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Law / Denmark

Accessibility Act (Tilgængelighedsloven), accessibility requirements for products and the obligations of manufacturers, authorised representatives, importers and distributors

Tilgængelighedsloven, produkter (lov nr. 801 af 7. juni 2022), §§ 1, stk. 1, 4-5, 8-10, 12, 14-33 og 38-57

In force since .

An accessibility requirements rule binding public and private bodies.

What it requires

  • If you make, import or distribute a covered consumer product in Denmark, place it on the market only if it meets the accessibility requirements in parts 1 and 2 of Annex 1 to the Act; a self-service terminal need meet only part 1 (§§ 4 and 5).
  • As manufacturer, design and make the product in line with the Act, draw up the technical documentation under Annex 3, have the conformity assessment procedure carried out unless § 8 applies, draw up the EU declaration of conformity and affix the CE marking, and keep the technical documentation and the declaration for 5 years after the product is placed on the market (§§ 16 and 17).
  • Keep procedures that ensure series production stays in conformity with the Act, taking account of changes to the design or characteristics of the product and to the harmonised standards or technical specifications (§ 18).
  • Mark the product with a type, batch or serial number and with your name, registered trade name or trade mark and a single contact address in a language end users and authorities understand; where the size or nature of the product prevents it, put the information on the packaging or in a document that accompanies the product (§ 19).
  • Supply the product with instructions and safety information in Danish that are clear and understandable (§ 20).
  • If you know or ought to know that a product you placed on the market does not conform, immediately take the corrective measures needed or withdraw it, inform the relevant control authority and the competent authorities of the other Member States where you made it available, keep a register of non-conforming products and related complaints, and cooperate with the authority on request (§ 21).
  • If you act as an authorised representative, carry out the tasks in the manufacturer’s mandate, which at least cover keeping the declaration of conformity and technical documentation available to the authority for 5 years after the product is placed on the market, giving the authority on reasoned request the information and documentation needed to assess conformity, and cooperating on corrective measures (§ 23); the mandate cannot cover the manufacturer’s duty in § 16 or the drawing up of the technical documentation (§ 22(2)).
  • If you import, place on the market only products that meet the Act (§ 24); before doing so make sure the manufacturer has drawn up the technical documentation, met the marking requirements and supplied Danish instructions and safety information (§ 25(1)); unless the product is exempt under § 8(1), also make sure the manufacturer has prepared the conformity assessment procedure and that the product bears the CE marking and comes with the EU declaration of conformity (§ 25(2)); keep a copy of the declaration for 5 years (§ 25(3)).
  • As importer, put your name, registered trade name or trade mark and postal address on the product or, where that is not possible, on the packaging or an accompanying document (§ 26); keep storage and transport conditions that do not jeopardise conformity (§ 27); do not place on the market a product you know or ought to know does not conform until it does, tell the manufacturer and the control authority, and for a product already on the market take corrective measures, inform the authorities and keep the register of non-conforming products and complaints, and cooperate with the control authority on request (§ 28).
  • If you distribute, act with due care and check before making a product available that it comes with Danish instructions and safety information and that the manufacturer and importer have met the marking requirements; unless the product is wholly exempt under § 8(1), also check that it bears the CE marking (§ 29).
  • As distributor, keep storage and transport conditions that do not jeopardise conformity (§ 30); do not make available a product you know or ought to know does not conform until it does, tell the manufacturer or importer and the control authority, take corrective measures for a product already available, inform the authorities and cooperate with the control authority on request (§ 31).
  • If you place a product on the market under your own name or trade mark, or change a product already on the market in a way that may affect conformity, you are treated as the manufacturer and carry its obligations in §§ 16 to 21 (§ 32).
  • On request from the control authority, identify every other trader that supplied you with a product and every trader you supplied with one (§ 33(1)), and be able to give that information for 5 years (Executive Order 823 of 2022, § 2).
  • Draw up the EU declaration of conformity in the Annex 6 model, in Danish or English, stating that the applicable accessibility requirements are shown to be met and, for a product partly exempt under § 8(1), which requirements it is exempt from; keep it up to date and list every EU act that requires a declaration (§§ 38 to 40).
  • By drawing up the EU declaration of conformity you answer for the product meeting the Act (§ 41).
  • Affix the CE marking before the product is placed on the market, visibly, legibly and indelibly, in line with Article 30 of Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 (§§ 42 to 44).
  • To rely on § 8(1), assess against the criteria in Annex 5 whether compliance would fundamentally alter the product or impose a disproportionate burden, document the assessment, keep it for at least 5 years after the product was last made available and give the authority a copy on request (§ 9); send the information that you rely on § 8 to the relevant control authority (§ 12(1)); you cannot rely on the disproportionate burden if you do not use only your own funds to improve accessibility (§ 8(2)).
  • A microenterprise that trades in products need not document the assessment but must give the authority, on request, the information relevant to it (§ 10), and need not send the notice under § 12(1) (§ 12(2)).
  • Give the control authority all information it considers necessary to establish whether a product conforms and, if you rely on § 8(1), what is needed to check the assessment (§ 46); give it access to your business premises and means of transport on proper identification and without a court order, and allow it to examine the product on site, photograph, film and take samples (§ 47).
  • Allow the control authority to take any covered product, also under a hidden identity, and refund its purchase cost if it demands it; refund the cost of external technical examinations where it takes a decision against you following the examination (§ 48).
  • Communicate in writing with the control authorities digitally, unless the relevant authority exempts you in special circumstances (§ 54(1) and (2)).
  • Comply with an order to put a non-conforming product right within the time set, with a later order to stop selling the product or withdraw it from the market, with an order to correct a CE marking, declaration, documentation or marking defect, and with an order to stop selling a product that wrongly bears the CE marking or to remove the marking (§§ 49 and 50).

