Act on the Accessibility Requirements of Certain Products, with Government Decree 181/2023

Section 1 provides that the Act implements Directive (EU) 2019/882 on the accessibility requirements for products and services. Section 2 applies the Act to general purpose computer hardware systems intended for consumers and their operating systems, and to self-service payment terminals.

Section 2 applies the Act to self-service teller machines, ticketing machines and check-in machines intended for the services of chapter 3a of the Act on the Provision of Digital Services, and to interactive self-service information terminals intended for those services and for urban, suburban and regional bus and rail services, excluding terminals installed as fixed parts of vehicles, aircraft, ships or rolling stock.

Section 2 applies the Act to consumer terminal equipment with interactive computing capability used for electronic communications services or for accessing audiovisual media services, and to e-readers. Section 2 applies the Act to the products used to provide the services in section 3(1), paragraph 4 and chapter 3a of the Act on the Provision of Digital Services. Section 5 gives the general guidance of the supervision of the Act to the Ministry of Transport and Communications.

Section 16 designates the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency (Traficom) as the market surveillance authority under the Act. Section 16 requires Traficom to supervise compliance with the accessibility requirements and the assessment that an economic operator departing from them must make, and to publish a list of products that do not meet the requirements.

Section 16 requires the authority to assess the conformity of a product where it has reason to believe that the product does not meet the requirements, and to call on the economic operator to correct the shortcomings it finds in compliance or in the section 7 assessment.

Section 16 lets the authority make a final decision on removing a product from the market and on other restrictive measures where no other Member State and not the Commission has objected within three months to a provisional measure it notified. Section 4 of the Market Surveillance Act (1137/2016) names the Safety and Chemicals Agency as the general market surveillance authority.

Section 4 of the Market Surveillance Act names Traficom as the market surveillance authority for products within the Act on the Accessibility Requirements of Certain Products.

Section 3 applies Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 to the market surveillance of the accessibility requirements as to its provisions on the designation of the market surveillance authority, on test reports and the results of supervision in other Member States, on the application of Directive 2001/95/EC on general product safety, on the powers of authorities and effective supervision, on the use of information and professional secrecy, on the procedural rights of economic operators, on mutual assistance and on the Union information and communication systems.

Section 1 of the Market Surveillance Act lists the Act on the Accessibility Requirements of Certain Products among the laws whose products that Act covers. Act 103/2023 amended sections 1 and 4 of the Market Surveillance Act from 1 February 2023. Section 8 of the Market Surveillance Act gives the authority the right to obtain from an economic operator the information necessary for supervision, notwithstanding secrecy provisions.

Section 9 of the Market Surveillance Act gives the authority the right to enter all premises where the activity is carried out or relevant information is kept and to carry out inspections, other than in premises used for permanent residence. Section 10 of the Market Surveillance Act gives the authority the right to take products for examination.

Section 10 a of the Market Surveillance Act gives the authority the right to acquire products for examination under a false identity where that is necessary for supervision. Section 10 of the Market Surveillance Act lets the authority oblige an economic operator to pay the costs of acquiring, testing and examining a product whose non-compliance is significant.

Section 17 of the Market Surveillance Act lets the authority order an economic operator to take corrective measures within a reasonable time to bring a product, its documents or its information into conformity. Section 18 of the Market Surveillance Act lets the authority prohibit an economic operator from manufacturing, placing on the market, making available or otherwise supplying a product.

Section 18 of the Market Surveillance Act also lets the authority order an economic operator to remove a product from the market and order other measures needed to limit its availability on the market. Section 19 of the Market Surveillance Act lets the authority order an economic operator to take back from the market and from the end user a product that poses a risk to health, safety, the environment, property or another public interest, where an order or ban is not enough.

Section 20 of the Market Surveillance Act requires an economic operator to report within a reasonable time how it has carried out an order or ban, and lets the authority require the measures to reach products the operator has made available in other Member States. Section 21 of the Market Surveillance Act lets the authority impose a ban as an interim measure while the matter is investigated, where it is evident that the product may be non-compliant.

Section 22 of the Market Surveillance Act lets the authority, where it has made an order or ban, oblige the economic operator to inform the public of the matter within a set time and in the manner it orders. Section 25 of the Market Surveillance Act lets the authority order a product destroyed where the orders and bans of sections 17 to 23 cannot be considered sufficient.

Section 28 of the Market Surveillance Act lets the authority back a ban or order with a conditional fine or with the threat that the omitted measure is carried out at the cost of the defaulter. Section 29 of the Market Surveillance Act lets the authority's decision be enforced notwithstanding an appeal. Section 18 of the Act refers to chapters 3 and 4 of the Market Surveillance Act for the measures it provides, and to the CE Marking Offence Act (187/2010) for the CE marking offence.

