Accessibility compliance guides · More Global Markets

New Zealand, Norway, and other accessibility markets

Two more regimes show up constantly in global audits. New Zealand sets WCAG 2.2 AA for government through its Web Accessibility Standard. Norway has required universal design of public and private ICT for years, and raised the public sector bar again under the Web Accessibility Directive.

New Zealand: Government Web Accessibility Standard — WCAG 2.2 AA for named agencies
Norway: Universal design of ICT for public and private sites aimed at the public
Elsewhere: WCAG 2.2 AA is the level that also covers stricter European laws

What it is

New Zealand’s Government Web Accessibility Standard, version 1.2, requires WCAG 2.2 Level AA. It applies to Public Service departments and a named set of other agencies, not automatically to every organization in the country. Other public bodies are encouraged to follow it. Private businesses do not have an equivalent WCAG mandate. The Human Rights Act 1993 prohibits disability discrimination in goods and services and does not itself name WCAG, so a complaint is possible without a technical regulation behind it.

Norway regulates this under section 18 of the Equality and Anti-Discrimination Act and the regulations on universal design of ICT. Websites, apps, and self-service machines that the public and private sectors use with the general public must be universally designed. For many private-sector websites the cited web standard is WCAG 2.0 Level AA, with exceptions for success criteria 1.2.3, 1.2.4, and 1.2.5. New ICT has been in scope since 2014, and existing ICT since 2021. The Authority for Universal Design of ICT (Tilsynet for universell utforming av IKT), part of the Norwegian Digitalisation Agency, supervises the rules and can order corrections and impose coercive fines.

Public sector bodies in Norway have a stricter overlay. The EU Web Accessibility Directive was implemented from February 2022, with public sector websites and apps required to meet WCAG 2.1 success criteria from February 1, 2023 (with audio description following on a later step). Accessibility statements have been required for public sector websites since February 1, 2023 and for apps since February 1, 2024.

“Beyond” is the rest of the map we already write about: Germany’s BFSG, France’s RGAA, and Italy’s Stanca Act implement European accessibility duties with their own penalties. If you operate in several of these countries, we do not run a separate WCAG project per flag. We audit once to WCAG 2.2 AA and map the report to each law that applies.

Who needs to comply

Public sector duties are specific. Private sector duties depend on the country.

Named New Zealand government agencies. Public Service departments and the agencies the Web Accessibility Standard lists. Other public bodies should follow it. Private firms look to the Human Rights Act and to any overseas law their customers bring.
Norwegian public and private organizations. Anyone offering ICT to the general public: websites, apps, and self-service machines. Education was brought into the regulations earlier. Public bodies also publish accessibility statements.
Teams selling into several countries. A single inaccessible checkout can be an EAA issue, a Norwegian ICT-regulation issue, and a New Zealand human rights issue at the same time. We list the regimes in the report instead of handing you three unrelated audits.

Timeline

Norway’s private sector duty is old. New Zealand’s 2.2 standard and Norway’s public sector 2.1 duty are the recent ones.

July 1, 2014 / 2021. Norway: new ICT universally designed from 2014; existing ICT from 2021, at WCAG 2.0 AA with the stated media exceptions.
February 1, 2023. Norway public sector: WCAG 2.1 requirements and website accessibility statements. App statements followed on February 1, 2024.
Standard 1.2. New Zealand Government Web Accessibility Standard requires WCAG 2.2 AA for the agencies it covers.
June 28, 2025. European Accessibility Act applies in the EU. Germany, France, and Italy enforce through their own laws. Norway’s EEA relationship is separate from EU membership; the ICT regulations are the Norwegian text we test against.

What the rule requires

WCAG 2.2 AA is the strictest common web target on this list.

WCAG 2.2 AA for New Zealand government. The standard’s current level. We audit to it directly when the agency is in scope.
WCAG 2.0 AA, and 2.1 for Norwegian public sector. Private and general ICT at 2.0 AA with the media exceptions the regulation lists. Public sector sites and apps also need the WCAG 2.1 criteria and an accessibility statement. Testing 2.2 AA covers both layers.
Statements where the law requires them. Norwegian public sector statements are mandatory. We write them from the test. New Zealand agencies should publish a statement that matches the standard.
One report, several mappings. When you also sell into the EU, UK, U.S., or Canada, we map the same findings to those laws instead of starting over.

How we help

We help agencies in New Zealand, organizations offering ICT in Norway, and teams that need one audit to travel.

A scope note that says which New Zealand agencies, which Norwegian ICT, and which other countries are actually in play.
A WCAG 2.2 AA audit mapped down to WCAG 2.0 and 2.1 where an older citation is what the regulation still prints.
Manual testing with NVDA, JAWS, and VoiceOver, plus keyboard-only use and browser zoom. The failures these rules care about are often invisible to an automated scan.
Remediation in your production code by our developers, so the fix lives in the product and not only in a report.
An accessibility statement and, where a buyer or regulator expects one, a VPAT-based Accessibility Conformance Report grounded in the audit.
Training for the people who publish pages, documents, and campaigns after the audit.
A retest after major releases, so a later deploy does not quietly undo the work.

Web accessibility audit and remediation

Our process

Confirm what applies to you. We list every country where the site is offered to the public, then keep the ones with a real duty: New Zealand’s standard, Norway’s ICT regulations, and any EU, UK, U.S., Canadian, Australian, or Indian law that also applies.
Audit the live experience. We review the pages, flows, documents, and apps people actually use, with assistive technologies as well as automated checks, and map each finding to the standard this rule points to.
Fix the barriers that block access. Our developers remediate structure, keyboard access, forms, contrast, names, and media in your codebase, starting with the journeys that gate a service.
Document what was tested. You receive the findings, what we fixed, and the statement or conformance report your team, counsel, or procurement office needs on file.
Keep it from slipping. We train publishers and retest after significant releases so new content does not reopen the same gaps.

Longer background: Germany’s BFSG, one of the “beyond” regimes.

Frequently asked questions

Does New Zealand require every business to meet WCAG 2.2?

No. The Government Web Accessibility Standard applies to Public Service departments and the other agencies it names. Private businesses are not under that mandate. The Human Rights Act can still apply to a discriminatory service, and foreign laws apply if you sell into those countries.

Does Norway apply to private companies?

Yes. The ICT regulations cover private businesses, organizations, and the public sector when the ICT is aimed at the general public. Public sector bodies have additional WCAG 2.1 duties and must publish accessibility statements. Supervision sits with the Authority for Universal Design of ICT.

What does “beyond” include?

Markets where we already publish longer guides: Germany’s BFSG, France’s RGAA, and Italy’s Stanca Act, plus the laws on our other compliance pages. If your country is not listed and you sell there, ask us — the audit method is the same even when the citation changes.

Will you run a separate project per country?

Only when the products differ. When it is one website, we audit it once to WCAG 2.2 AA and map the results to each law. That is faster and it keeps the fix list honest.

Related guides

This page is general information from Peradeo Technologies Inc., not legal advice.

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