These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.

If you get it wrong

Criminal exposureYes

Criminal exposure note

Section 57(1) punishes with a fine (bøde), unless a higher penalty is incurred under other legislation, a person who breaches sections 4 and 5, 9(2) and 9(3), 12(1), 38 to 40 or 43 and 44, fails to give the authority information under sections 9(4), 10(2), 33(1) or 46, fails to fulfil the obligations of manufacturers, importers and distributors in sections 16 to 21 and 24 to 31 or of an authorised representative under section 23(1), obstructs the authority’s access under section 47(1), disregards its decisions or evades or attempts to evade its control, or wrongly uses the CE marking. The Act states no amount for the fine, whose size is for the court to set.

Who enforces it

Enforcement body

The Danish Safety Technology Authority (Sikkerhedsstyrelsen), the control authority for the products in section 1(1) under section 45(2) of the Act; since Sikkerhedsstyrelsen is part of the Danish Business Authority (Erhvervsstyrelsen)

What it reaches

Instrument type

an act of a legislature

Applicability criteria

As of
Combinator
Any of
Criteria
  • a consumer computer hardware system for general purposes, or an operating system for such a system, as products within section 1(1), item 1
  • a payment terminal (section 1(1), item 2)
  • a cash machine, ticketing machine, check-in self-service machine or interactive self-service terminal that supplies information, other than a terminal installed as an integral part of a vehicle, aircraft, ship or rolling stock, intended for services covered by the Act (section 1(1), item 3)
  • consumer terminal equipment with interactive computing capability used for electronic communications services (section 1(1), item 4)
  • consumer terminal equipment with interactive computing capability used to access audiovisual media services (section 1(1), item 5)
  • an e-reader (section 1(1), item 6)

What this law does

Drafted with AI

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Research summary

Legal information, not legal advice. This is LexLint's own research summary of a public legal source, and it creates no attorney-client relationship. For decisions that matter, consult qualified counsel in the relevant jurisdiction. About LexLint

Section 1(1) applies the Act to consumer computer hardware systems and operating systems for general purposes, payment terminals, cash machines, ticketing machines, check-in machines and interactive information terminals intended for the services the Act covers (other than those installed as an integral part of vehicles, aircraft, ships or rolling stock), consumer terminal equipment with interactive computing capability used for electronic communications services or to access audiovisual media services, and e-readers.

The Act implements parts of Directive (EU) 2019/882, the European Accessibility Act. Article 31(2) of the Directive requires EU countries to apply their implementing measures from . Section 59(1) of the Act applies it to products and services placed on the market or supplied from . Section 4 of the Act allows a product to be placed on the market only if it meets the relevant accessibility requirements in Annex 1.

Section 5(1) requires products to meet the requirements in parts 1 and 2 of Annex 1. Section 5(2) requires self-service terminals to meet only the requirements in part 1 of Annex 1. Section 14 presumes a product that conforms to harmonised standards, or parts of them, whose references are published in the Official Journal of the European Union to meet the accessibility requirements the standards cover.

Section 15(1) gives the same presumption to conformity with the technical specifications that the Commission adopts under Article 15(3) of the Directive. Section 8(1) disapplies the accessibility requirements to the extent that compliance would need a significant change that fundamentally alters the basic nature of the product, or would impose a disproportionate burden on the trader.

