BelgiumLaw of 8 May 2024 on the accessibility requirements for transport services, accessibility of websites, apps, e-tickets, travel information and self-service terminals of passenger transport services
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
In force since .
An accessibility requirements rule binding public and private bodies.
What it requires
- If you provide passenger air, bus, rail or waterborne transport services, the Law of 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 ; 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 , 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 , the products you lawfully used before that date to provide similar services, service contracts concluded before may run unchanged for no more than five years from that date, and air passenger self-service terminals lawfully in use before 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).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
If you get it wrong
Penalty structure
Article 22(1) sets four degrees of administrative fine: EUR 1,250 to EUR 2,000 for a first-degree breach, EUR 2,500 to EUR 4,000 for a second-degree breach, EUR 5,000 to EUR 8,000 for a third-degree breach and EUR 10,000 to EUR 16,000 for a fourth-degree breach. The amounts are indexed to the health index every 1 January (Article 22(2)). Under Article 23 the authority may fine below the minimum where there are mitigating circumstances, the total for concurrent breaches may not exceed twice the highest maximum, and on a repeat within the year after a final decision the amounts may be doubled. For waterborne passenger transport providers the administrative fine is imposed under chapter 3 of the Law of instituting administrative fines for breaches of the navigation laws (Article 29).
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- Minimum
- 1,250
- Currency
- EUR
- Fixed cap
- 16,000
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
The authority that the King designates for each mode of transport to handle complaints and impose administrative sanctions (Article 14), and the control service that the King designates (Article 19)
What it reaches
Instrument type
an act of a legislature
Applicability criteria
Article 5(3) exempts micro-enterprises that offer services from the accessibility requirements and from any obligation relating to compliance with them.
- As of
- Combinator
- All of
- Criteria
- provides passenger air, bus, rail or waterborne transport services other than urban, suburban and regional services, or interactive self-service terminals of urban, suburban and regional rail services (Article 3(1))
- 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 4, point 17, and 5(3))
What this law does
Article 2 of the Law of states that the Law partly transposes Directive (EU) 2019/882. Article 3(1) applies the Law to the websites, mobile device services including apps, and electronic tickets and ticketing services of passenger air, bus, rail and waterborne transport services, other than urban, suburban and regional services. Article 3(1) also covers the provision of information on those transport services, including real-time travel information.
Article 3(1) also covers interactive self-service terminals on Belgian territory, other than terminals installed as integral parts of vehicles, aircraft, ships and rolling stock. Article 3(1) applies to urban, suburban and regional rail passenger services only as regards their interactive self-service terminals.
Article 3(2) excludes pre-recorded time-based media and office file formats published before , online maps and mapping services with accessible essential navigation information, third-party content the operator does not finance, develop or control, and archive content. Article 5(1) requires service providers to design and provide their services in accordance with the accessibility requirements in Sections I and II of Annex 1.
Article 5(1) limits urban, suburban and regional rail services to Section I, point a, of Annex 1. Article 5(2) makes functions that Sections I and II do not address accessible through the functional performance criteria in Section III of Annex 1. Article 5(3) exempts micro-enterprises that offer services from the accessibility requirements and from any obligation relating to compliance with them.
Article 6 requires service providers to prepare the information required by Annex 2 and explain how the services meet the applicable accessibility requirements. Article 7(1) requires providers to apply procedures that keep the service in line with the accessibility requirements. Article 7(2) requires providers to take corrective measures at once when the service does not conform, and to inform the control service immediately, describing the non-conformity and the corrective measures.
Article 8 requires providers to give the control service, on its reasoned request, all information and documentation that shows the service conforms, and to cooperate with it. Article 9(1) applies the requirements only to the extent that compliance does not require a significant change of the service that results in a fundamental alteration of its nature. Article 9(1) also applies the requirements only to the extent that compliance does not impose a disproportionate burden on the provider.
Article 9(3) requires providers to keep all relevant results of the assessment for five years after the service was last provided. Article 9(4) requires a provider that relies on the disproportionate burden defence to renew the assessment when the service changes, at the control service's request, and at least every five years. Article 9(5) bars a provider that receives public or private funding for accessibility from relying on the disproportionate burden defence.
Article 10 presumes that services meeting harmonised standards published in the Official Journal of the European Union conform to the Law's accessibility requirements. Article 13 deems services that meet the requirements on accessible information and on information about accessibility 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 Law.
Article 13 applies in full any requirement of the Law that goes beyond those regulations and acts. Article 14 requires the King to designate, for each mode of transport, the authority responsible for handling complaints and imposing administrative sanctions for breaches of the Law. Article 19 requires the King to designate the control service, which checks the conformity of services, follows up non-conformity and checks that corrective measures were taken.
Article 15(1) lets any person with a disability lodge a complaint with the competent authority free of charge. Article 16 sets a period of six months from receipt of the complaint for the competent authority to deal with it. Article 22(1) sets four degrees of administrative fine, starting at EUR 1,250 to EUR 2,000 for a first-degree breach, such as failing to give the required information to the traveller.
Article 22(1) sets EUR 2,500 to EUR 4,000 for a second-degree breach, which is a structural failure to put suitable procedures and business processes in place. Article 22(1) sets EUR 5,000 to EUR 8,000 for a third-degree breach, which causes direct and serious harm to the traveller or concerns misuse of external funding. Article 22(1) sets EUR 10,000 to EUR 16,000 for a fourth-degree breach, which obstructs supervision of compliance with the Law.
Article 23(1) lets the authority impose a fine below the minimum amounts where there are mitigating circumstances. Article 23(2) caps the sum of the fines for concurrent breaches at twice the highest maximum. Article 23(3) lets the amounts be doubled on a repeat within the year that follows a final decision imposing an administrative fine. Article 22(2) indexes the fine amounts every 1 January to the health index.
Article 29 provides that, for waterborne passenger transport providers, an administrative fine for a breach of Article 22(1) is imposed under chapter 3 of the Law of instituting administrative fines for breaches of the navigation laws. Article 25 sets a limitation period of three years from the date of the facts for imposing an administrative fine.
Article 60 lets providers keep using, until , the products they lawfully used before that date, and lets service contracts concluded before run unchanged for no more than five years. Article 60(2) lets self-service terminals of air passenger transport providers that were lawfully in use before stay in use until the end of their economic life, and for no more than twenty years after they entered use.
Article 61 provides that, apart from the articles of Title VIII that take effect on , the Law enters into force on .
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app ships a consumer interface or ships a mobile app.
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