European UnionPublic Procurement Directive, accessibility criteria in the technical specifications of public contracts
Directive 2014/24/EU, Art. 42(1)
In force since .
A procurement conditions rule binding public and private bodies.
As of .
What it requires
- If you sell works, supplies or services to a contracting authority in a Member State under a contract at or above the Directive's thresholds, and what you sell is intended for use by natural persons, whether the general public or the authority's staff, the technical specifications of the contract take into account accessibility criteria for persons with disabilities or design for all users, except in duly justified cases (Directive 2014/24/EU, Art. 42(1)); this reaches you through the procurement law of each Member State that transposes the Directive.
- Where a legal act of the Union adopts mandatory accessibility requirements, the technical specifications define those criteria by reference to it (Art. 42(1)); for the products and services in Article 2 of Directive (EU) 2019/882, those are the accessibility requirements of its Annex I (Article 24(1) of that Directive).
- Where the specifications refer to a standard or other technical specification, a tender cannot be rejected for not complying with it once you prove in the tender, by any appropriate means including those in Article 44, that your solution satisfies the requirements it defines in an equivalent manner (Art. 42(5)).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text, as of .
What it reaches
Instrument type
a directive or treaty
Applicability criteria
The Directive sets the procurement rules a contracting authority follows; a tenderer meets the technical specifications set out in the procurement documents.
- As of
- Combinator
- All of
- Criteria
- a procurement with a value net of value-added tax (VAT) estimated to be equal to or greater than the thresholds in Article 4, as revised under Article 6
- procurement which is intended for use by natural persons, whether general public or staff of the contracting authority (Article 42(1))
What this law does
Article 42(1) of Directive 2014/24/EU requires that, for all procurement which is intended for use by natural persons, whether general public or staff of the contracting authority, the technical specifications be drawn up, except in duly justified cases, so as to take into account accessibility criteria for persons with disabilities or design for all users.
Where mandatory accessibility requirements are adopted by a legal act of the Union, technical specifications shall, as far as accessibility criteria for persons with disabilities or design for all users are concerned, be defined by reference thereto. Article 24(1) of Directive (EU) 2019/882 makes the accessibility requirements set out in its Annex I mandatory accessibility requirements within the meaning of Article 42(1) for the products and services referred to in its Article 2.
Where a contracting authority refers to a standard or other technical specification under Article 42(3)(b), Article 42(5) bars it from rejecting a tender on the grounds that what is tendered does not comply with it, once the tenderer proves in its tender by any appropriate means, including the means of proof referred to in Article 44, that the solutions proposed satisfy in an equivalent manner the requirements defined by the technical specifications.
The Directive applies to procurements with a value net of value-added tax estimated to be equal to or greater than the thresholds in Article 4, which the Commission verifies every two years and revises where necessary (Article 6). It is addressed to the Member States (Article 94), which were to bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with it by (Article 90(1)).
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app ships a consumer interface.