Municipal companies
The DOS Act for municipal companies – does it apply to yours?
Most municipal companies count as bodies governed by public law and are then covered by the DOS Act, the Swedish Act on accessibility to digital public services (SFS 2018:1937). The website, apps and documents must be accessible and have an accessibility statement. Digg supervises. Companies competing in a market on commercial terms need to make their own assessment.
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The law
Is your company covered by the DOS Act?
The DOS Act applies to bodies governed by public law, the same group that are contracting authorities under the Public Procurement Act. A municipal company is such a body if it meets needs in the general interest that are not of an industrial or commercial character. According to the preparatory works for the DOS Act, that is true of most municipal companies.
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Who is covered
Usually municipal companies running public services, such as water and sewage or waste. For energy companies, city networks and other companies competing in a market, it depends on how the business is run. The company makes the assessment itself.
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What is required
That websites, apps and documents can be perceived, operated and understood, also with assistive technology, and that you publish an accessibility statement. The requirements are measured against EN 301 549, the standard built on WCAG 2.1 level AA.
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What happens otherwise
Anyone can report issues to Digg. Digg first tries to get you to fix them, and can then order you to fix the issues, with a fine if needed.
How Selma helps
How Selma helps municipal companies
See where you stand today
Start with the pages customers and residents use most: service updates, fault reports, subscriptions and contact. Selma Scanning tests one page at a time against WCAG 2.1 AA and shows what to fix first.
Read about Selma Scanning
Write an accessibility statement that is accurate
The statement has to say which parts fall short. Selma Services carries out a manual review and helps you describe the issues and how you will fix them.
Read about Selma Services
Keep your domain accessible over time
Outages, news and documents bring new pages and new issues. Selma Bevakning reviews your whole domain every week against WCAG 2.2 AA, and whoever runs your website gets a code fix for every issue.
Read about Selma Bevakning
Common questions about the DOS Act for municipal companies
- Are municipal companies covered by the DOS Act?
- Yes, most of them. The DOS Act applies to bodies governed by public law, and according to the preparatory works most municipal companies are such bodies. What decides it is whether the company meets needs in the general interest that are not of an industrial or commercial character. The company makes the assessment itself.
- How do we know whether our company is covered by the DOS Act?
- Start with procurement. If the company is a contracting authority under the Public Procurement Act (LOU), it is usually also a public actor under the DOS Act, since the two acts use the same term. Companies competing in a market on commercial terms can fall outside. That assessment is often difficult and depends on how the business is run.
- Does the DOS Act apply to municipal energy companies and city networks?
- It depends on how the business is run. A company operating in a competitive market with profit targets can have needs of a commercial character and fall outside the DOS Act. If the company sells electricity or broadband to consumers online, the Swedish Accessibility Act (LPTT) can also apply to that service. It covers, among other things, e-commerce and electronic communications services for consumers, and PTS supervises.
- Do we need an accessibility statement?
- Yes, if the company is covered by the DOS Act. The act requires an accessibility statement for your digital service. Among other things, it has to say whether the website fully, partly or does not meet the requirements, which parts are not accessible and how visitors can report issues.
- What happens if our company does not comply with the DOS Act?
- Digg supervises, and anyone can report issues to Digg. Digg first tries to get you to fix them. If that fails, Digg can order you to fix them, and a new order can come with a fine. The DOS Act has no administrative penalty fee.
- Can an accessibility widget help us?
- Yes, it can make things much easier for visitors. Selma Widget lets them adjust text, contrast and motion to their needs, and automatically fixes some issues right in the visitor's browser: it improves focus and keyboard navigation, adds information that screen readers need and gives images without alternative text a description. It does not necessarily take you all the way. Issues in the source code and in documents such as PDFs have to be fixed where they are, and the widget does not replace the accessibility statement.
See how your domain holds up
Test your domain for free and get a report straight to your inbox. Or book a meeting and we will go through what the DOS Act means for your company.