Ships a mobile app, in Belgium

Burgerlijk Wetboek, boek 6, artikelen 6.41 tot 6.55 · Read the law's page

• Do not assume this regime answers whether standalone software is a product: Book 6 defines a product as a corporeal movable good, joined to another movable or immovable good or not, adds electricity, and does not name software (Art. 6.42).
• If you make a finished product, a component part or a raw material, or put your name, trade mark or another distinguishing sign on a product so as to present yourself as its maker, you answer as its producer for the damage a defect in it causes (Arts. 6.41 and 6.43).
• If you import a product into the European Union in the course of your economic activities to sell it or transfer its use to a third party, you answer like the producer (Art. 6.44, first paragraph).
• If you supply a product and the producer (or, for an imported product, the importer) cannot be identified, you are treated as the producer unless you tell the injured person within a reasonable time who the producer or importer is, or who supplied the product to you (Art. 6.44, second paragraph).
• Judge each release against the safety people are entitled to expect in all the circumstances, among them how the product is presented, its normal or reasonably foreseeable use and the time you put it into circulation; a later, better product does not make the earlier one defective (Art. 6.45).
• Be able to prove a defense, because the injured person need prove only the damage, the defect and the causal link: that you did not put the product into circulation, that the defect probably did not exist then or arose later, that the product was not made for sale or distribution with an economic purpose or in the course of your profession, that the defect results from compliance with mandatory rules of the public authorities, or that scientific and technical knowledge when you put it into circulation made the defect impossible to discover (Arts. 6.47 and 6.48(a) to (e)).
• If you make a component or a raw material, keep the design and instruction records of the product it went into: you are excused if the defect is due to that product's design or to its producer's instructions (Art. 6.48(f)).
• Answer jointly with every other person liable under this section for the same damage, subject to rights of recourse (Art. 6.49).
• Do not rely on a contract term to limit or exclude your liability to the injured person; the liability can be limited or excluded where the injured person's own fault, or that of a person they answer for, contributed to the damage, but not where a third party's act did (Art. 6.50).
• Plan for claims for personal injury, moral damage included, and for damage to goods of a type normally intended for private use or consumption that the injured person mainly used that way; damage to the defective product itself is not compensated, and compensation for damage to goods is due only above a deductible of five hundred euros (Art. 6.51).
• Plan for the injured person's right to compensation to be extinguished ten years after you put the product into circulation unless proceedings were brought within that period, and for the action to prescribe three years after the injured person reasonably should have known the damage, the defect and the producer's identity (Art. 6.52).
• Do not treat this section as the whole of your exposure: it leaves the injured person's rights under the law of contractual and extra-contractual liability untouched (Art. 6.53).

Decreet van 29 maart 2024 over e-boeken en bijbehorende software (Vlaamse Gemeenschap) · Read the law's page

• If you provide e-books, that is digital book files with the software, including mobile applications, needed to open, browse, read and use them, in the Flemish Community, e-books you place on the market from 28 June 2025 must meet Sections 1 and 2 of Annex 1 to the decree of 29 March 2024 (Articles 3, point 2, and 4(2)).
• Prepare the information Annex 2 requires, explain how the service meets the accessibility requirements, make it available to the public in writing and orally in a way accessible to persons with disabilities, and keep it as long as the service operates (Article 4(2)).
• Micro-enterprises that offer the services are exempt from the requirements and from every obligation relating to compliance with them (Article 4(2)).
• The requirements apply only where compliance requires no fundamental alteration of the e-book and imposes no disproportionate burden; assess this on the Annex 3 criteria, document the assessment, keep the results for five years, give the administration a copy on request, renew a burden assessment when the service changes, on request and at least every five years, and, unless you are a micro-enterprise, tell the administration when you rely on the exception (Article 4(3)).
• You cannot rely on the disproportionate burden exception if you receive public or private funding, other than your own resources, to improve accessibility (Article 4(4)).
• Until 28 June 2030 you may keep providing the service with products you lawfully used before that date, and service contracts concluded before 28 June 2025 may run unchanged until 27 June 2030 at the latest (Article 4(5)).

