GermanyBarrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz (BFSG), accessibility of consumer products and services, including e-commerce, banking and passenger transport websites and apps
Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz (BFSG) vom 16. Juli 2021 (BGBl. I S. 2970), §§ 1 bis 3, 14 und 37
In force since .
An accessibility requirements rule binding private bodies.
As of .
What it requires
- If you make a product listed in section 1(2) available on the market, or offer or provide a service listed in section 1(3) to consumers, make it accessible, meaning that persons with disabilities can find, reach and use it in the generally customary way, without particular difficulty and in principle without outside help (BFSG, s. 3(1)); the concrete requirements are those of the ordinance under s. 3(2), the Verordnung zum Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz, issued in line with Annex I of Directive (EU) 2019/882.
- If you offer or provide e-commerce services (digital services offered through a website or an application on a mobile device and provided electronically at a consumer's individual request with a view to concluding a consumer contract), offer or provide them only if they meet those accessibility requirements (s. 14(1), No. 1; s. 2, No. 26).
- If you offer or provide a service listed in section 1(3), prepare the information required by Annex 3, No. 1, make it available to the public in accessible form, and keep it for as long as you offer or provide the service (s. 14(1), No. 2 and (2)).
- If you place a product listed in section 1(2) on the market, or make it available on it, in breach of the accessibility requirements, you commit an administrative offence (s. 37(1), Nos. 1 and 7).
- The duty in section 3(1) does not apply to a microenterprise that offers or provides services (s. 3(3)); a microenterprise is an enterprise that employs fewer than ten persons and has an annual turnover or balance sheet total of at most EUR 2 million (s. 2, No. 17).
- The Act does not apply to content of websites and mobile applications that third parties provide and you neither finance, develop nor control, or to content that counts as an archive (s. 1(4), Nos. 4 and 5).
- Offering or providing a service in breach of section 14(1) is an administrative offence punishable by a fine of up to EUR 100,000 (s. 37(1), No. 8 and (2)).
- Until you may go on providing your services with products you lawfully used for that or similar services before (s. 38(1)).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text, as of .
If you get it wrong
Penalty structure
Section 37(2) sets a fine of up to EUR 100,000 for the offences in section 37(1), Nos. 1, 7, 8, 9 and 10, among them offering or providing a service in breach of section 14(1), and up to EUR 10,000 for the other offences in section 37(1). The offence is an administrative offence (Ordnungswidrigkeit).
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- Currency
- EUR
- Fixed cap
- 100,000
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
The market surveillance authorities of the Länder (Marktüberwachungsbehörden), each an authority responsible for market surveillance under Land law (BFSG, s. 2, No. 22)
What it reaches
Instrument type
an act of a legislature
Applicability criteria
- As of
- Combinator
- Any of
- Criteria
- an economic operator that places on the market, or makes available on it, a product listed in section 1(2) of the Act
- an enterprise that offers or provides a service listed in section 1(3) of the Act and is not a microenterprise (Kleinstunternehmen)
What this law does
Section 3(1) requires products that an economic operator makes available on the market, and services it offers or provides, to be accessible. Section 3(1) treats a product or service as accessible when persons with disabilities can find, reach and use it in the generally customary way, without particular difficulty and in principle without outside help.
The concrete accessibility requirements are those of the ordinance that section 3(2) authorises the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs to issue in line with Annex I of Directive (EU) 2019/882. Section 1(2) applies the Act to products placed on the market after , among them consumer general-purpose computer hardware with its operating systems, payment terminals, cash machines, ticketing machines and check-in machines.
Section 1(3) applies the Act to services provided to consumers after : electronic communications services and elements of passenger transport services, namely websites, services on mobile devices including mobile applications, and electronic tickets. It also covers consumer banking services, e-books and dedicated software, and e-commerce services.
Section 2 defines e-commerce services as digital services offered through websites and applications on mobile devices and provided electronically at a consumer's individual request with a view to concluding a consumer contract. Section 14(1) lets a service provider offer or provide a service only if it meets the accessibility requirements of the ordinance and the provider has prepared the information required by Annex 3, No. 1 and made it available to the public in accessible form.
The provider keeps that information for as long as it offers or provides the service. Section 3(3) exempts microenterprises that offer or provide services from the duty in section 3(1). Section 2 defines a microenterprise as an enterprise that employs fewer than ten persons and has an annual turnover or balance sheet total of at most EUR 2 million.
Section 1(4) excludes content of websites and mobile applications that third parties provide and the operator neither finances, develops nor controls, and content that counts as an archive. A market surveillance authority is any authority responsible for market surveillance under the law of a Land. Under section 28(2) it checks services on a sample basis without a specific occasion, and for websites and mobile applications it applies the requirements of Annex 1, No. 1.
On a consumer's application, section 32(1) requires the authority to open a procedure against an economic operator that the consumer claims has breached the Act. Offering or providing a service in breach of section 14(1) is an administrative offence under section 37(1), No. 8. Section 37(2) sets a fine of up to EUR 100,000 for that offence and for the other offences it lists in Nos. 1, 7, 9 and 10, and up to EUR 10,000 in the remaining cases.
Section 38(1) lets service providers go on providing their services until with products they lawfully used for that or similar services before .
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.