BelgiumBrussels-Capital Region ordinance of 30 March 2023 on the accessibility of interactive self-service terminals of urban and regional transport, with the executing order of 8 June 2023
Ordonnance du 30 mars 2023 relative à l'accessibilité des terminaux en libre-service interactifs des transports urbains et régionaux et arrêté du Gouvernement de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale du 8 juin 2023 portant exécution de cette ordonnance (Région de Bruxelles-Capitale)
In force since .
An accessibility requirements rule binding public and private bodies.
- Instrument type
- an act of a legislature
What it requires
- If you manage urban and regional bus, tram or metro services in the Brussels-Capital Region, the ordinance of applies from to the interactive self-service terminals that give access to them (Articles 3, 4 and 22).
- Make the terminals and the service meet the accessibility requirements of Annex I to the ordinance, and design and provide the service accordingly (Articles 5 and 8(1)).
- Prepare the information Annex II requires, explain how the service meets the 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 8(2)).
- Keep procedures that keep the service conforming, take corrective measures for a non-conformity, tell the control service at once, and give it on a reasoned request the information that shows conformity (Article 8(3) to (5)).
- 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 III criteria, support the assessment with evidence, keep the results for five years, renew a burden assessment when the service changes, on request and at least every five years, and tell the control service when you rely on the exception (Article 6).
- You cannot rely on the disproportionate burden exception if you receive funding other than your own resources, public or private, to improve accessibility (Article 6(5)).
- Self-service terminals lawfully used before may stay in use until and for no more than twenty years after they entered service, and service contracts agreed before that date may run unchanged for no more than five years (Article 21).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
If you get it wrong
Penalty structure
Article 17(1) sets administrative fines by duty breached: EUR 10,000 to EUR 16,000 (Article 8(1), design and provision), EUR 5,000 to EUR 8,000 (Article 8(2), information, and Article 8(4), correcting and reporting), EUR 2,500 to EUR 4,000 (Article 8(3), procedures, and Article 6, the burden assessment) and EUR 1,250 to EUR 2,000 (Article 8(5), information on request). The authority may fine below the minimum for mitigating circumstances (Article 17(2)); concurrent breaches are added up to at most twice the heaviest maximum, that is EUR 32,000 (Article 17(3)); a repeat within two years draws at least twice the earlier fine (Article 17(4)); the limitation period is three years (Article 17(5)). Members of Brussels Mobility of rank A3 or A4 impose the fines (order of , Article 3(2)), and the person fined may appeal to the police court within one month (Article 20).
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- Minimum
- 1,250
- Currency
- EUR
- Fixed cap
- 16,000
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
Brussels Mobility (Bruxelles Mobilité), the administration of the Brussels Regional Public Service that the order of makes both the competent authority for complaints and fines and the control service
What this law does
Article 2 of the ordinance of the Brussels-Capital Region 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 4 covers the accessibility for persons with disabilities of the interactive self-service terminals that give access to urban and regional bus, tram and metro transport services on the territory of the Brussels-Capital Region, rail excluded.
Article 3, point 5, defines the service provider as the economic operator that manages the urban and regional services, and Article 3, point 6, defines an economic operator as an entity carrying on an economic activity, whatever its legal status and way of financing.
Article 5 requires the services to meet the accessibility requirements of Annex I. Article 6(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 providers.
Article 6(3) requires providers to support their assessment with evidence, keep the relevant results for five years after the service was last provided and give the control service a copy on request. Article 6(5) bars a provider that receives funding other than its own resources, public or private, to improve accessibility from relying on the disproportionate burden defence, and Article 6(6) requires a provider relying on the exception to inform the control service.
Article 7(3) makes the requirements of Annex I binding accessibility requirements within the meaning of Article 53(1), fifth paragraph, of the Law of on public procurement. Article 7(6) deems services that meet the accessible-information requirements of the EU passenger rights regulations, and of the acts adopted under Directive 2008/57/EC, to meet the corresponding requirements of the ordinance.
Article 8 requires providers to design and provide the services in line with the requirements, prepare the Annex II information and make it available in writing and orally, including in a way accessible to persons with disabilities, keep procedures that keep the service conforming, take corrective measures and inform the control service of a non-conformity at once. Article 10(1) lets any interested person lodge a complaint free of charge with the competent authority, anonymously if they wish.
Article 13 lets a person mandate a non-profit body active for at least three years in protecting the rights of persons with disabilities to lodge the complaint on their behalf. Article 17(1) sets administrative fines from EUR 10,000 to EUR 16,000 for failing to design and provide conforming services down to EUR 1,250 to EUR 2,000 for failing to supply the information the control service asks for.
Article 17(3) caps the total of the fines for concurrent breaches at twice the heaviest maximum fine, and Article 17(4) sets the fine for a repeat of the same breach within two years at no less than twice the earlier fine. Article 20 lets the person fined appeal to the police court within one month of the decision.
Article 21 lets service contracts agreed before run unchanged for no more than five years, and lets self-service terminals lawfully used before that date stay in use until and for no more than twenty years after they entered service. Article 22 brings the ordinance into force on . Article 3 of the order of the Brussels Government of makes Brussels Mobility the competent authority that handles complaints and imposes the fines.
Article 4 of that order makes Brussels Mobility the control service as well. Article 6 of that order brings it into force on . The European Union's list of Belgian transposition measures also records an ordinance of amending the ordinance of , published in the Moniteur belge on .
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