BulgariaAccessibility Requirements for Products and Services Act, services covered, accessibility requirements, duties of service providers and transitional rules
DV br. 31/2025 chl. 2 al. 2 i 3, chl. 46 do 53, § 4 i prilozhenie 2 razdeli III, IV i VI i prilozhenie 5 ot Zakon za iziskvaniyata za dostapnost na produkti i uslugi (Закон за изискванията за достъпност на продукти и услуги)
In force since .
An accessibility requirements rule binding public and private bodies.
What it requires
- If you offer a service listed in Article 2(2) (electronic communications services other than machine-to-machine transmission; services giving access to audiovisual media services; the websites, mobile services and applications, electronic tickets, travel information and interactive self-service terminals of air, bus, rail and waterborne passenger transport; consumer banking services; e-books and dedicated software; e-commerce services), provide it in line with the accessibility requirements of Annex 2, sections III and IV and the functional performance criteria of section VI (Arts. 2(2) and 46(1); implements Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 2(2) and Art. 4(1) and (3)).
- For urban, suburban and regional transport services, meet only section IV of Annex 2, which for them concerns the accessibility of the self-service terminals used to provide the services (Art. 46(2); Annex 2, section IV, urban, suburban and regional transport services).
- Make accessible the products you use to provide the service, give information on how the service works and, where products are used, on their accessibility features and compatibility with assistive devices, through more than one sensory channel and in text formats usable to create alternative assistive formats, with a non-text alternative, and make websites, related online applications and mobile applications perceivable, operable, understandable and robust; where you offer support services, give accessibility information in accessible modes of communication (Annex 2, section III).
- For electronic communications services, including emergency calls, provide real-time text beside voice, a total conversation with video beside voice, and make emergency calls using voice and text synchronised, and video where provided, and sent to the most appropriate emergency call centre (Annex 2, section IV, electronic communications services).
- For services giving access to audiovisual media services, provide electronic programme guides that are perceivable, operable, understandable and robust and show the available accessibility, and pass on the access services (subtitles for deaf and hard-of-hearing people, audio description, spoken subtitles and Bulgarian sign language translation) in full, with adequate quality, synchronised with sound and video and under user control (Annex 2, section IV, services giving access to audiovisual media services).
- For air, bus, rail and waterborne passenger transport services, give information on the accessibility of vehicles, infrastructure and the built environment and on assistance to people with disabilities, and information for smart ticketing, real-time travel information and additional service information (Annex 2, section IV, passenger transport services).
- For consumer banking services, provide identification methods, electronic signatures, security and payment services that are perceivable, operable, understandable and robust, and keep information understandable without exceeding level B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (Annex 2, section IV, consumer banking services).
- For e-books and dedicated software, provide synchronised text and audio where the e-book has audio, do not let the digital files obstruct assistive technologies, give access to content, navigation and layout, allow alternative content delivery and interoperability with assistive technologies, make e-books findable through accessibility metadata, and do not let digital rights management block accessibility features (Annex 2, section IV, e-books and dedicated software).
- For e-commerce services, give information on the accessibility of the products and services on sale where you provide it, make identification, security and payment functionality supplied as part of the service accessible, and provide identification methods, electronic signatures and payment services that are perceivable, operable, understandable and robust (Annex 2, section IV, e-commerce services).
- Prepare the information required by Annex 5 explaining how the service meets the applicable requirements, include it in the general terms or an equivalent document with a general description of the service in accessible formats, make it available to the public in written and oral form including in ways accessible to people with disabilities, and keep it for as long as the service is provided (Art. 50(2) and (3); Annex 5; implements Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 13(2)).
- Apply procedures that keep the service in conformity throughout its provision, taking account of changes in how it is provided, in the applicable requirements and in the harmonised standards or technical specifications relied on (Art. 51).
- If the service does not conform, take the corrective measures needed and inform at once the competent authority under Article 54(1) and the competent authorities of the Member States where the service is provided, with details of the non-conformity and the measures taken (Art. 52; implements Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 13(4)).
