Sweden

[SE] The Swedish Press and Broadcasting Authority’s newest report on accessibility requirements for broadcasters in Sweden

IRIS 2016-9:1/27

Erik Ullberg

Wistrand Advokatbyrå, Gothenburg

According to Section 5(12) of the Swedish Radio and Television Act (Radio- och TV-lagen - RTL), which implements Directive 2010/13/EU on Audiovisual Media Services (AVMS Directive) (see IRIS 2010-5/36), the media service providers of television broadcasting, on-demand television, and searchable text TV shall design their service in such a way that it becomes available to persons with disabilities through subtitling, interpretation, spoken text or a similar technique.

On 26 April 2016, the Swedish Press and Broadcasting Authority completed a report in which they present a decision model for the accessibility requirements for television broadcasting for persons with disabilities, to be applied from 1 July 2016. The requirements include subtitling, sign-language interpretation, and spoken text. The decision model is based partly on the impact that the requirements have had so far and the views put forward by disability organisations, broadcasters, and other interested parties; and partly on a number of considerations that the Authority has made about who the requirements should cover and how the obligations should be constructed.

In a manner similar to that which currently applies, media service providers of television broadcasting in the terrestrial network, via satellite or by wire will be covered by the accessibility requirements. The requirements will henceforth be divided into two types of obligations, based on the programme service’s audience share.

For service providers with an audience share of less than one percent, general obligations will be imposed to promote the availability of TV broadcasts in Swedish for people with disabilities. The service provider shall have the discretion to decide which of the techniques mentioned above is to be used, and on which platforms the accessibility is to take place, and to what extent. In connection with an annual report on how the requirements have been met, service providers will have to account for how the accessibility work has been undertaken during the year.

Media service providers with an audience share of at least one percent will have specific obligations to make programmes available. The specific obligations have now changed as they now include requirements for annual increases in quotas for each kind of  technology, rather than per sound and image. However the specific obligations do not need to be met to the extent that the cost of the obligation exceeds one percent of the provider’s net sales for the current programme service, based on the calendar year preceding the year in which the current level begins. The provider is afforded some discretion to decide the allocation between which platforms the different techniques are to be used. There are however some restrictions, since a certain amount of the services’ availability should be done linearly on all platforms. Service providers under the specific obligations also have to account for how the accessibility work has been undertaken during the year.

The new requirements also introduce the possibility to get partial credit for accessible programmes on on-demand television. Furthermore, the Authority already intends in the first year of the decision mode to examine whether there is potential to increase the quotas for the spoken text for providers with specific obligations.