Act on accessibility requirements of certain products and services, duties of importers of computers, payment and ticketing terminals, ATMs, consumer terminal equipment and e-readers

Act 424/2023 transposes Directive (EU) 2019/882. Section 2(1) of the Act applies it to general-purpose consumer computer hardware systems and their operating systems, self-service payment terminals, ATMs, ticket-issuing machines, check-in machines and information terminals used to provide services, consumer terminal equipment with interactive computing capability used for electronic communications services or for access to audiovisual media services, and e-readers.

Section 4(1) sets the accessibility requirements of the products as those in sections I and II of Annex 1. Article 9(1) of the Directive requires importers to place only compliant products on the market. Section 7(1) of the Act allows an importer to place a product on the market only if it meets the accessibility requirements.

Section 7(2) requires the importer, before placing the product on the market, to ensure that the manufacturer carried out the conformity assessment of Annex 2, prepared the technical documentation, affixed the CE marking, met its identification duties and supplied instructions and safety information, and to keep the documentation and a copy of the declaration of conformity for 5 years.

Section 7(3) requires the importer to state its name or trade name or trademark and a contact address on the product, or on the packaging or an accompanying document. Section 7(4) requires an importer that finds a product it intends to place on the market does not meet the requirements to inform the manufacturer and the authority without delay.

Section 7(5) requires an importer that finds a product it placed on the market does not meet the requirements to correct it or withdraw it without undue delay, inform the authority, and keep a register of non-compliant products and related complaints. Article 11 of the Directive treats an importer or distributor as a manufacturer where it places a product on the market under its own name or trademark or modifies a product in a way that may affect compliance.

Section 9 of the Act treats an importer or distributor as a manufacturer on the same two grounds. Section 10 requires importers to identify on the authority's request each operator that supplied them or that they supplied, for 5 years. Section 15(3) requires an importer that supplied a product to keep the assessment and its supporting documents for 5 years from the day it last supplied the product, and exempts a microenterprise importer from submitting the assessment to the authority.

Section 15(5) requires the manufacturer, authorised representative, importer or distributor to inform the supervisory authority before supplying a product to the market that it will not meet the accessibility requirements under section 15(1). Section 15(6) requires the importer, where the manufacturer relies on the disproportionate-burden limb, to attach to that information the manufacturer's sworn statement that it received no subsidy, gift or similar payment to secure accessibility.

Section 15(7) exempts a manufacturer, importer or distributor that is a microenterprise from the duty to inform the authority under section 15(5). Section 19(1) names the Czech Trade Inspection as the supervisory authority for products. Section 20 requires the authority to call on the importer of a non-compliant product to take corrective measures within a reasonable period, then to withdraw it from the market, and if it does not, to ban its supply or decide on its withdrawal.

Section 27(3) applies Articles 25(2) to (4), 26(1) and (2) and 27 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 to the customs offices on the import of products into the Union. Section 25(4) makes it an offence for an importer to place a non-compliant product on the market against section 7(1), or to fail to ensure before placing it that the manufacturer carried out the conformity assessment, prepared the documentation, affixed the CE marking, met its identification duties and supplied the instructions.

Section 25(6) makes it an offence for a manufacturer, authorised representative, importer or distributor to fail to identify the operators under section 10, to fail to keep the assessment and its supporting documents, to fail to inform the authority under section 15(5) or give the required content, or to omit the sworn statement under section 15(6).

Section 25(1) makes it an offence for any legal person or entrepreneur to affix the CE marking without entitlement or to draw up or alter a declaration of conformity without entitlement. Section 25(8) sets the maximum fine for an importer at 10,000,000 koruna for offences under section 25(4)(a) and (f), at 5,000,000 koruna for section 25(4)(b) and (c), at 2,000,000 koruna for section 25(4)(d), and at 1,000,000 koruna for section 25(4)(e), (g) and (h).

Section 26(1) gives the offence proceedings to the authority that supervises the duty breached, and section 26(2) lets the Czech Trade Inspection collect the fine it imposes. Section 30 of the Act on liability for offences (250/2016) sets a limitation period of 3 years for an offence whose maximum fine reaches 100,000 koruna, which covers every offence in section 25. Section 28(1) applies the duties of importers to products placed on the market after 28 June 2025. Section 29 brought the Act into effect on 28 June 2025.