Act 608/2024 amended section 18 from 1 January 2025 to refer to chapters 3 and 4 of the Market Surveillance Act. Section 19 refers appeals to an administrative court to the Act on Court Proceedings in Administrative Matters (808/2019), and appeals against the setting or enforcement of a conditional fine or a threat of performance at the defaulter's cost to the Conditional Fines Act (1113/1990).

Section 3 of the CE Marking Offence Act (187/2010) punishes with a fine a person who intentionally or through gross negligence affixes the CE marking contrary to Article 30 of Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 in one of four listed ways, unless a more severe penalty is provided elsewhere or the act is minor. Chapter 2a, section 1 of the Criminal Code (39/1889) imposes a fine as day-fines, at least one and at most 120.

Chapter 9, section 1 of the Criminal Code makes a legal person liable to a corporate fine only where the Criminal Code provides that fine for the offence, and the CE Marking Offence Act, a separate act, provides none.

Article 4(2) of the Directive requires all products to comply with Section I of Annex I and all products except self-service terminals to comply with Section II of Annex I. Section 6 permits an economic operator to place a product on the market only if it meets the accessibility requirements, an EU declaration of conformity has been drawn up and the product bears the CE marking.

Section 6 requires products to be designed and manufactured so that disabled persons can foreseeably use them as widely as possible. Section 6 requires the instructions for use and the information on accessibility features to be easily available and the user interface to be easily usable, controllable, understandable and operable by disabled persons.

Section 6 requires support services to give information on the accessibility of the product and its compatibility with assistive technology, and the packaging of a product other than a self-service terminal to be accessible. Section 6 does not require a product to meet those requirements if at least one alternative and equally accessible way of using it is offered in line with the functional performance requirements.

Section 6 treats products that conform to the harmonized standards under Article 15 of the Directive, or to the technical specifications in Commission implementing acts, as meeting the requirements those standards or specifications cover.

Section 6 requires an economic operator that carries out public procurement to take the accessibility requirements of products within the Act into account as section 71(1) of the Public Procurement Act and section 75(1) of the Special Sectors Procurement Act provide. Article 24(1) of the Directive makes the accessibility requirements of Annex I mandatory accessibility requirements within Article 42(1) of Directive 2014/24/EU and Article 60(1) of Directive 2014/25/EU.

Section 7 lets an economic operator depart from the accessibility requirements if it can show by its assessment that compliance would fundamentally alter the basic nature of the product or impose a disproportionate burden on the operator. Section 7 assesses the burden by the costs of compliance in relation to operating and capital costs, the net costs of compliance in relation to net turnover, and a cost-benefit assessment that takes particular account of the needs of disabled people.

Section 7 bars an economic operator from relying on the disproportionate burden if it receives funding from public or private sources outside its own funds that is granted for improving accessibility. Section 8 requires an economic operator that departs from the requirements under section 7 to notify the market surveillance authority, to document the assessment, to submit it on request and to keep the documents for five years from when it last made the product available on the market.

Section 8 exempts a microenterprise from that duty but requires it, on request, to give the authority the information corresponding to the assessment if it relies on section 7. Section 9 requires the EU declaration of conformity to state that the accessibility requirements are met and to identify the requirements from which the economic operator departs under section 7. Section 9 requires the EU declaration of conformity to be drawn up in Finnish and Swedish.

Section 9 requires the declaration to follow the model in Annex III to Decision No 768/2008/EC, to be a single declaration naming every act that requires one, to contain a general description of the product, a description of how the accessibility requirements are met and a list of the harmonized standards applied, and to be kept continuously up to date.

Section 10 requires the CE marking to be affixed visibly, legibly and indelibly to the product or its data plate, or to the packaging and accompanying documents where the nature of the product does not allow or warrant that, before the product is placed on the market.

Section 11 requires a manufacturer to ensure that products are designed and manufactured to meet the requirements, to draw up the declaration and affix the CE marking, and to keep the technical documents and the declaration for five years from when the product was placed on the market. Section 11 requires a manufacturer to put a type, batch or serial number on the product, to show its name and address on the product, and to supply instructions and safety information in Finnish and Swedish.

Section 12 lets a manufacturer appoint an authorised representative who keeps the declaration and the technical documents available to the authority for five years, supplies information and documents on a reasoned request, and cooperates in remedying non-conformity. Section 12 provides that the manufacturer's duty to design and manufacture products that meet the requirements cannot be transferred to the authorised representative.

