Distributes a software product, in Estonia

Võlaõigusseadus, §§ 1061-1067 · Read the law's page

• If you produce, import into the EU, or put your name or trade mark on a product, including computer software, you answer for the death, bodily injury or damage to health it causes while defective (Arts. 1061(1), 1062(1), 1063(1)).
• If you cannot name the producer or your own supplier to the injured person within a reasonable time after being asked, you answer as the producer (Art. 1062(2)).
• Be ready to prove one of the defences in Art. 1064(1): that you did not put the product on the market, that it was probably not defective then, that it was not made for sale or distribution in your business, that the defect results from mandatory requirements in force then, or that the state of science and technology did not allow the defect to be discovered.
• If you make a raw material or component, be ready to show that the defect results from the design of the finished product or the finished-product producer's instruction (Art. 1064(2)).
• Do not rely on a contract term to limit or exclude your liability to the injured person; it is void (Art. 1067).

Sotsiaalkaitseministri määrus nr 45 „Toote ja teenuse funktsionaalsed ligipääsetavusnõuded ja nõuded nende kohta antavale teabele” (RT I, 15.06.2022, 5) · Read the law's page

• Where the nature of the product allows, give information on how the product works and on its accessibility elements in or on the product; make the instructions for use cover the accessibility functions and how to activate them, and present information on using the product, including labeling, instructions and warnings, so that it is perceivable through more than one sense, understandable, and set in contrasting type that takes expected user needs into account; make instructions found on a website or otherwise available in a text format that can be used to create alternative assistive formats, with non-text content presented in an alternative way; and make the instructions describe the product's user interface and functionality against section 7 and the software and hardware that interface with assistive devices, with a list of the assistive devices tested with the product (s. 6(1) to (6)).
• Make a product and its user interface perceivable, usable, understandable and controllable by a person with a disability: operating modes usable with limited reach and strength, no triggering of photosensitive seizures, an alternative to biometric identification, functional consistency with enough flexible time for interaction, connection to assistive technologies, and protection of user privacy when accessibility elements are used (s. 7(1) and (2)).
• Offer alternatives to speech, voice, visual elements, sound and color or sound signals used to convey information, request a response or identify elements, flexible magnification, brightness and contrast, adjustable volume and speed, and manual operation that can be sequenced and uses tactilely distinguishable parts (s. 7(3) to (9)).
• Make the packaging of the product, and the information on it about opening, closing, use and disposal, accessible, and add existing information about the product's accessibility features where possible; these requirements on packaging and web-based instructions do not apply to a self-service terminal (ss. 1(4) and 8).
• When providing a service, give information on how the service works, on the accessibility features of the product used and on its interoperability with assistive technologies, and, where a support service exists, give information on the accessibility of the product or service and its compatibility with assistive technologies through accessible means of communication (s. 9).
• When providing a service, ensure the accessibility of the product used to provide it, and make a website and a mobile-device-based service perceivable, usable, understandable and robust (s. 10).
• If you provide a self-service terminal, include speech synthesis, allow personal headphones, warn the user through more than one sense when response time is limited, allow the time for use to be extended, give it sufficient contrast and tactilely distinguishable keys and controls where they exist, make it compatible with assistive technologies when it uses audio signals, and allow a user with a disability access without activating an accessibility element (s. 11).
• If you supply an e-reader, give it a function for audio presentation of text (s. 12).
• If you supply consumer terminal equipment used for electronic communications services, allow real-time text and support high-level audio devices where it sends text and voice, allow total conversation where it also sends video, make it compatible with hearing technologies over a wireless connection, and do not let its functions disturb assistive technology (s. 13).
• If you supply consumer terminal equipment used to access audiovisual media services, make available to a user with a disability the accessibility elements the service provider transmits, for access, selection, control, personalization and transfer to assistive devices (s. 14).
• If you provide an electronic communications service, allow real-time text in addition to voice and text, allow synchronized total conversation where video is used, and ensure an emergency connection that allows an emergency message to be answered in the same format in which it was received, with voice and text (including real-time text) synchronized, or voice, text and video synchronized in total conversation where video is used (s. 16; Directive (EU) 2019/882, Annex I, Section IV, point (a)).
• If you provide a service giving access to audiovisual media services, offer perceivable, usable, understandable and robust electronic program guides that give information on the availability of accessibility features, deliver the accessibility elements (subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing, audio description, spoken subtitles and sign-language interpretation) completely and in sufficient quality with synchronized sound and video, and let the user adjust display and use (s. 17).
• If you provide a long-distance air, bus, rail or waterborne passenger transport service, give information on the accessibility of the vehicle, the surrounding infrastructure and the built environment and on assistance for users with disabilities, on the smart ticketing system and its functions, on real-time travel information and on the availability of additional services, and meet the service requirements of sections 9 and 10 (s. 18); for municipal, city and county lines, make the self-service terminals accessible under sections 6, 7, 9, 10(1) and 11 (s. 19).
• If you provide a financial service, make the authentication methods, electronic signatures, payment instructions, execution of payment transactions and security measures, including blocking a payment instrument, perceivable, usable, understandable and robust, and give information that is understandable and not more complex than level B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (s. 20).
• If you provide an e-book service, present text and sound synchronously where an e-book contains both, make the digital file let assistive technology work properly, let a user with a disability access, navigate and perceive the structure of the content and use it flexibly, make alternative presentations of the content and its interoperability with assistive technologies perceivable, understandable, operable and robust, make the e-book findable through metadata on its accessibility elements, and make the accessibility elements usable regardless of digital rights management measures (s. 21).
• If you provide an e-commerce service, include information on the accessibility of the product or service sold when the responsible business has made it available to you beforehand, and make the authentication, electronic signature and payment methods and the security functions perceivable, usable, understandable and robust (s. 22).
• Use the functional performance criteria of sections 24 to 29 only as an alternative to a technical requirement and only where they lead to equivalent or better access for a user with a disability; they cover at least one mode that eases cognitive use, privacy in the accessibility elements, a visual mode for limited vision and one that needs no vision, a mode that needs no color perception, an auditory mode with enhanced audio and one that needs no hearing, a mode that needs no voice input, and a manual mode that needs no fine motor control and works within limited reach (ss. 24 to 29).

