BelgiumFlemish Media Decree, Article 214/2 and Annexes 1 to 3, accessibility of terminal equipment and services giving access to television services
In force since .
An accessibility requirements rule binding public and private bodies.
What it requires
- If you place on the market from terminal equipment with interactive computing capability for access to television services, it must meet Sections 1 and 2 of Annex 1 to the Flemish Media Decree (Article 214/2(1)).
- If you provide services that give access to television services to consumers from , they must meet Sections 3 and 4 of Annex 1 (Article 214/2(2)).
- Prepare the information required by Annex 2, explain how your access services 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 214/2(2)).
- Micro-enterprises, meaning enterprises with fewer than ten employees and an annual turnover or annual balance sheet total of at most EUR 2 million, that offer those access services are exempt from the requirements and from every obligation relating to compliance with them (Articles 2, point 21°/0, and 214/2(2)).
- 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 terminal equipment or 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 equipment or service was last made available, and give the Flemish Regulator for the Media a copy on request (Article 214/2(3)).
- Providers of access services that rely on the disproportionate burden exception renew the assessment when the service changes, at the regulator's request, and at least every five years, and providers other than micro-enterprises tell the regulator when they rely on the exception for a specific terminal or service (Article 214/2(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 214/2(4)).
- Until providers of access services may keep using the terminals they lawfully used before that date, and service contracts concluded before may run unchanged for no more than five years from that date (Article 214/2(5)).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
If you get it wrong
Penalty structure
Article 228, point 4, lets the general chamber impose an administrative fine of up to EUR 125,000 for a breach of the Decree; the other sanctions include a warning with an order to stop, an order to broadcast or publish the decision, suspension or withdrawal of the transmission licence or recognition, and effective remedial measures for compliance with Article 214/2 (Article 228, points 1 to 8).
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- Currency
- EUR
- Fixed cap
- 125,000
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
The Flemish Regulator for the Media (Vlaamse Regulator voor de Media), whose general chamber imposes the sanctions of Article 228
What it reaches
Instrument type
an act of a legislature
Applicability criteria
Article 214/2(2) exempts micro-enterprises that offer the access services from the accessibility requirements and from every obligation relating to compliance with them.
- As of
- Combinator
- All of
- Criteria
- places on the market terminal equipment with interactive computing capability for access to television services, or provides services giving access to television services (Article 214/2(1) and (2))
- for the access services, is not a micro-enterprise, an enterprise with fewer than ten employees and an annual turnover or annual balance sheet total of at most EUR 2 million (Articles 2, point 21°/0, and 214/2(2))
What this law does
Article 1 of the Flemish Media Decree states that the Decree transposes, among other instruments, Directive (EU) 2019/882.
Article 4(1) of the Directive requires Member States to ensure that economic operators only place on the market products and only provide services that comply with the accessibility requirements in its Annex I. Article 214/2(1) requires terminal equipment with interactive computing capability for access to television services that is placed on the market from to meet Sections 1 and 2 of Annex 1.
Article 214/2(2) requires services providing access to television services that are provided to consumers from to meet Sections 3 and 4 of Annex 1. Article 214/2(2) requires providers of those services to prepare the information required by Annex 2 and explain how the services meet the applicable accessibility requirements.
Article 214/2(2) requires the information to be made available to the public in writing and orally, in a way accessible to persons with disabilities, and kept as long as the service operates. Article 214/2(2) exempts micro-enterprises that offer those services from the accessibility requirements and from every obligation relating to compliance with them.
Article 214/2(3) applies the requirements only to the extent that compliance does not require a significant change resulting in a fundamental alteration of the nature of the terminal equipment or service and does not impose a disproportionate burden on the providers. Article 214/2(3) requires providers to document their assessment and keep the relevant results for five years after the terminal equipment or service was last made available.
Article 214/2(3) requires providers of access services that rely on the disproportionate burden defence to renew the assessment when the service changes, at the regulator's request, and at least every five years. Article 214/2(3) excepts micro-enterprises that deal in terminal equipment from the duty to document their assessment, and requires them to give the Flemish Regulator for the Media the relevant facts on request.
Article 214/2(3) requires providers other than micro-enterprises that rely on the defence for a specific terminal or service to inform the Flemish Regulator for the Media. Article 214/2(4) bars a provider that receives public or private funding for accessibility from relying on the disproportionate burden defence.
Article 214/2(5) lets providers of those services keep using, until , the terminals they lawfully used before that date, and lets service contracts concluded before run unchanged for no more than five years. The consolidated text marks Article 214/2 as in force from .
Article 228, point 4, lets the general chamber of the Flemish Regulator for the Media impose an administrative fine of up to EUR 125,000 on any natural or legal person to whom the Decree applies. Article 228, point 8, lets the general chamber order effective remedial measures to secure compliance with Article 214/2.
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