Décret du 24 avril 2025 relatif aux exigences en matière d'accessibilité des livres numériques (Communauté française) · Read the law's page

• If you publish, distribute or sell e-books in the French Community, the decree of 24 April 2025 applies to e-books placed on the market from 28 June 2025, and from 28 June 2030 to e-books placed on the market before 28 June 2025 (Articles 2, point 5, and 7).
• If you publish e-books, make them meet Sections 1 and 2 of Annex I, prepare the information Annex II requires and make it available in writing and orally, including in a way accessible to persons with disabilities, keep procedures that keep the service conforming, correct a non-conformity, tell the Administration at once and cooperate with it (Article 3(1)).
• Micro-enterprises that publish e-books are exempt from the requirements and from all obligations relating to compliance with them, counting only the book-publishing part of a business with several activities (Article 3(2)).
• If you distribute e-books, receive, store and send on the publishers' files without compromising their accessibility features or changing their metadata (Article 3(3)).
• If you sell e-books to consumers, store and supply the files without compromising their accessibility features and pass on faithfully the metadata on their accessibility features (Article 3(4)).
• The requirements apply only to the extent that compliance does not require a fundamental alteration of the e-book and does not impose a disproportionate burden; tell the Administration when you rely on this, assess it on the Annex III criteria, support the assessment with evidence, keep the results for five years, give the Administration a copy on request, and renew a burden assessment when the service changes, on request and at least every five years (Article 4(1) to (3)).
• You cannot rely on the disproportionate burden exception if you receive funding other than your own resources, public or private, to improve accessibility (Article 4(4)).

Loi du 13 juin 2005 relative aux communications électroniques, article 121/4, §§ 3 à 7, inséré par la loi du 20 juillet 2023, et Koninklijk besluit van 13 september 2023 tot vaststelling van de voorschriften en nadere bepalingen inzake toegankelijkheid voor personen met een handicap tot elektronische communicatiediensten · Read the law's page

• If you provide electronic communications services, Article 121/4(3) to (7) of the Law of 13 June 2005 and the Royal Decree of 13 September 2023 apply to you from 28 June 2025 (Article 121/4(3) of the Law and Article 7 of the decree).
• Design your electronic communications services in accordance with the accessibility requirements and make them accessible to end users with disabilities (Article 121/4(3)).
• Give information on how the service works, its accessibility features and its interoperability with assistive devices through more than one sensory channel, make your websites, related online applications and mobile device services, including mobile applications, perceivable, operable, understandable and robust, and provide technical support that gives accessibility information through accessible communication methods (Article 3 of the Royal Decree of 13 September 2023).
• Offer real-time text in addition to voice communication, and total conversation where you provide video in addition to voice (Article 4 of the Royal Decree of 13 September 2023).
• Describe the service in accessible formats, justify how it meets each requirement of Articles 3 and 4, state that information in your general terms and conditions or an equivalent document, and keep it for as long as the service operates (Article 5 of the Royal Decree of 13 September 2023).
• The requirements do not apply to transmission services used to provide machine-to-machine services (Article 121/4(4)).
• Enterprises with fewer than ten employees and an annual turnover or annual balance sheet total of at most EUR 2,000,000 that offer electronic communications services are exempt from the requirements and from all obligations relating to compliance with them (Article 121/4(5)).
• The requirements apply only to the extent that compliance does not require a significant change resulting in a fundamental alteration of the nature of the service and does not impose a disproportionate burden under the criteria the King fixes; assess this, keep the evidence and results for five years after the service was last provided, give the Institute a copy of the assessment on request, and renew the assessment for each category or type of service when the service changes, at the Institute's request, and at least every five years (Article 121/4(6)).
• You cannot rely on the disproportionate burden exception if you receive public or private funding, other than your own resources, to improve accessibility (Article 121/4(7)).

Wet van 5 mei 2017 betreffende de audiovisuele mediadiensten in het tweetalig gebied Brussel-Hoofdstad, artikelen 3/2 tot 3/5, 12, § 1, en 30/1, ingevoegd ter gedeeltelijke omzetting van Richtlijn (EU) 2019/882, en Koninklijk besluit van 13 september 2023 tot vaststelling van de voorschriften en nadere bepalingen inzake toegankelijkheid voor personen met een visuele of auditieve handicap tot de audiovisuele mediadiensten in het tweetalig gebied Brussel-Hoofdstad · Read the law's page