- On a reasoned request, give the competent authority all information needed to show conformity, on paper or electronically, in Bulgarian, within the time it sets, and cooperate on action to bring the service into conformity (Art. 53; Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 13(5)).
- A service that meets the accessible-information requirements of the air, rail, maritime and bus passenger rights regulations or of the Railway Transport Act provisions on rail interoperability is treated as meeting the corresponding requirements of Article 46, and any additional requirement of the Act applies in full (Art. 49).
- The accessibility requirements of Article 46(1) and (2), and every obligation connected with meeting them, do not apply to a microenterprise that offers services (a microenterprise employs fewer than 10 persons and has an annual turnover or annual balance sheet total not above EUR 2,000,000 or the equivalent in leva, paragraph 1(1) point 15 of the additional provisions), and the Act does not apply to pre-recorded time-based media and office file formats published before , online maps and mapping services meant for navigation where essential information is provided in an accessible digital manner, content of third parties that you did not fund, develop or control, or archive content not updated or edited after (Arts. 2(3) and 46(3); implements Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 2(4) and Art. 4(5)).
- You may keep using until products you lawfully used for similar services before that date, let service contracts concluded before run unchanged until they expire and for no more than five years after that date, and keep self-service terminals lawfully in use before in service until the end of their economically useful life and for no more than 20 years after they entered use (paragraph 4(1) to (3) of the final provisions; Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 32).
- Until the emergency-call obligations of Annex 2, section IV, letter (a) for electronic communications services may also be met through a relay service provider, including applications built into the operating system of terminal devices or other applications of the economic operator or of a third party (paragraph 4(4) of the final provisions; a national rule, which recital 45 of Directive (EU) 2019/882 allows for: a third-party relay service provider as an alternative for answering emergency communications).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
If you get it wrong
Penalty structure
Article 89 punishes a breach of a Chapter Three duty of a service provider (Articles 46 to 58) for which no other penalty is set with a fine of BGN 1,500 to 10,000 (EUR 766.94 to 5,112.92) or a property sanction of BGN 3,000 to 20,000 (EUR 1,533.88 to 10,225.84); repeat, a fine of BGN 3,000 to 20,000 (EUR 1,533.88 to 10,225.84) or a property sanction of BGN 6,000 to 40,000 (EUR 3,067.75 to 20,451.68). Article 87 punishes a service provider that does not give the information requested under Article 53(1), or gives false, incomplete or inaccurate information, late, or not in Bulgarian: BGN 1,000 to 10,000 (EUR 511.29 to 5,112.92) or BGN 2,000 to 15,000 (EUR 1,022.58 to 7,669.38); repeat, BGN 2,000 to 20,000 (EUR 1,022.58 to 10,225.84) or BGN 4,000 to 30,000 (EUR 2,045.17 to 15,338.76). Article 86 punishes a breach of the Article 3 duties: BGN 500 to 3,000 (EUR 255.65 to 1,533.88) or BGN 1,000 to 5,000 (EUR 511.29 to 2,556.46); repeat, BGN 1,000 to 6,000 (EUR 511.29 to 3,067.75) or BGN 2,000 to 10,000 (EUR 1,022.58 to 5,112.92). A repeat breach is one committed within one year of the entry into force of the penal decree that punished the same kind of breach (paragraph 1(1) point 21 of the additional provisions). Paragraph 3 of the final provisions halves each amount for breaches committed up to . The Act states every amount in leva; since Article 11(2) of the Euro Introduction Act reads each as an amount in euro at the official exchange rate of 1.95583 leva to the euro, rounded to the cent (Articles 12 and 13 of that Act), and the euro figures in brackets are that conversion. The cap shown is the repeat property sanction of Article 89, BGN 40,000 in the text, converted. The authority named in Article 54(1) for the service, its head or an officer it expressly authorises issues the penal decrees (Article 91(2)).
