Meeting the Standards

How to comply

The New Zealand Government Web Standards (NZGWS) 2.0 came into effect 18 March 2009. To comply, websites must meet each of the requirements.

Agencies must meet the W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, level AA, which have been adopted as our technical standards, as well as the New Zealand-specific requirements. See the Technical Standards section for how to do this.

Coverage

The Standards are mandatory for any public website created by:

• Public Service departments
• the New Zealand Police
• the New Zealand Defence Force
• the Parliamentary Counsel Office
• the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service

Other State sector agencies are encouraged but not mandated to comply.

Compliance dates

NZGWS 2.0 came into effect 18 March 2009, and applied to all new web development begun after 31 October 2009. Since 1 July 2010, all applicable government websites must meet NZGWS 2.0.

Testing your site

Each WCAG 2.0 success criterion has links to "Sufficient Techniques" for meeting the criterion. These techniques contain examples and resources for testing and development. For an overview of how this works, see the Technical Standards Overview. See also the other Technical Web Guides.

Website assessment

An agency must conduct standards assessments of all the websites for which it has responsibility at least once a year, the results of which must be submitted to Government Information Services (GIS) at the Department of Internal Affairs.

Guidance and examples

See the Web Guides section for help and advice on a growing range of web development topics, including moving to the new standards.

Contact and training

Contact the Web Standards team with questions and training requests.

New Zealand Government agencies that must comply with NZGWS

• Crown Law Office
• Department of Building and Housing
• Department of Conservation
• Department of Corrections
• Department of Internal Affairs (In 2011, the National Library, and Archives New Zealand, were amalgamated with the Department of Internal Affairs)
• Department of Labour
• Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
• Education Review Office
• Government Communications Security Bureau
• Inland Revenue Department
• Land Information New Zealand
• Ministry for Culture and Heritage
• Ministry for the Environment
• Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (In 2010, the New Zealand Food Safety Authority was amalgamated with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry)
• Ministry of Defence
• Ministry of Economic Development
• Ministry of Education
• Ministry of Fisheries
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade
• Ministry of Health
• Ministry of Justice
• Ministry of Māori Development
• Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs
• Ministry of Science and Innovation
• Ministry of Social Development
• Ministry of Transport
• Ministry of Women's Affairs
• New Zealand Customs Service
• New Zealand Defence Force
• New Zealand Police
• New Zealand Security Intelligence Service
• Parliamentary Counsel Office
• Serious Fraud Office
• State Services Commission
• Statistics New Zealand
• The Treasury