• If you provide or distribute audiovisual media services under the Law of 5 May 2017 in the bilingual Brussels-Capital region, the accessibility provisions of that Law apply to you from 28 June 2025 (Article 10 of the amending Law).
• Make your audiovisual media services continuously and progressively more accessible, by proportionate measures, to persons with a visual or auditory impairment, and give emergency information, including public communications and announcements in natural disasters, in a way they can access (Article 3/2(1) and (2)).
• Providers of audiovisual media services develop the services in accordance with the accessibility requirements that the King lays down, and service distributors make audiovisual media services available at all times in accordance with them (Articles 12(1) and 30/1).
• Give information on how the service works and on its accessibility features through more than one sensory channel, make your websites and mobile device services, including mobile applications, perceivable, operable, understandable and robust, and provide accessible support (Article 3 of the Royal Decree of 13 September 2023).
• Provide electronic programme guides that are perceivable, operable, understandable and robust and give information on the accessibility of the services, and transmit in full the access components such as subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing, audio description, spoken subtitles and sign language interpretation, synchronised with sound and video and adjustable by the user (Article 4 of the Royal Decree of 13 September 2023).
• Apply procedures that keep your service in line with the accessibility requirements, take corrective measures when it does not conform, inform the Institute at once with the nature of the non-conformity and the measures taken, and cooperate with the Institute on request (Article 3/3).
• Microenterprises, meaning enterprises with fewer than ten employees and an annual turnover or annual balance sheet total of at most EUR 2 million, are exempt from Articles 3/2, 3/3, 12(1) and 30/1 and from every obligation relating to compliance with them (Articles 3(46) and 3/4).
• The requirements apply only to the extent that they do not lead to a fundamental alteration of the service and you bear no disproportionate burden under the criteria the King sets; assess the impact in a reasoned written report, repeat the assessment when the service changes, at the Institute's request, and at least every five years, and tell the Institute when you rely on the exception for a specific service (Article 3/5(1) to (3) and (6)).
• You cannot rely on the disproportionate burden exception if you receive public or private funding, other than your own resources, to improve accessibility (Article 3/5(5)).

Wet van 8 mei 2024 betreffende de toegankelijkheidsvoorschriften voor vervoersdiensten en houdende de oprichting van het Federaal Agentschap voor de Regulering van Transport, artikelen 1 tot 32 en 60 tot 61 · Read the law's page

• If you provide passenger air, bus, rail or waterborne transport services, the Law of 8 May 2024 applies to the websites, mobile device services including apps, electronic tickets and ticketing services, travel information including real-time information, and interactive self-service terminals on Belgian territory of those services from 28 June 2025; urban, suburban and regional services are excluded, except that urban, suburban and regional rail services are subject to the rules on interactive self-service terminals (Articles 3(1) and 61).
• Design and provide your services in accordance with the accessibility requirements in Sections I and II of Annex 1, and make functions those sections do not address accessible through the functional performance criteria in Section III (Article 5(1) and (2)).
• Urban, suburban and regional rail services are held to Section I, point a, of Annex 1 (Article 5(1), second paragraph).
• Make websites, related online applications and mobile device services, including apps, perceivable, operable, understandable and robust, give information on how the service works and on its accessibility features through more than one sensory channel, have support services give accessibility information through accessible communication methods (Annex 1, Section I), and give accessible information on the accessibility of vehicles, the surrounding infrastructure and the built environment, on assistance for persons with disabilities, on smart ticketing systems and on real-time travel information (Annex 1, Section II).
• Micro-enterprises, meaning enterprises with fewer than ten employees and an annual turnover or annual balance sheet total of at most EUR 2 million, are exempt from the requirements and from any obligation relating to compliance with them (Articles 4, point 17, and 5(3)).
• Prepare the information required by Annex 2, explain how your services meet the accessibility requirements, make it available to the public in writing and orally, including in a way accessible to persons with disabilities, and keep it for as long as the service operates (Article 6).
• Apply procedures that keep your service in line with the requirements, take corrective measures at once when it does not conform, and tell the control service at once with the nature of the non-conformity and the measures taken (Article 7).
• Give the control service on its reasoned request all information and documentation that shows the service conforms, cooperate with it, and answer the competent authority's requests for information within thirty days (Articles 8 and 17).
• The requirements apply only to the extent that compliance does not require a significant change resulting in a fundamental alteration of the nature of the service and does not impose a disproportionate burden; assess and document this on the Annex 3 criteria, keep the results for five years, renew the burden assessment when the service changes, at the control service's request, and at least every five years, and give the control service information when you rely on it (Article 9).
• You cannot rely on the disproportionate burden exception if you receive public or private funding, other than your own resources, to improve accessibility (Article 9(5)).
• You do not need to make accessible pre-recorded time-based media and office file formats published before 28 June 2025, online maps and mapping services where essential navigation information is provided in an accessible digital way, third-party content you do not finance, develop or control, or archive content (Article 3(2)).
• You may keep using, until 28 June 2030, the products you lawfully used before that date to provide similar services, service contracts concluded before 28 June 2025 may run unchanged for no more than five years from that date, and air passenger self-service terminals lawfully in use before 28 June 2025 may stay in use until the end of their economic life, for no more than twenty years after they entered use (Article 60).
• A service that meets harmonised standards published in the Official Journal of the European Union is presumed to conform to the requirements of the Law (Article 10).
• A service that meets the accessible-information requirements of the EU passenger rights regulations (Regulations (EC) No 261/2004, (EC) No 1107/2006, (EC) No 1371/2007, (EU) No 1177/2010 and (EU) No 181/2011) and of the acts adopted under Directive 2008/57/EC is deemed to meet the corresponding requirements of the Law, and any further requirement of the Law applies in full (Article 13).