Sotsiaalkaitseministri määrus nr 46 „Ettevõtja ebaproportsionaalse koormuse hindamise kriteeriumid ja ligipääsetavusnõuete kohaldamata jätmisest teavitamise kord” (RT I, 15.06.2022, 6) · Read the law's page

• If you assess whether complying would impose a disproportionate burden on you, assess the ratio of the net cost of complying with the applicable accessibility requirements to your total cost of producing, distributing or importing the product or providing the service, the ratio of your estimated costs and revenues to the expected benefit for people with disabilities, and the ratio of the net cost of complying to your net turnover (ss. 3 and 6).
• Count the one-off organizational costs (staff with accessibility expertise, training, developing a new process, guidance material and understanding the legal acts) and the current production and development costs (developing the accessibility elements, production, testing and documentation) in the net cost of complying (s. 4).
• Compare your estimated cost and revenue, including on production processes and investments, with the expected benefit for people with disabilities, taking account of how many times and how often the product or service is used (s. 5).
• When you notify TTJA that requirements are not applied, give your name and e-mail address and, if you deal with products, your role; the name of the product or service, its classification under section 2(1) and (3) of the LPS and its target group; the requirements not applied and the reason; and a confirmation that you have not been funded for improving accessibility from resources other than your own (s. 7).

§§ 16-21, Toodete ja teenuste ligipääsetavuse seadus (RT I, 15.06.2022, 1), ja toote nõuetele vastavuse seaduse §§ 5, 50, 58, 59, 61 ja 62 · Read the law's page

• If TTJA requires it, apply without delay the measures needed to bring your product or service into line with all applicable accessibility requirements (s. 18(1) point 1; Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 23(1)(c)).
• If you do not apply those measures, TTJA may prohibit or restrict making the product or service available on the Estonian market and may require its immediate removal from the market, so stop supplying it when it so orders (s. 18(1) point 2).
• Give TTJA the access it needs to check whether you made the assessment of fundamental alteration or disproportionate burden, to review its results and your use of the criteria, and to check conformity with the applicable requirements (s. 18(2); Directive (EU) 2019/882, Arts. 19(2) and 23(1)).
• Comply with a precept of TTJA; a precept that is not complied with can be backed by a penalty payment of up to EUR 10,000 (ss. 17 and 19).

