European UnionEuropean Accessibility Act, accessibility requirements for services
Directive (EU) 2019/882, Arts. 2(2) and 13, Annex I Sections III and IV
In force since .
An accessibility requirements rule binding public and private bodies.
As of .
What it requires
- This duty reaches you through the law of each Member State that transposes the Directive, where you provide to consumers in the Union an electronic communications service, a service providing access to audiovisual media services, the website, mobile application, electronic ticketing, travel-information or interactive self-service terminal elements of air, bus, rail or waterborne passenger transport services, a consumer banking service, e-books and dedicated software, or an e-commerce service (Article 2(2)). A microenterprise providing services is exempt from the requirements of Article 4(3) and from any obligations relating to compliance with them (Article 4(5)); Article 3(23) defines a microenterprise as an enterprise which employs fewer than 10 persons and which has an annual turnover not exceeding EUR 2 million or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding EUR 2 million.
- If you provide an e-commerce service, make your websites, related online applications and mobile applications accessible in a consistent and adequate way by making them perceivable, operable, understandable and robust (Annex I, Section III, point (c)).
- Give information about how your service works, and about the accessibility characteristics of any products used in it, through more than one sensory channel, in text formats that can be used to generate alternative assistive formats, in fonts of adequate size and suitable shape with sufficient contrast, and supplement any non-textual content with an alternative presentation (Annex I, Section III, point (b)).
- Where you provide support services such as help desks, call centres, technical support, relay services and training services, have them give information on the accessibility of the service and its compatibility with assistive technologies, in accessible modes of communication (Annex I, Section III, point (d)).
- If you offer e-commerce services, provide the information concerning accessibility of the products and services being sold when the responsible economic operator provides it, make the functionality for identification, security and payment perceivable, operable, understandable and robust when it is delivered as part of a service instead of a product, and provide identification methods, electronic signatures and payment services that are perceivable, operable, understandable and robust (Annex I, Section IV, point (g)).
- If you provide consumer banking services, provide identification methods, electronic signatures, security and payment services that are perceivable, operable, understandable and robust, and ensure that the information is understandable without exceeding a level of complexity superior to level B2 (upper intermediate) of the Council of Europe's Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (Annex I, Section IV, point (e)).
- If you provide an electronic communications service, provide real time text in addition to voice communication, provide total conversation where video is provided in addition to voice, and ensure that emergency communications using voice and text, and video where provided, are synchronised and transmitted to the most appropriate public safety answering point (Annex I, Section IV, point (a)).
- If you provide services giving access to audiovisual media services, provide electronic programme guides that are perceivable, operable, understandable and robust and give information about the availability of accessibility, and ensure that subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing, audio description, spoken subtitles and sign language interpretation are fully transmitted with adequate quality, synchronised with sound and video, with user control of their display and use (Annex I, Section IV, point (b)).
- If you provide e-books or dedicated software, provide synchronised text and audio where an e-book contains audio in addition to text, keep e-book digital files from preventing assistive technology from operating properly, give access to the content, the navigation of the file content and layout including dynamic layout, with structure, flexibility and choice in the presentation of the content, allow alternative renditions interoperable with a variety of assistive technologies, make the e-books discoverable through metadata about their accessibility features, and do not let digital rights management measures block accessibility features (Annex I, Section IV, point (f)).
- If you provide air, bus, rail or waterborne passenger transport services, other than urban, suburban and regional transport services, provide information on the accessibility of vehicles, the surrounding infrastructure and the built environment and on assistance for persons with disabilities, and information about smart ticketing, real-time travel information and additional service information (Annex I, Section IV, point (c)). For urban, suburban and regional transport services, make the self-service terminals used in the service accessible under Section I of Annex I (Annex I, Section IV, point (d)).
- Include in your general terms and conditions, or an equivalent document, the information assessing how the service meets the accessibility requirements, with a general description of the service in accessible formats, the descriptions and explanations needed to understand its operation, and a description of how the relevant requirements of Annex I are met; make that information available to the public in written and oral format, including in a manner accessible to persons with disabilities, and keep it for as long as the service is in operation (Article 13(2), Annex V, point 1).
- Have procedures in place so that the provision of your service remains in conformity, and take adequate account of changes in the characteristics of the service, in the applicable accessibility requirements and in the harmonised standards or technical specifications by reference to which the service is declared to meet them (Article 13(3)).
- If your service does not conform, take the corrective measures necessary to bring it into conformity and immediately inform the competent national authorities of the Member States in which the service is provided, giving details of the non-compliance and of the corrective measures taken (Article 13(4)). On a reasoned request from a competent authority, provide all the information necessary to demonstrate conformity and cooperate on any action taken to bring the service into compliance (Article 13(5)).
