SpainLey 11/2023, Title I, accessibility requirements for products (Article 2(1)), with the duties of manufacturers, authorized representatives, importers and distributors
Ley 11/2023, de 8 de mayo, productos: arts. 2.1, 3.1 y 7 a 23
In force since .
An accessibility requirements rule binding public and private bodies.
What it requires
- If you manufacture a product listed in Article 2(1) (consumer general-purpose computer hardware and operating systems, payment terminals, cash machines, ticketing machines, check-in machines, interactive information terminals, queue-management terminals, consumer terminal equipment for electronic communications or audiovisual access, e-readers), design and make it meet Sections I and II of Annex I, or Section I only for a self-service terminal (Ley 11/2023, Arts. 2(1), 3(1) and 7(1)).
- Before placing the product on the market, draw up the technical documentation under Annex IV, apply the conformity assessment procedure, draw up the EU declaration of conformity and affix the CE marking, and keep the documentation and declaration for five years (Arts. 7(2) and (3), 18 and 20).
- Keep procedures that hold series production to conformity, mark the product with a type, batch or serial number, your name and a single contact address, and supply instructions and safety information in at least Castilian and the official language of the territory where it is marketed, in clear language (Art. 7(4) to (7)).
- If a product you placed on the market does not conform, take corrective measures at once or withdraw it, inform the competent supervisory authority and the authorities of the other Member States where you marketed it, keep a register of non-conforming products and complaints, and on a reasoned request give the authority the information and cooperation it asks for (Art. 7(8) and (9)).
- If you import a product, place only conforming products on the market, check that the manufacturer applied the conformity assessment, drew up the documentation and applied the CE marking, mark the product with your name and contact address, supply the instructions and safety information in at least Castilian and in easy-read form, keep a copy of the EU declaration of conformity for five years, and keep storage and transport conditions from compromising conformity (Art. 9).
- If you distribute a product, check before marketing it that it bears the CE marking and carries the documents and instructions, offered also in formats accessible to persons with disabilities where physically possible, do not market a product you think non-conforming, and inform the manufacturer or importer and the supervisory authorities (Art. 10).
- If you place a product on the market under your own name or trademark, or modify a product so that conformity may be affected, you carry the manufacturer's duties (Art. 11); on request, identify the operators that supplied you and that you supplied, for five years (Art. 12).
- If you rely on a significant change in the basic nature of the product or on a disproportionate burden, assess it under the criteria in Annex V, document the assessment, keep it for five years from the last marketing of the product, send information to the authorities of the Member State where the product is placed on the market, and list the excepted requirements in the EU declaration of conformity (Arts. 16(1) to (3) and (7) and 18(1)); you must still make the product as accessible as possible.
- A service provider may keep using self-service terminals that it lawfully used before until the end of their economic life, for no more than ten years after they were put into operation (transitional provision, para. 2).
- A microenterprise dealing with products, meaning an enterprise that employs fewer than 10 persons and whose annual turnover or annual balance sheet total does not exceed EUR 2 million, need not document its assessment but gives the authority the relevant information on request (Art. 16(4); Annex VII, point 16).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
If you get it wrong
Penalty structure
Fines run from a minimum of EUR 301 to a maximum of EUR 1,000,000 (Real Decreto Legislativo 1/2013, Article 83(1)). A minor infringement is fined up to EUR 30,000 and a serious infringement up to EUR 90,000 (Article 83(2) and (3)). For conduct within the competence of the central State administration, Article 96 sets minor infringements at EUR 301 to 6,000 (minimum degree), 6,001 to 18,000 (medium) and 18,001 to 30,000 (maximum), serious infringements at EUR 30,001 to 60,000, 60,001 to 78,000 and 78,001 to 90,000, and very serious infringements at EUR 90,001 to 300,000, 300,001 to 600,000 and 600,001 to 1,000,000. Beside the fine, a serious or very serious infringement brings a proposed ban of up to one or two years on applying for official aid in the sector, and a very serious one the proposed withdrawal or suspension of aid already granted (Article 85(1) and (2)); the authority may publish a final sanction for a serious or very serious infringement with the infringer's name (Article 92); and a final sanction for a serious infringement in equal opportunities and non-discrimination of persons with disabilities bars the person from contracting with public sector entities, with the scope and duration the resolution or a separate procedure sets (Ley 9/2017, Articles 71(1)(b) and 72(2)). Article 30(1) of Ley 11/2023 applies Title III of Real Decreto Legislativo 1/2013 in what the sectoral legislation does not provide for. For a non-conforming product, the supervisory authority also requires corrective measures and, failing them, withdrawal or a prohibition or restriction of marketing (Articles 22 and 23).
