European Accessibility Act in Finland: Laki 306/2019 and the 2023 EAA amendment, who must comply
Updated 2026-08-07 · European Accessibility Act · Finland
Finland's EAA transposition is built from two instruments, not one: Laki digitaalisten palvelujen tarjoamisesta (306/2019), the original Act on the provision of digital services, extended by Valtioneuvoston asetus 179/2023 — a government decree adding accessibility requirements for certain digital services. Together they implement the European Accessibility Act, Directive (EU) 2019/882, for Finland. Its private-sector requirements apply from 28 June 2025, the same date as across the rest of the EU. This guide explains how the two instruments fit together, who is covered, and where the official text sits.
Why two instruments, not one
Laki 306/2019 was originally written for public-sector digital services, implementing the earlier EU Web Accessibility Directive (2016/2102). Rather than replace it, Finland extended the same act's coverage to the EAA's private-sector requirements through a 2023 government decree — asetus 179/2023, whose own title translates as "accessibility requirements for certain digital services." Read 306/2019 in isolation and you get the public-sector picture only; the 2023 decree is what actually brings private businesses into scope. Both need to be cited together for an accurate account of Finnish EAA law.
Who is covered
The categories the 2023 decree brings in line with the directive itself:
- Products: consumer computer hardware and operating systems, self-service terminals (payment terminals, ATMs, ticketing and check-in machines, interactive information kiosks), consumer terminal equipment for telecoms and audiovisual media, and e-readers.
- Services: e-commerce, consumer banking services, electronic communications services, services providing access to audiovisual media, elements of air, bus, rail and waterborne passenger transport, and e-books.
E-commerce is, as everywhere in the EU, the category with the broadest reach in practice: any website or app through which a consumer can conclude a distance contract.
The microenterprise exemption
Service providers with fewer than 10 staff and an annual turnover or balance sheet total not exceeding EUR 2 million are exempt from the service obligations — the directive's own EU-wide threshold, unchanged by how Finland structured its transposition. Microenterprises dealing in covered products remain in scope, with reduced documentation duties.
The statement obligation
As under every EAA transposition, providers of covered services must make available information on how the service meets the accessibility requirements — Finland's counterpart to what Germany documents through Anlage 3 of the BFSG. It needs to sit where a consumer can actually find it and stay current as the service changes.
How Finnish businesses demonstrate compliance
There is no separate Finnish certification scheme. As across the EU, conformance with EN 301 549 — the harmonised ICT accessibility standard, which for web content converges with WCAG 2.1 AA — creates a presumption of conformity with the legal requirements. See our EN 301 549 guide for what it actually tests. An independent audit against that standard, plus the published statement above, is the evidence base that holds up under scrutiny.
Where to find the primary source
Finlex publishes the consolidated text of Laki 306/2019, and its 2023 amending decree separately — both are the sources to cite, not a secondary summary that may only mention one of the two. We do not quote a specific penalty figure for Finland here: we have not verified a sanctions amount against the primary legal text, and an unverified figure would mislead more than an honest gap.
Next step
Run a free scan against the Finnish rule set to see how your accessibility statement and technical conformance measure up today, then compare against providers who audit specifically for EN 301 549 / EAA compliance.
FAQ
- Is 306/2019 itself the EAA transposition?
- Not entirely on its own. Laki digitaalisten palvelujen tarjoamisesta (306/2019) originally covered public-sector digital services. Its private-sector EAA obligations — Directive (EU) 2019/882 — were added through a separate 2023 government decree, Valtioneuvoston asetus 179/2023 (eräiden digitaalisten palvelujen saavutettavuusvaatimuksista). Together, the two instruments are Finland's EAA transposition; citing 306/2019 alone without the 2023 decree misses the part that actually binds private businesses.
- From when do the private-sector requirements apply in Finland?
- From 28 June 2025, the same EU-wide date every Member State's transposition uses for covered products and services provided to consumers.
- Are small Finnish businesses exempt?
- Microenterprises providing services — fewer than 10 staff and annual turnover or balance sheet total not exceeding EUR 2 million — are exempt from the service requirements. This is the EU-wide threshold the directive itself sets, applied the same way in Finland as everywhere else.
- Where can I read the official text of the law and the decree?
- Finlex, Finland's official database of legislation, publishes both the consolidated text of Laki 306/2019 and the 2023 decree that extends it — that is the source to check for exact wording, not a secondary summary.