Code of Economic Law, Book VIII Title 5, accessibility requirements for consumer banking and e-commerce services (Law of 5 November 2023)

Article 2 of the Law of 5 November 2023 states that the Law partly transposes Directive (EU) 2019/882. Article 4(1) of the Directive requires Member States to ensure that economic operators only provide services that comply with the accessibility requirements in its Annex I. Article VIII.58(1) applies Title 5 of Book VIII of the Code of Economic Law to consumer banking services and e-commerce services provided to consumers.

Article I.9/1, point 7, defines e-commerce services as services provided at a distance, through websites and mobile device-based services, by electronic means and at a consumer's individual request with a view to concluding a consumer contract. Article I.9/1, point 6, treats as consumer banking services the consumer credit agreements, investment services, payment services, electronic money and payment-account services that it lists.

Article VIII.58(2) excludes from Title 5 the pre-recorded time-based media and office file formats published before the entry into force of the title, and online maps and mapping services where the essential navigation information is provided in an accessible digital way. Article VIII.58(2) also excludes third-party content that the operator does not finance, develop or control, and website and app content that counts as an archive.

Article VIII.59(1) requires service providers to design and provide only services within Article VIII.58(1) that meet the accessibility requirements in Annex 1 to Book VIII. Article VIII.59(1) requires providers that outsource a service in whole or in part to ensure that the outsourced service meets the same requirements. Article VIII.59(2) lets the King exclude all or certain categories of micro-enterprises from all or some of the accessibility requirements.

Section 1 of Annex 1 requires websites, related online applications and mobile device services, including mobile applications, to be made accessible in a consistent and adequate way by making them perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. Section 2 of Annex 1 sets additional accessibility requirements for consumer banking services, covering identification methods, electronic signature, security and payment services.

Section 2 of Annex 1 also requires banking information to be no more difficult than level B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Section 3 of Annex 1 sets additional accessibility requirements for e-commerce services, covering accessibility information on the products and services offered for sale, and identification, security and payment functions.

Section 3 of Annex 1 also requires e-commerce services to provide identification methods, electronic signatures and payment services that are perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. Section 4 of Annex 1 requires functions of a service that Sections 1 to 3 do not address to be made accessible by meeting the functional performance criteria it lists.

Article VIII.60 requires service providers to prepare the information required by Annex 2 and explain how the services meet or do not meet the accessibility requirements. Article VIII.60 requires that information to be made available to the public in writing and orally, including in a way accessible to persons with disabilities, and kept as long as the service operates.

Article VIII.61(1) requires service providers to apply procedures that keep the service in line with the accessibility requirements for as long as it is provided. Article VIII.61(2) requires providers to take corrective measures when a service no longer conforms. Article VIII.61(2) also requires providers to notify the officials designated under Article XV.2 immediately when a service does not meet the requirements.

Article VIII.61(3) requires providers to give those officials, on request, all information and documentation that shows the service meets the requirements, and to cooperate with them. Article VIII.62(1) 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 service and does not impose a disproportionate burden on the provider.

Article VIII.62(1) requires the requirements that do not cause a fundamental alteration or disproportionate burden to be complied with in full. Article VIII.62(2) requires providers to carry out an assessment of whether compliance with the accessibility requirements would introduce a fundamental alteration. Article VIII.62(3) requires providers to keep all relevant results of the assessment for five years after the service was last provided.

Article VIII.62(4) requires a provider relying on the disproportionate burden defence to renew the assessment when the service changes, at the officials' request, and at least every five years. Article VIII.62(5) bars a provider that receives public or private funding for accessibility from relying on the disproportionate burden defence.

Article VIII.62(6) requires a provider that relies on the fundamental alteration or disproportionate burden exception for a specific service to inform the officials proactively. Article VIII.63 presumes that services meeting harmonised standards, or parts of them, published in the Official Journal of the European Union conform to the accessibility requirements to the extent the standards cover them.

Article 39 of the Law lets service contracts concluded before 28 June 2025 continue unchanged until they expire, and for no more than five years from that date. Article 39 of the Law lets providers keep using, until 28 June 2030, the products they lawfully used before that date to provide similar services. Article 39 of the Law lets self-service terminals lawfully used before 28 June 2025 stay in use until the end of their economic life, and for no more than twenty years after they entered use.

Article 40 of the Law excludes certain small enterprises from the Law until 28 June 2030, except for Article 5 of the Law. The explanatory memorandum states that service providers that are micro-enterprises come within the scope of the Law only from 2030. Article 4(5) of the Directive exempts microenterprises providing services from the accessibility requirements for services and from any obligations relating to compliance with them.

Article 40 of the Law lets service contracts agreed with those enterprises before 28 June 2030 continue unchanged until they expire, and for no more than five years from that date. Article 40 of the Law lets those enterprises keep using, until 28 June 2035, the products they lawfully used before that date to provide similar services. Article 38 of the Law provides that the Law enters into force on 28 June 2025.

Article XV.18/5(1) lets any person lodge a complaint about the accessibility of products and services free of charge with the officials designated under Article XV.2. Article XV.18/5(3) makes a complaint inadmissible where it concerns facts that occurred before 28 June 2025, or before 28 June 2030 where the service is provided by a micro-enterprise.

Article XV.18/6 lets a person with a disability mandate a non-profit body, organisation or association that meets its conditions to lodge the complaint on their behalf. The Economic Inspection of the Federal Public Service Economy supervises consumer banking and e-commerce providers. Article XV.101/1 punishes breach of Articles VIII.59 to VIII.62 with a level 2 sanction, and a bad-faith breach with a level 3 sanction.

The explanatory memorandum equates a level 2 sanction with an administrative or criminal fine of EUR 208 to EUR 80,000. The explanatory memorandum gives for a level 2 sanction a settlement of EUR 26 to EUR 60,000 under the Royal Decree of 10 April 2014. The explanatory memorandum gives for a level 3 sanction an administrative or criminal fine of EUR 208 to EUR 200,000 or a settlement of EUR 26 to EUR 150,000.

Article XV.132 lets the court order additional corrective measures for breaches of Articles XV.99/1 and XV.101/1. Article 36 of the Law adds Titles 4 and 5 of Book VIII to the provisions listed in Article XVII.37, point 1, of the Code. The explanatory summary says that the Law inserts into Books I, XV and XVII the relevant definitions, the enforcement provisions and the possibility of an action for collective redress.

Article XV.62/7 lets the officials designated under Article XV.60/4, who impose the administrative fine, decide that it is not executed, or only in part, if the offender carries out the corrective measures they set.