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- Minimum
- 301
- Currency
- EUR
- Fixed cap
- 1,000,000
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
The supervisory authorities that each autonomous community and the cities of Ceuta and Melilla designate within their competences, without prejudice to the powers of other authorities under complementary rules (Ley 11/2023, Article 27(3)); where no supervisory authority has been designated, the technical support and coordination unit, assumed by the Dirección General de Derechos de las Personas con Discapacidad, acts as one (Real Decreto 143/2026, Articles 2 and 3(h))
What it reaches
Instrument type
an act of a legislature
Applicability criteria
- As of
- Combinator
- Any of
- Criteria
- an economic operator (manufacturer, authorized representative, importer or distributor) that places on the market or makes available a product listed in Article 2(1) of Title I
What this law does
Title I of Ley 11/2023 applies to consumer general-purpose computer hardware and operating systems, payment terminals, cash machines, ticketing and check-in machines, interactive information terminals, queue-management terminals, consumer terminal equipment for electronic communications and audiovisual access, and e-readers. Article 3(1) requires all products to meet Sections I and II of Annex I, and self-service terminals to meet Section I only.
Article 7(1) requires manufacturers to ensure that products are designed and manufactured in conformity with the accessibility requirements of Article 3. Article 7(2) requires manufacturers to draw up technical documentation and apply the conformity assessment procedure of Annex IV before placing a product on the market, and then to draw up an EU declaration of conformity and affix the CE marking.
Article 7(3) requires manufacturers to keep the technical documentation and the EU declaration of conformity for five years after the product is placed on the market. Article 7(7) requires the instructions and safety information to be in at least Castilian and the official language of the territory where the product is marketed, in clear language.
Article 7(8) requires a manufacturer that has reason to think a product is non-conforming to take corrective measures at once, withdraw it where appropriate, and inform the competent supervisory authority. Article 8 lets manufacturers appoint an authorized representative, whose mandate excludes the Article 7(1) duty and the drawing up of the technical documentation.
Article 9 requires importers to place only conforming products on the market and to check beforehand that the manufacturer applied the conformity assessment procedure and that the product bears the CE marking. Article 10 requires distributors to act in accordance with Title I and to check before marketing a product that it bears the CE marking and is accompanied by the necessary documents.
Article 11 treats an importer or distributor that places a product on the market under its own name or trademark, or modifies a product already on the market so that conformity may be affected, as the manufacturer. Article 12 requires economic operators to identify, on request, the operators that supplied them and those they supplied, for five years.
Article 16(1) allows an exception where compliance would require a significant change that substantially modifies the basic nature of the product or would impose a disproportionate burden, and the operator must still make the product as accessible as possible. Article 16(3) requires the assessment to be documented and kept for five years from the last marketing of the product.
Article 16(4) exempts microenterprises dealing with products from documenting their assessment, while they must give the authority the relevant information on request. Article 16(7) requires an operator that relies on the exception to send information to the authorities of the Member State where the product is placed on the market.
Article 17(1) presumes that products conforming to harmonized standards published in the Official Journal of the European Union meet the accessibility requirements of Article 3, to the extent those standards cover them. Article 22(1) requires a supervisory authority that finds a non-conforming product to ask the operator for corrective measures within a reasonable period and to require withdrawal from the market only if the operator has not taken them.
Article 22(4) requires the authorities to take provisional measures to prohibit or restrict marketing of the product, or to withdraw it, where the operator takes no adequate corrective measures in time. The transitional provision lets service providers keep using self-service terminals lawfully used before until the end of their economic life, and never beyond ten years after they were put into operation.
Article 32(2) of the Directive left Member States the option of a period as long as 20 years after the terminals' entry into use. Article 27(3) leaves it to the autonomous communities and the cities of Ceuta and Melilla to determine their supervisory authorities within their competences. Article 30(1) punishes breaches under the infringement and sanction regime of the relevant sectoral legislation and, where that legislation is silent, under Title III of Real Decreto Legislativo 1/2013.
Title I implements Directive (EU) 2019/882. The supervisory authorities act without prejudice to the powers that other authorities hold by virtue of complementary rules on the goods and services within Title I (Article 27(3)).
Real Decreto 143/2026 gives the technical support and coordination unit to the Dirección General de Derechos de las Personas con Discapacidad, which acts as supervisory authority where none has been designated and is the point of contact for receiving complaints and claims about compliance with Title I (Articles 2, 3(g) and 3(h)).
Where no harmonized standard has been published, Article 17(2) presumes conformity for products and services that meet the technical specifications the Commission adopts by implementing acts. Article 9(5) requires importers to supply instructions and safety information that meet easy-read criteria, and Article 10(2) requires distributors to check that the instructions are also offered in formats accessible to persons with disabilities where physically possible.
Article 29(2) lets consumers and their representatives, public bodies, associations and other legal persons with a legitimate interest go to the administrative bodies and courts to enforce the obligations of Title I.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app ships a consumer interface or distributes a software product.
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