BulgariaAccessibility Requirements for Products and Services Act, fundamental alteration and disproportionate burden, assessment and notification duties
DV br. 31/2025 chl. 3 i prilozhenie 1 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 rely on the exception, assess whether compliance with the accessibility requirements would require a significant change that fundamentally alters the nature of the product or service, or impose a disproportionate burden, using the criteria of Annex 1 (net compliance costs against total operating and capital costs and against net turnover, one-off organisational costs and ongoing production and development costs, and expected costs and benefits against the benefit to people with disabilities given the number and frequency of use) and any delegated acts of the European Commission (Art. 3(1) and (2); Annex 1; implements Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 14(1) and (2)).
- Document the assessment and keep all relevant results for five years from the last making available of the product or the last provision of the service, and give a copy to the market surveillance authority or the authority checking compliance of services on request (Art. 3(3); Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 14(3)).
- If you are a service provider relying on the disproportionate-burden exception, renew the assessment for each category or type of service when the service changes, when the authority asks, and in any event at least every five years (Art. 3(5); Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 14(5)).
- Unless you are a microenterprise, send information that you rely on the exception for a specific product or service to the market surveillance authority or the authority checking services of the Member State where the product is placed on the market or the service is provided (Art. 3(6); Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 14(8)).
- A microenterprise that deals with products and relies on the exception is exempt from documenting the assessment but must give the market surveillance authority the facts relevant to the assessment on request (Art. 3(4)).
- You may not rely on the disproportionate-burden exception where you receive funding, public or private and other than your own resources, provided to improve the accessibility of the product or service (Art. 3(7); Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 14(6)).
- Where the exception is applied, state in the EU declaration of conformity which accessibility requirements are the subject of the exception (Art. 8(2)).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
If you get it wrong
Penalty structure
Article 84 fines an economic operator that makes products available and fails its Article 3 duties BGN 500 to 3,000 (EUR 255.65 to 1,533.88), or imposes a property sanction of BGN 1,000 to 5,000 (EUR 511.29 to 2,556.46); for a repeat breach the fine is BGN 1,000 to 6,000 (EUR 511.29 to 3,067.75) and the property sanction BGN 2,000 to 10,000 (EUR 1,022.58 to 5,112.92). Article 86 sets the same amounts for a service provider that breaches Article 3. 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 cap shown is the highest ceiling, the repeat property sanction. The Chair of the State Agency for Metrological and Technical Supervision imposes the product penalties and the authority named in Article 54(1) the service penalties (Articles 90 and 91). 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 text's BGN 10,000 converted.
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- Currency
- EUR
- Fixed cap
- 5112.92
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
The market surveillance authorities for products and the authorities responsible for checking the compliance of services, which can ask an operator for a copy of its assessment of fundamental alteration or disproportionate burden (Article 3(3))
What it reaches
Instrument type
an act of a legislature
Applicability criteria
- As of
- Combinator
- All of
- Criteria
- an economic operator that relies on the exception of Article 3(1) for a product or service covered by the Act ("Икономическите оператори, които се позовават на изключениe по ал. 1"); a microenterprise that deals with products is exempt from documenting the assessment (Article 3(4)) and an operator that is a microenterprise is exempt from the notification of Article 3(6)
What this law does
Article 3(1) applies the accessibility requirements only so far as compliance does not require a significant change that fundamentally alters the nature of a product or service and does not impose a disproportionate burden on the economic operators. Article 3(2) requires an economic operator that relies on the exception to assess whether compliance would cause a fundamental alteration or a disproportionate burden, using the criteria of Annex 1 and of the Commission's delegated acts.
Article 3(3) requires the operator to document the assessment, keep the results for five years and give a copy to the authorities on request. Article 3(4) exempts microenterprises that deal with products from documenting the assessment but requires them to give the market surveillance authority the facts of the assessment on request.
Article 3(5) requires a service provider to renew its disproportionate-burden assessment for each category or type of service when the service changes, on request of the authority and at least every five years. Article 3(6) requires an operator other than a microenterprise that relies on the exception to send information about it to the authorities of the Member State where the product is placed on the market or the service is provided.
Article 3(7) denies the disproportionate-burden exception to an operator that receives funding from sources other than its own resources for improving accessibility.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app ships a consumer interface, ships a mobile app, distributes a software product, provides telecom services or provides financial services.
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