity for citizens to participate by publicising, implementing and monitoring the solutions? The incorporation of EU Directive 2016/2102 into Norwegian law means that the total number of compliance checks must be greatly increased. Norway is required to carry out annual in-depth controls of 30-35 websites and apps against all requirements in the regulations and up to 280 simplified controls of websites to identify violations of the regulations. This will contribute to more universally designed solutions and open information about which solutions are most/least compliant with the regulations. Accessibility declarations and follow-up of feedback from users about accessibility challenges in the public sector’s digital solutions will also help to make the entities more accountable to users.

Action Plan Review

Commitment 2. Enforce regulations for universal design of ICT solutions

Commitment 2 aims to ensure digital inclusion by applying universal design regulations for public sector websites and apps, focusing on people with visual, hearing, and/or mobility impairments or those speaking a primary language other than Norwegian. The commitment introduces the novel element of annually controlling the extent to which public bodies comply with the regulations, reporting the results to the European Union (EU), and making them publicly available. [24] A civil society representative stressed the importance of ensuring that these regulations are followed in the education sector. [25] However, the commitment text lacks specific milestones, therefore making the timeline activity implementation unclear. Furthermore, Uu-tilsynet (Authority for Universal Design of ICT) has already implemented three of the six activities in the commitment, which makes it difficult to assess how this commitment would expand this work. During implementation, Norway could add milestones to this commitment and allocate adequate resources to the Uu-tilsynet to scale up its public and private sector controls. Finally, Uu-tilsynet is encouraged to tailor the definition of universal design for different groups i.e., ensuring that people with hearing impairments are able to communicate in writing and have access to closed captions in videos and audio clips.