Sak 2023/186: vedtak av 6. mai 2024 (public version)

Summary

Norway’s tribunal found a municipality’s missing or non-working loops discriminatory, ordered working provision at its town hall and medical-centre reception, and set a deadline backed by a possible daily penalty.

Key findings

• The unanimous decision dated 6 May 2024 concerned a complaint lodged on 26 February 2023. This public version calls the respondent B municipality; the later penalty decision in the same case identifies Melhus.
• Pages 4-6 apply sections 12 and 17 of the Equality and Anti-Discrimination Act. The tribunal found a breach of the universal-design duty in public-facing municipal premises, using building-regulation requirements as guidance also for older buildings.
• The municipality acknowledged inadequate hearing access and had promised equipment by the end of 2023. The tribunal found no documentation that working provision was in place and no basis for the disproportionate-burden exception in this case.
• Page 7 orders working loops in the council chamber, cultural hall, reception counter and library in the town hall, and the medical-centre reception. Installation and evidence of completion were due by 15 June 2024.
• Pages 8-9 set a coercive penalty of NOK 3,000 per working day including Saturday, which the tribunal chair could activate if the order was not fulfilled by the deadline. This decision does not establish that the penalty was already accruing.
• The tribunal considered installation an important barrier-removal measure with relatively low costs in relation to municipal resources; that assessment was specific to the case.

Limits

Norwegian-language decision, summarised in English. The first public version anonymises the municipality and health centre. It gives an order, not proof of subsequent completion; the 25 February 2025 decision supplies follow-up. Its cost assessment is not a published installation quote or a general rule for every venue.

Read the original

www.diskrimineringsnemnda.no/media/mq5fafzc/sak-2023-186-offentlig-versjon-av-vedtak.pdf

Link checked 13 October 2026. We link to the original and do not host copies.

Cited in

• What do complaints, settlements and court cases say about assistive listening?Partly answered

Cite this source

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