Article 14(1) of the Directive likewise applies the accessibility requirements only to the extent that compliance requires no fundamental alteration and imposes no disproportionate burden. Section 8(2) denies the disproportionate-burden defence to a trader that does not use only its own funds to improve accessibility. Sections 9(1) and 9(2) require the trader to assess the defence against the criteria in Annex 5 and to document the assessment.

Section 9(3) requires the documentation to be kept for at least 5 years after the product was last made available. Section 9(4) requires the trader to give the control authority a copy of the documentation on request. Section 10(1) exempts a microenterprise that trades in products from documenting the assessment. Section 10(2) requires such a microenterprise, when it relies on section 8, to give the authority on request the information relevant to the assessment.

Section 12(1) requires a trader that relies on section 8 to send that information to the relevant control authority. Section 12(2) exempts microenterprises from that duty. Section 17(1) requires a manufacturer to draw up the technical documentation, to have the conformity assessment procedure carried out except where section 8 applies, and to draw up the EU declaration of conformity and affix the CE marking.

Section 25(2) requires an importer to check the conformity assessment procedure, the CE marking and the EU declaration of conformity of every product except one that is exempt from the accessibility requirements under section 8(1). Section 29(2) requires a distributor to check the CE marking of every product except one that is wholly exempt under section 8(1).

Executive Order 823 of , made under section 33(2) of the Act, requires a trader dealing in products to be able to give, for a period of 5 years, the information on every other trader that supplied it with a product or that it supplied with a product. Section 38(2) requires the EU declaration of conformity of a product that is partly exempt under section 8(1) to state which accessibility requirements the product is exempt from.

Section 45(2) makes the Danish Safety Technology Authority (Sikkerhedsstyrelsen) the control authority for the products in section 1(1). Section 47(1) gives the control authority access to business premises and means of transport at any time, on proper identification and without a court order. Section 49(1) lets the control authority order a trader to put a non-conforming product right within a set time.

Section 49 then lets it order the trader to stop selling the product or to withdraw it from the market within a set time. Act 637 of added a paragraph to section 49 that lets the authority order a trader dealing in products to put right a misplaced or missing CE marking, a missing or incorrect EU declaration of conformity, missing technical documentation, missing identification details or any other administrative requirement on manufacturers and importers.

Section 50(2) lets the authority order a trader to stop selling a product that wrongly bears the CE marking and, if necessary, to withdraw it from the market. Section 50(3) lets it order a manufacturer or importer to remove the CE marking within a set time. Section 55(1) lets a consumer bring a matter before the relevant control authority. Section 56 bars an appeal against the control authorities’ decisions to any other administrative authority.

Section 57(1) punishes with a fine anyone who breaches sections 4 and 5, 9(2) and 9(3), 12(1), 38 to 40 or 43 and 44, fails to give the authority information under sections 9(4), 10(2), 33(1) or 46, fails to fulfil the manufacturer, importer and distributor obligations in sections 16 to 21 and 24 to 31 or the obligations of an authorised representative’s mandate under section 23(1), obstructs the authority’s access under section 47(1), disregards its decisions or evades or attempts to evade its control, or wrongly uses the CE marking, unless a higher penalty is incurred under other legislation.

Section 57(3) allows companies and other legal persons to be held criminally liable in accordance with chapter 5 of the Penal Code. Section 57 states no amount for the fine. The remarks to bill L 131 of the 2021-22 session, which became the Act, leave the size of the fine to the courts’ assessment of all the circumstances of each case. The same remarks state that the Ministry found no basis for imprisonment for breaches of the Act.

Article 30(1) and (2) of the Directive require EU countries to lay down penalties for infringements of the national provisions that are effective, proportionate and dissuasive. The remarks to bill L 8 of the 2026-27 session state that Sikkerhedsstyrelsen merged with the Danish Business Authority (Erhvervsstyrelsen) on and is now part of it. Bill L 8, as presented on , would write Erhvervsstyrelsen in place of Sikkerhedsstyrelsen in section 45(2) of the Act.

The bill would also add a section 49 a, under which the control authority informs the Commission and the other Member States when a product’s non-compliance is not limited to products made available in Denmark. Section 4 of the bill sets for its entry into force. Section 58 of the Act brought it into force on .

Act 637 of also added section 51 a, which requires the control authority to give consumers on request, in an accessible format, its own information on traders’ compliance with the accessibility requirements and on their exemption assessments. Section 5(2) of Act 637 brought its section 4, which amended the Accessibility Act, into force on , the day after its publication in Lovtidende on .

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