Accessibility statement for the website vm.fi

This statement is about the Ministry of Finance website vm.fi. The website is subject to the require-ments of the Act on the Provision of Digital Services. Under the Act, public online services must be accessible, which means that everyone must have equal access to them. This accessibility statement describes the identified shortcomings in the accessibility of the website and provides information on how you can give us feedback on the website’s accessibility. This statement was drawn up on 22 September 2020 and updated on 30 September 2025.

Accessibility of the website

The vm.fi website largely meets the A and AA accessibility criteria (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines WCAG 2.1) required by the Act, and has no critical shortcomings in its accessibility. The main shortcomings in the accessibility of the service are described later in this statement. The excep-tions applicable are also referred to below.

An external expert assessment of the accessibility of the website was commissioned as part of a wider assessment of ministry websites that use the same publication platform. The shortcomings that were found have been corrected. We will be monitoring the website’s accessibility on a continuous basis using, for example, an appropriate software tool.

Accessibility will be taken into account in the development of all new features. The Ministry of Fi-nance also provides guidance for its officials to ensure they take into account accessibility require-ments in their work.

If the material you need is not accessible, please contact us by email. We will supply the material you need in an accessible form.

Content and functionalities that are not yet accessible

Code-level errors in page heading hierarchy

The order of page heading levels in the HTML code is partly incorrect. This may make it more diffi-cult to browse the page using a screen reader. A page’s HTML code may contain extra heading levels with no text. These will appear on a screen reader as empty headings. (WCAG 1.3.1)

Shortcomings in text alternatives for images and diagrams

The pages with content include some non-text content (images and diagrams) for which no descrip-tive text alternative has been given. Some images also include text. (WCAG 1.1.1, WCAG 1.4.5)

Accessibility issues in PDF documents

The website includes PDF documents that have been published since 23 September 2018 but do not meet the accessibility requirements.

The documents may include visual elements and diagrams that do not have text alternatives. (WCAG 1.1.1)
The documents may have layout issues that hamper screen reader use, such as unnecessary line breaks and headings with no heading levels marked, or the heading structure may be in-correct. (WCAG 1.3.1)
Table structures in the documents may have issues that hamper screen reader use; for exam-ple, table structures may have been used for text layout, there may be no programmatically determined column headings, or similar data may have been divided into several tables. (WCAG 1.3.1)
The documents may have footnotes that are not linked to the text, and it may be difficult to interpret them when using a screen reader. (WCAG 1.3.1)
There may be shortcomings in file metadata, such as missing titles or incorrect language spec-ifications and author information.
Some files do not have any structural tags. (WCAG 1.3.1)

Links

Some pages on the website may use the same link text for links that direct the user to different des-tinations. The names of some links do not work without their context, e.g. ‘Click here’ or ‘Read more’. The site contains image links that lack a text alternative indicating the purpose of the link. (WCAG 2.4.4)

Many of the external links on the website say that the link opens in a new tab, even it opens in the same tab. (WCAG 2.4.4)

The website contains broken links. These will be repaired in connection with other updates.

Embeddings

The site contains some embedded content without an explanatory title. (WCAG 4.1.2)

Visual formatting in code

There are instances where HTML code has been used instead of CSS to format the content. This may be the case, for example, where there is embedded content from third party systems, as it is not then possible to modify the code. Body text formatting may contain incorrect tags in the HTML code. The bold, font, u and strike tags may have been used incorrectly. These may appear as errors for users of assistive devices. (WCAG 1.3.1)

Contrast issues in the content

The contrast between the text and the background colour is not always sufficient. These problems can appear in, for example, buttons and footers. (WCAG 1.4.3)

Shortcomings concerning keyboard use

The website features accordion designs, for instance in frequently asked questions (FAQs). Some of the accordions are not navigable with the keyboard and some have defective or incorrect ARIA at-tributes. Furthermore, the visual indicator of an open accordion does not function correctly in some cases. (WCAG 2.1.1)

Shortcomings in content listings

The website contains content lists, such as lists of press releases, where the ‘Opens in a new win-dow’ link includes a ‘<title>’ element, which is not optimal for a screen reader. Neither is the RSS icon, which is presented in connection with the content listing, fully accessible (the WAI-ARIA im-age has no accessible name). (WCAG 1.3.5)

Content imported from other systems

The website includes content imported from other systems. Any accessibility issues with these con-tents are due to the original system.

Decisions

There are PDF documents on the website that have been imported from the Government’s electronic decision support system and are not fully accessible. The accessibility issues hamper the use of assis-tive technologies. The files lack text equivalents, titles and language specifications, and there are some issues with their structures.

Publications

The website contains links to PDF publications in the Institutional Repository for the Government (Valto). Separate accessibility statements have been prepared for the publications and the Institu-tional Repository, describing any accessibility issues they may have.

Accessibility statement of the Institutional Repository for the Government Valto

Project information

Project information is displayed from a separate system. Some of these functions have accessibility issues that hamper screen reader use and keyboard browsing. Such functions include reloading a page when switching from one tab to another, modal windows on pages displaying information on individual projects, and the project search calendar. Among the project information, there are PDF documents that have been produced in other systems, such as in the case management system. These documents may have some accessibility issues, such as deficient structures and attributes and miss-ing text alternatives. These issues hamper the use of assistive technologies.

Content not covered by the applicable legislation

The website has content that is not subject to the requirements of the legislation. Such content in-cludes:

files published before 23 September 2018
video or voice recordings published before 23 September 2020.

The website includes video recordings published before 23 September which have no subtitles. The website also has audio recordings published before 23 September which have no text alternative. (WCAG 1.2.1, WCAG 1.2.2)

Social media

Accessibility requirements are taken into account in the content of social media channels maintained by the Prime Minister's Office, based on the possibilities offered by each channel. The visual and audiovisual material produced before 23 September 2020 includes content that does not meet the accessibility requirements (e.g. subtitling and text alternatives are missing).

Have you noticed any accessibility concerns?

We are constantly working to make the online service more accessible. If you find any accessibility issues on the website that are not described in this statement, please let us know. We are also happy to receive other comments and suggestions for improvements to the accessibility of the website. You can send your feedback via the web page https://vm.fi/en/feedback. There you will find instructions on how to submit your feedback on accessibility issues.

Accessibility supervision

If you notice any accessibility issues on the website, you should first send feedback on this to the site administrator. Note that it may take up to 14 days for a reply to be sent to you. If you are not satisfied with the reply or if you do not receive a response within two weeks, please report this to the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom. Detailed information on how to sub-mit your report and how the matter will be handled is available on the Agency’s website.

Contact details of the supervisory authority

Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom
Digital Accessibility Supervision
saavutettavuusvaatimukset.fi/en
[email protected]
Telephone number: +358 29 534 5000 (switchboard)

Act on the Provision of Digital Services (306/2019) (currently in Finnish and Swedish)