§§ 2, 4, 6, 7 ja 12-15, Toodete ja teenuste ligipääsetavuse seadus (RT I, 15.06.2022, 1) · Read the law's page

• If you manufacture a product listed in section 2(1) (an e-reader, payment terminal, ticketing machine, check-in machine, cash or payment machine, interactive information self-service terminal, consumer terminal equipment with interactive computing capability used to access audiovisual media services or to provide electronic communications services, or consumer general-purpose computer hardware with its operating system), make sure it meets the accessibility requirements when you place it on the market (ss. 2(1), 4(1); Directive (EU) 2019/882, Arts. 2(1), 4(1) and 7(1)).
• Design and manufacture the product so that people with disabilities have its maximum usability; this also covers the packaging and instructions of e-readers, the two kinds of consumer terminal equipment and computers, and, where the nature of the product allows, information on how it works and on its accessibility elements placed in or on the product in a format that meets the requirements (s. 4(2)).
• Before placing the product on the market, draw up the technical documentation (a general description, the list of harmonized standards and technical specifications applied in whole or in part or a description of the solutions used, and references to the parts applied) and carry out or have carried out the conformity assessment by the internal production control procedure (ss. 6(1), 12 and 13; Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 7(2)).
• Take the measures needed for the production process and its control to keep the product in line with the technical documentation and the applicable accessibility requirements (s. 12(2); Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 7(4)).
• If the product conforms, draw up the written declaration of conformity in the structure of Annex III to Decision No 768/2008/EC, keep it up to date, and affix the conformity marking visibly, legibly and indelibly to the product or its data plate, or to the packaging and accompanying documents where that is not possible or practical (ss. 6(1) and 14; Directive (EU) 2019/882, Arts. 7(2) and 16).
• Keep the technical documentation and the declaration of conformity for five years after the product is placed on the market (s. 6(2); Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 7(3)).
• Ensure that the instructions, information and labeling that accompany the product are clear, understandable and comprehensible (s. 6(3)).
• If you learn that a product you placed on the market does not meet one or more applicable requirements, notify TTJA of the non-conformity, with details of it and of the corrective measures applied (s. 6(4); Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 7(8)).
• Keep records of products placed on the market that do not meet the applicable requirements and of the complaints about them (s. 6(5)).
• Under the Product Conformity Act, which section 2(13) applies to manufacturers of these products: keep procedures in place for series production to remain in conformity, make sure the product bears a type, batch or serial number or other identifying marking, mark your name or trade mark and contact address on the product or, where that is not possible, on its packaging or an accompanying document, supply a product made available to consumers with instructions and safety information in Estonian at least, and if you believe a product you placed on the market does not conform, take without delay the measures needed to bring it into conformity, recall it or withdraw it (s. 2(13); Product Conformity Act, s. 14(4) to (8); Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 7(4) to (8)).
• If you rely on fundamental alteration or disproportionate burden, keep technical documentation that allows you to show it, and state in the declaration of conformity which requirement the exception was applied to (ss. 13(2) and 14(3); see the row for the defenses).
• If you appoint an authorized representative, it may perform the obligations in section 14 on your behalf and responsibility, and it keeps the technical documentation and the declaration of conformity available to TTJA for five years after the product is placed on the market; where you rely on fundamental alteration or disproportionate burden, those are the documents that carry the showing and the statement of the exception (ss. 7, 13(2) and 14(3); Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 8).
• A product assessed against a harmonized standard, or a part of it, that covers the accessibility requirements is presumed to meet the requirements the standard or part covers, and the same holds for a technical specification (s. 15; Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 15).

§§ 4 lg 5, 5 ja 18 lg 2, Toodete ja teenuste ligipääsetavuse seadus (RT I, 15.06.2022, 1) · Read the law's page

• If you doubt that bringing a product or service into line with a requirement is possible without fundamentally altering its basic nature or without a disproportionate burden on you, assess that burden using the criteria of Social Affairs Minister Regulation No. 46 (ss. 4(5) and 5(1) and (6); Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 14(1) and (2)).
• Document the assessment and keep the results for five years from the last time the product was made available on the market or the service was last provided; a microenterprise dealing with products need not document it (s. 5(2); Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 14(3) and (4)).
• If you provide a service and rely on disproportionate burden, assess it again when the service is changed, when TTJA requests it and when five years have passed since the assessment (s. 5(3); Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 14(5)).
• Do not rely on disproportionate burden if you are funded for the purpose of improving accessibility from resources other than your own (s. 5(4); Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 14(6)).
• If the assessment shows that one or more requirements cannot be applied to you, notify TTJA and give it the documented result of the assessment on request; a microenterprise dealing with products gives TTJA, on request, the facts relevant to the assessment (s. 5(5); Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 14(8)).