Wetboek van economisch recht, boek VIII, titel 5 (art. VIII.58 tot VIII.66), boek XV (art. XV.18/5, XV.18/6, XV.62/7, XV.101/1 en XV.132) en bijlagen 1 tot 4, ingevoegd bij de wet van 5 november 2023 · Read the law's page

• If you offer consumer banking services or e-commerce services to consumers, Title 5 of Book VIII of the Code of Economic Law applies to you from 28 June 2025 (Articles VIII.58(1) and 38 of the Law of 5 November 2023).
• Until 28 June 2030, enterprises with fewer than ten employees and an annual turnover or annual balance sheet total of at most EUR 2,000,000 are outside the Law, except for its Article 5 (Article 40); from 28 June 2030 the Law reaches them too, and the King may exclude all or certain categories of micro-enterprises from all or some of the requirements (Article VIII.59(2)).
• Design and provide only services that meet the accessibility requirements in Annex 1 to Book VIII, and make sure that a service you outsource in whole or in part meets them too (Article VIII.59(1)).
• Make websites, related online applications and mobile device services, including mobile applications, perceivable, operable, understandable and robust, give information on how the service works and on its accessibility features through more than one sensory channel, and have any support service give accessibility information through accessible communication methods (Annex 1, Section 1).
• If you offer consumer banking services, provide identification methods, electronic signature, security and payment services that are perceivable, operable, understandable and robust, and write the information no more difficult than level B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (Annex 1, Section 2).
• If you offer e-commerce services, give information on the accessibility of the products and services offered for sale when the responsible operator supplies it, make identification, security and payment functions provided as part of the service accessible, and provide identification methods, electronic signatures and payment services that are perceivable, operable, understandable and robust (Annex 1, Section 3).
• Where Sections 1 to 3 of Annex 1 do not address a function of your service, make it accessible by meeting the functional performance criteria of Section 4 (Annex 1, Section 4).
• Prepare the information required by Annex 2, explain how your services meet or do not meet the applicable accessibility requirements, make it available to the public in writing and orally, including in a way accessible to persons with disabilities, and keep it for as long as the service operates (Article VIII.60).
• Apply procedures that keep your service in line with the requirements for as long as you provide it, take corrective measures when it no longer conforms, tell the officials designated under Article XV.2 at once, and give them on request the information and documentation that shows conformity (Article VIII.61).
• The requirements apply only to the extent that compliance does not require a significant change resulting in a fundamental alteration of the nature of the service and does not impose a disproportionate burden; assess this on the Annex 3 criteria, document the assessment, keep the results for five years after the service was last provided, renew the burden assessment when the service changes, on request and at least every five years, and tell the officials proactively that you rely on an exception (Article VIII.62(1) to (4) and (6)).
• You cannot rely on the disproportionate burden exception if you receive public or private funding, other than your own resources, to improve accessibility (Article VIII.62(5)).
• You do not need to make accessible pre-recorded time-based media and office file formats published before 28 June 2025, online maps and mapping services where essential navigation information is provided in an accessible digital way, third-party content you do not finance, develop or control, or archive content (Article VIII.58(2)).
• Service contracts concluded before 28 June 2025 may continue unchanged until they expire, for no more than five years from that date, products you lawfully used before that date may continue to be used for similar services until 28 June 2030, and self-service terminals lawfully in use before 28 June 2025 may stay in use until the end of their economic life, for no more than twenty years after they entered use (Article 39).
• A service that meets harmonised standards, or parts of them, published in the Official Journal of the European Union is presumed to conform to the requirements to the extent the standards cover them (Article VIII.63).

Avant-projet de loi modifiant les dispositions du Code civil relatives à la responsabilité du fait des produits défectueux, et insérant l’article 877/1 dans le Code judiciaire · Read the law's page

• Answer for a defective product under the Civil Code provisions on liability for defective products, which the draft amends; the draft also inserts Article 877/1 into the Judicial Code.