Section 13 requires an importer, before placing a product on the market, to ensure that the manufacturer has complied with section 11, second and fourth paragraphs. Section 13 requires an importer to ensure that storage or transport conditions do not jeopardize compliance with the accessibility requirements, and to indicate on the product its name, registered trade name or registered trademark and a contact address.

Section 13 bars an importer that considers a product non-compliant from placing it on the market until it is brought into conformity, requires the importer to inform the manufacturer and the authority, and requires it to keep a copy of the declaration for five years. Section 14 requires a distributor to check that the product carries the EU declaration of conformity and the CE marking and the manufacturer's and importer's identifying information.

Section 14 requires a distributor to make sure that storage or transport conditions do not jeopardize compliance with the accessibility requirements. Section 13 applies the manufacturer's duties of section 11 to an importer that places a product on the market under its own name or trademark or modifies a product already on the market in a way that may affect compliance.

Section 14 applies the manufacturer's duties of section 11 to a distributor that places a product on the market under its own name or trademark or modifies a product already on the market in a way that may affect compliance. Section 15 requires an economic operator, on request, to give the authority the identity of every other economic operator that supplied it with the product or to which it supplied the product over the last five years.

Section 15 requires a manufacturer, distributor or importer that considers a product non-compliant to bring it into conformity or withdraw it from the market immediately and to notify the authority, and requires a manufacturer and an importer to keep records of non-compliant products and of complaints about them.

Section 15 requires an economic operator, at the authority's request, to give it all the information and documents needed to show conformity in a language the authority easily understands, and to cooperate with it in assessing accessibility or correcting non-compliance.

Section 17 requires the authority to demand correction where the CE marking was affixed contrary to section 10 or not at all, the EU declaration of conformity was not drawn up or not drawn up correctly, the technical documents are missing or incomplete, or a duty under section 11 or 13 was not complied with.

Section 17 requires the authority, where the non-compliance persists, to take measures to restrict or prohibit the making available of the product on the market or to ensure that it is withdrawn from the market. Section 20 provides that the Act entered into force on 1 February 2023 and applies from 28 June 2025. Section 20 requires the products that a service provider uses to provide its services to be brought into conformity with the Act by 28 June 2030.

Section 20 requires self-service terminals put into use before 28 June 2025 to be brought into conformity with the Act within 20 years of the start of their use. Article 32(2) of the Directive lets Member States provide that self-service terminals lawfully used by service providers before 28 June 2025 may continue in use until the end of their economically useful life, but no longer than 20 years after their entry into use.

Government Decree 181/2023 was made on 16 February 2023 under section 6(2) of the Act. Section 1 of the Decree requires the markings, instructions and warnings on the product itself to be available through more than one sensory channel, in an understandable form, in a way users can perceive, and in a sufficiently large and suitable typeface with sufficient contrast and adjustable spacing.

Section 2 of the Decree lists fourteen measures by which a product and its user interface are to be made easily usable, perceivable, controllable, understandable and operable by disabled persons.

Section 3 of the Decree requires self-service terminals to have text-to-speech, to allow the user's own headphones, to alert through more than one sensory channel when a timely response is required, to allow the response time to be extended and to have tactilely distinguishable keys with sufficient contrast.

Section 3 of the Decree requires self-service terminals to be designed so that the accessibility features need not be activated separately and, where they use audio features or audible signals, to be compatible with assistive technology available in the European Union. Section 4 of the Decree requires e-readers to have a text-to-speech feature.

Section 5 of the Decree requires consumer terminal equipment used for electronic communications services to have real-time text and high-quality audio support where it uses text in addition to sound, to offer full interactivity, synchronized audio, real-time text and sign language video where it uses video, to connect wirelessly to hearing technology and to work without disturbing assistive devices.

Section 6 of the Decree requires consumer terminal equipment used to access audiovisual media services to make available to disabled persons the accessibility features of the media service provider's offering that relate to the use, selection, control, personalization and transmission to assistive devices.

Section 7 of the Decree requires the support services used to provide products to give, where necessary, information on the accessibility of the product and its compatibility with assistive technology.

Section 8 of the Decree requires the packaging of a product and the information on it to be designed accessibly and, in digital services, the information on use, installation, maintenance, storage and disposal to be public when the product is placed on the market, and states that this does not concern self-service terminals. Section 9 of the Decree lists eleven functional performance requirements that apply where a product meets those instead of the accessibility requirements.

The Decree entered into force on 20 February 2023 and applies from 28 June 2025. Article 30 of the Directive requires penalties for infringements of the national provisions to be effective, proportionate and dissuasive and accompanied by effective remedial action in case of non-compliance of the economic operator.