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- Currency
- EUR
- Fixed cap
- 20451.68
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
Article 54(1) assigns control of compliance of services: the Communications Regulation Commission for electronic communications services; the Council for Electronic Media for services providing access to audiovisual media services; the Civil Aviation Administration Directorate General for air passenger transport; the Automobile Administration Executive Agency for bus passenger transport; the Railway Administration Executive Agency for rail passenger transport; the Maritime Administration Executive Agency for waterborne passenger transport; the Financial Supervision Commission and its deputy chair heading Investment Activity Supervision for the consumer banking services of point 25(b) of paragraph 1(1) of the additional provisions; the Bulgarian National Bank for those of points 25(c) to (e); the Ministry of Culture for e-books and dedicated software; and the Commission for Consumer Protection for those of point 25(a) and for e-commerce services
What it reaches
Instrument type
an act of a legislature
Applicability criteria
- As of
- Combinator
- All of
- Criteria
- a service listed in Article 2(2): an electronic communications service other than machine-to-machine transmission, a service providing access to audiovisual media services, the elements of air, bus, rail and waterborne passenger transport services (websites, mobile services, electronic tickets, travel information, interactive self-service terminals), a consumer banking service, an e-book or dedicated software, or an e-commerce service ("Този закон се прилага за следните услуги")
- a service provider that is not a microenterprise: Article 46(3) provides that "Микропредприятията, които предлагат услуги, се освобождават от спазването на изискванията за достъпност" (microenterprises that offer services are exempt from the accessibility requirements); the Act defines a microenterprise in paragraph 1(1) point 15 of the additional provisions
What this law does
Article 2(2) applies the Act to electronic communications services other than machine-to-machine transmission services, to services providing access to audiovisual media services, to the websites, mobile services, electronic tickets, travel information and interactive terminals of air, bus, rail and waterborne passenger transport, to consumer banking services, to e-books and dedicated software, and to e-commerce services.
Article 2(3) excludes from the Act pre-recorded time-based media and office file formats published before , certain online maps, third-party content the operator did not fund, develop or control, and archive content. Article 46(1) allows services other than urban, suburban and regional transport services to be provided only if they meet the accessibility requirements of sections III and IV of Annex 2, taking into account the functional performance criteria of section VI.
Article 46(2) allows urban, suburban and regional transport services to be provided only if they meet the requirements of section IV of Annex 2, taking into account the functional performance criteria of section VI. Article 46(3) exempts microenterprises that offer services from the accessibility requirements and from all obligations connected with complying with them.
Article 47 bars prohibiting, restricting or impeding, for accessibility reasons, the provision of services that comply with the Act. Article 48(1) presumes that a service conforming to harmonised standards, or parts of them, whose references are published in the Official Journal of the European Union meets the accessibility requirements those standards cover.
Article 48(2) gives the same presumption to a service that conforms to technical specifications adopted under Article 15(3) of Directive (EU) 2019/882. Article 49(1) treats a service as meeting the accessibility requirements of Article 46 where it meets the accessible-information requirements of one of the listed air, rail, maritime, bus or rail-interoperability passenger rules. Article 49(2) applies in full any additional requirement the Act sets beyond those acts.
Article 50 requires a service provider to design and provide services in line with Article 46, to prepare the information required by Annex 5 explaining how the services meet the requirements and to keep it for as long as the service is provided. Article 51 requires a service provider to apply procedures that keep services in conformity throughout their provision.
Article 52 requires a service provider to take the corrective measures needed and to inform the competent authority and the authorities of the other Member States where the service is provided at once when a service does not meet the requirements. Article 53 requires a service provider to give the competent authority, on a reasoned request and in Bulgarian within the time set, the information needed to show conformity, and to cooperate on corrective action.
Paragraph 4(1) of the final provisions lets service providers continue until to use products that they lawfully used for similar services before that date. Paragraph 4(2) of the final provisions lets service contracts concluded before continue unchanged until they expire, but not later than five years after that date.
Paragraph 4(3) of the final provisions lets self-service terminals that service providers lawfully used before stay in use until the end of their economically useful life, but not longer than 20 years after entering use.
Paragraph 4(4) of the final provisions lets the emergency-call obligations of section IV of Annex 2 also be met until through a relay service provider, including applications built into the operating system of terminal devices or other applications of the economic operator or of a third party.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app ships a consumer interface, ships a mobile app, provides telecom services or provides financial services.
Back to the example · Lint your app
Page updated .