BelgiumWalloon decree of 16 February 2023 on the accessibility requirements for interactive self-service terminals of urban, suburban and regional transport
Décret du 16 février 2023 relatif aux exigences d'accessibilité applicables aux terminaux en libre-service interactifs des transports… urbains, suburbains et régionaux (Région wallonne)
In force since .
An accessibility requirements rule binding public and private bodies.
What it requires
- If you provide urban, suburban or regional transport services other than rail to consumers in the Walloon Region, the decree of applies from to your interactive self-service terminals there, other than terminals built into vehicles or rolling stock (Articles 3 and 15).
- Make the interactive self-service terminals meet the accessibility requirements of Section 1 of Annex 1 to the decree, and design and provide the services accordingly (Articles 4(1) and 7(1)).
- Prepare the information Annex 3 requires, explain how the service meets 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 while the service is available (Article 7(2)).
- Keep procedures that keep the service conforming, bring a non-conforming service into conformity, tell the competent authority of the Walloon Region at once, and give it on a reasoned request the information that shows conformity (Article 7(3) to (5)).
- Micro-enterprises that offer the services are exempt from the requirements and from all obligations relating to compliance with them (Article 4(2)).
- The requirements apply only to the extent that compliance does not require a fundamental alteration of the service and does not impose a disproportionate burden; assess this on the Annex 4 criteria, support the assessment with evidence, keep the results for five years after the service was last provided, 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 authorities when you rely on the exception (Article 8).
- You cannot rely on the disproportionate burden exception if you receive funding other than your own resources, public or private, to improve accessibility (Article 8(5)).
- Self-service terminals you used before may stay in use until the end of their economic life, but not after , service contracts agreed before may run unchanged for no more than five years, and products you lawfully used may be used for similar services until (Article 14).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
If you get it wrong
Penalty structure
Article 13(1) sets administrative fines on economic operators by duty breached: EUR 10,000 to EUR 16,000 (Article 7(1), design and provision of conforming services), EUR 5,000 to EUR 8,000 (Article 7(2), information, and Article 7(4), correcting and reporting a non-conformity), EUR 2,500 to EUR 4,000 (Article 7(3), procedures, and Article 8, the burden assessment) and EUR 1,250 to EUR 2,000 (Article 7(5), information on request). The authority may fine below the minimum for mitigating circumstances (Article 13(2)); concurrent breaches are added up to at most twice the heaviest maximum, that is EUR 32,000 (Article 13(3)); a repeat of the same breach within two years draws at least twice the earlier fine (Article 13(4)); the limitation period is three years from the facts (Article 13(5)). The Government sets the procedure and the appeal (Article 13(6)).
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- Minimum
- 1,250
- Currency
- EUR
- Fixed cap
- 16,000
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
The competent authority and control services that the Walloon Government designates (Articles 7(6), 10 and 13(6) of the decree)
What it reaches
Instrument type
an act of a legislature
Applicability criteria
Article 4(2) exempts micro-enterprises that offer services from the accessibility requirements and from all obligations relating to compliance with them.
- As of
- Combinator
- All of
- Criteria
- provides urban, suburban or regional transport services other than rail to consumers, with interactive self-service terminals on the territory of the Walloon Region (Article 3)
- is not a micro-enterprise, an enterprise that employs fewer than ten persons and whose annual turnover or annual balance sheet total does not exceed EUR 2,000,000 (Articles 2, point 8, and 4(2))
What this law does
Article 1 of the Walloon decree of states that it partly transposes Directive (EU) 2019/882. Article 2(2)(c) of the Directive brings urban, suburban and regional transport services within its scope only for their interactive self-service terminals.
Article 3 applies the decree to urban, suburban and regional transport services other than rail, provided to consumers after , as regards interactive self-service terminals on the territory of the Walloon Region, other than terminals installed as integral parts of vehicles and rolling stock. Article 2, point 14, defines interactive self-service terminals as vending machines that let the customer carry out every stage of the sale, up to the delivery of the transport tickets.
Article 2, point 5, defines a service provider as any natural or legal person that provides a service on the Union market or offers to provide one to consumers in the Union. Article 4(1) requires economic operators to place on the market only services that meet the accessibility requirements of Section 1 of Annex 1. Article 4(2) exempts micro-enterprises that offer services from the accessibility requirements and from all obligations relating to compliance with them.
Article 5 deems services that meet the accessible-information requirements of 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, to meet the corresponding requirements of the decree.
Article 7(1) and (2) require service providers to design and provide services in line with Article 4, prepare the information that Annex 3 requires, and make it available to the public in writing and orally, including in a way accessible to persons with disabilities. Article 7(4) requires providers to bring a non-conforming service into conformity and to inform the competent authority of the Walloon Region immediately.
Article 8(1) applies the requirements only to the extent that compliance does not require a significant change that fundamentally alters the nature of the service and does not impose a disproportionate burden on the operators. Article 8(3) requires operators to support their assessment with evidence and to keep the relevant results for five years after the service was last provided.
Article 8(5) bars an operator that receives funding other than its own resources, public or private, to improve accessibility from relying on the disproportionate burden defence. Article 8(6) requires operators that rely on the exception for a specific service to inform the authorities, and does not apply that duty to micro-enterprises.
Article 9 presumes that services meeting harmonised standards published in the Official Journal of the European Union conform to the decree's accessibility requirements to the extent the standards cover them. Article 10 requires the Government to designate the authorities that check the conformity of services and to lay down the complaint procedure.
Article 11 makes the requirements of Annex 1 binding accessibility requirements within the meaning of Article 42(1) of Directive 2014/24/EU, Article 60(1) of Directive 2014/25/EU and Article 53 of the Law of on public procurement. Article 13(1) lets an administrative fine be imposed on economic operators, from EUR 10,000 to EUR 16,000 for failing to design and provide conforming services and from EUR 1,250 to EUR 2,000 for failing to supply the information the authority asks for.
Article 13(1) sets EUR 5,000 to EUR 8,000 for a breach of the information duty or of the duty to correct and report a non-conformity, and EUR 2,500 to EUR 4,000 for a breach of the procedures duty or of Article 8. Article 13(3) caps the total of the fines for concurrent breaches at twice the heaviest maximum fine. Article 13(4) sets the fine for a repeat of the same breach within two years at no less than twice the earlier fine, unless the authority finds mitigating circumstances.
Article 13(6) leaves the procedure for imposing a fine and for appeals to the Government. Article 14 lets providers keep using, until , the products they lawfully used for similar services, lets service contracts agreed before run unchanged for no more than five years, and lets self-service terminals used before stay in use until the end of their economic life, but not after . Article 15 brings the decree into force on .
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app ships a consumer interface.
Back to the example · Lint your app
Page updated .