§§ 8 ja 10, Toodete ja teenuste ligipääsetavuse seadus (RT I, 15.06.2022, 1) · Read the law's page

• If you import a product listed in section 2(1), ensure that a copy of the declaration of conformity and the technical documentation are available to TTJA for five years after the product is placed on the market (ss. 8(1) and 6(2); Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 9(7)).
• Place on the market only a product that meets the requirements, and before you place it ensure that the manufacturer has carried out the conformity assessment and drawn up the technical documentation, that the product bears the conformity marking and is accompanied by the required documents, and that the manufacturer has marked the product's type, batch or serial number and its own name or trade mark and contact address (s. 2(13); Product Conformity Act, s. 16(1) and (2); Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 9(1) and (2)).
• While the product is under your responsibility, ensure that its storage or transport conditions do not jeopardize its conformity; mark your own name or trade mark and contact address on the product or, where that is not possible, on its packaging or an accompanying document; supply a product made available to consumers with instructions and safety information in Estonian at least; and if you believe a product you placed on the market does not conform, take without delay the measures needed to bring it into conformity, recall it or withdraw it (Product Conformity Act, s. 16(3) and (6) with s. 14(6) to (8); Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 9(4) to (6) and (8)).
• When the manufacturer relies on fundamental alteration or disproportionate burden, its declaration of conformity states which requirement the exception was applied to and its technical documentation must allow it to show the alteration or burden, and those are the documents you keep available to TTJA; if you yourself doubt that bringing a product into line is possible without fundamental alteration or a disproportionate burden, the assessment, documentation and notification duties of section 5 bind you too, as section 3(1) counts an importer as a business (ss. 3(1), 5, 8(1), 13(2) and 14(3)).
• Ensure that the instructions, information and labeling that accompany the product are clear, understandable and comprehensible (ss. 8(2) and 6(3)).
• If you learn that a product you placed on the market does not meet one or more applicable requirements, notify TTJA of the non-conformity, with details of it and of the corrective measures applied (ss. 8(2) and 6(4); Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 9(8)).
• Keep records of products placed on the market that do not meet the applicable requirements and of the complaints about them (ss. 8(2) and 6(5)).
• On TTJA's request, identify every business that supplied you with a product and every business you supplied with it, for five years after the supply (s. 10; Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 12).

§§ 9 ja 10, Toodete ja teenuste ligipääsetavuse seadus (RT I, 15.06.2022, 1) · Read the law's page

• If you distribute a product listed in section 2(1) and learn that a product you placed on the market does not meet one or more applicable accessibility requirements, notify TTJA of the non-conformity, with details of it and of the corrective measures applied (s. 9; Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 10(5)).
• Act with due care in relation to the applicable requirements and, before you make a product available, check that it bears the conformity marking, that it is accompanied by the required documents and by instructions and safety information, and that the manufacturer and the importer have marked the product's identification and their names or trade marks and contact addresses (s. 2(13); Product Conformity Act, s. 17(1) and (2); Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 10(1) and (2)).
• If you believe a product does not conform, make it available only after it has been brought into conformity; ensure that storage or transport conditions do not jeopardize its conformity while it is under your responsibility; and if you believe a product you made available does not conform, ensure that corrective measures are taken and, where necessary, that it is withdrawn or recalled (Product Conformity Act, s. 17(3) to (5); Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 10(3) to (5)).
• When the manufacturer relies on fundamental alteration or disproportionate burden, its declaration of conformity states which requirement the exception was applied to (s. 14(3)); if you yourself doubt that bringing a product into line is possible without fundamental alteration or a disproportionate burden, the assessment, documentation and notification duties of section 5 bind you too, as section 3(1) counts a distributor as a business (ss. 3(1) and 5).
• On TTJA's request, identify every business that supplied you with a product and every business you supplied with it, for five years after the supply (s. 10; Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 12).

Võlaõigusseaduse ning võlaõigusseaduse, tsiviilseadustiku üldosa seaduse ja rahvusvahelise eraõiguse seaduse rakendamise seaduse muutmise seadus (uue tootevastutuse direktiivi ülevõtmine) · Read the law's page

• Treat software as a product: software you develop or supply in your business answers like any other product, whether sold alone or built into another product (draft § 1063(1)).
• Keep supplying the software updates and upgrades a product needs to stay safe while it is within your control; a defect caused by software, an update, a missing safety update or a substantial modification within your control is not excused by saying it arose after you put the product on the market (draft §§ 1061(3[1]), 1061(3[2]), 1064(2[2])).
• Keep the technical documentation you could produce if a court orders disclosure on the injured person's application; failing to produce it presumes the product defective (draft §§ 1065[1](1), 1065(2)).
• If you are outside the EU, your importer or authorized representative answers for the product in your place, then your fulfilment service provider, then a distributor or online platform that does not name the responsible business within one month (draft § 1062[1](6), (7), (9), (10)).
• Be ready to prove one of the defences in § 1064(1), including that the defect could not be discovered given the state of science and technology when the product was put on the market, put into service or under your control (draft § 1064(1) point 5).
• Do not rely on a contract term to limit or exclude your liability to the injured person; it is void (draft § 1067).