- You may rely on fundamental alteration or disproportionate burden only for the extent to which compliance would require a significant change that results in the fundamental alteration of the basic nature of the service or would impose a disproportionate burden. Carry out an assessment against the criteria in Annex VI, document it and keep all relevant results for five years from the day the service was last provided, renew the assessment for each category or type of service when the service is altered, when the authorities responsible for checking compliance of services ask, and at least every five years, and send information that you rely on this ground to the authorities of the Member State where the service is provided (Article 14(1), (2), (3), (5) and (8)). You cannot rely on disproportionate burden where you receive funding, public or private, that is provided for the purpose of improving accessibility (Article 14(6)).
- The Directive does not apply to the following content of websites and mobile applications: pre-recorded time-based media and office file formats published before , online maps and mapping services if essential information is provided in an accessible digital manner for maps intended for navigational use, third-party content that is neither funded, developed by, or under the control of the economic operator concerned, and archives that only contain content not updated or edited after (Article 2(4)).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text, as of .
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
The authorities each Member State designates under Article 23(2) of the Directive to carry out the procedures for checking the compliance of services.
What it reaches
Obligation class
Disclosure, Governance
Applicability criteria
Article 4(5) exempts microenterprises providing services from the accessibility requirements referred to in Article 4(3) and from any obligations relating to compliance with them. Article 3(23) defines a microenterprise.
- As of
- Combinator
- All of
- Criteria
- is not a microenterprise, an enterprise which employs fewer than 10 persons and which has an annual turnover not exceeding EUR 2 million or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding EUR 2 million
What this law does
The Directive applies to the following services provided to consumers after (Article 2(2)): electronic communications services with the exception of transmission services used for the provision of machine-to-machine services, services providing access to audiovisual media services, the website, mobile application, electronic ticketing, travel-information and interactive self-service terminal elements of air, bus, rail and waterborne passenger transport services (for urban, suburban and regional transport services only the interactive self-service terminals apply), consumer banking services, e-books and dedicated software, and e-commerce services.
Article 3(30) defines e-commerce services as services provided at a distance, through websites and mobile device-based services by electronic means and at the individual request of a consumer with a view to concluding a consumer contract.
The Directive does not apply to the following content of websites and mobile applications: pre-recorded time-based media published before , office file formats published before , online maps and mapping services if essential information is provided in an accessible digital manner for maps intended for navigational use, third-party content that is neither funded, developed by, or under the control of the economic operator concerned, and content of websites and mobile applications qualifying as archives, meaning that they only contain content that is not updated or edited after (Article 2(4)).
Subject to Article 4(5), Article 4(3) requires all services, except urban and suburban transport services and regional transport services, to comply with the accessibility requirements set out in Section III of Annex I, and all services to comply with those set out in Section IV of Annex I. Section III of Annex I requires websites, including the related online applications, and mobile device-based services, including mobile applications, to be accessible in a consistent and adequate way by making them perceivable, operable, understandable and robust.
Article 4(5) exempts microenterprises providing services from the accessibility requirements of Article 4(3) and from any obligations relating to compliance with those requirements. Article 13(2) requires a service provider to prepare the necessary information in accordance with Annex V and to explain how the services meet the applicable accessibility requirements.
Annex V requires the service provider to include the information assessing how the service meets the accessibility requirements in the general terms and conditions, or equivalent document. Article 13(4) requires a service provider, in the case of non-conformity, to take the corrective measures necessary to bring the service into conformity with the applicable accessibility requirements.
Article 14(1) provides that the accessibility requirements apply only to the extent that compliance does not require a significant change in a product or service that results in the fundamental alteration of its basic nature and does not result in the imposition of a disproportionate burden on the economic operators concerned.
Article 14(5) requires a service provider relying on the disproportionate burden ground to renew its assessment, with regard to each category or type of service, when the service offered is altered, when requested to do so by the authorities responsible for checking compliance of services, and in any event at least every five years.
A service in conformity with harmonised standards or parts thereof, the references of which have been published in the Official Journal of the European Union, shall be presumed to be in conformity with the accessibility requirements of this Directive in so far as those standards or parts thereof cover those requirements (Article 15(1)).
Article 32(1) has Member States provide for a transitional period ending on during which service providers may continue to provide their services using products which were lawfully used by them to provide similar services before that date. The obligations of the Directive apply equally to economic operators from the public and private sectors (recital 57). The Directive is addressed to the Member States (Article 35).
Article 31 has Member States adopt and publish the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with the Directive by and apply those measures from . Article 29(2), point (a), has Member States provide for a consumer to take action pursuant to national law before the courts or before the competent administrative bodies to ensure that the national provisions transposing the Directive are complied with.
Article 30 has each Member State lay down the rules on penalties applicable to infringements of national provisions adopted pursuant to the Directive, and says the penalties provided for shall be effective, proportionate and dissuasive.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app ships a consumer interface or ships a mobile app.