Act XVII of 2022 and the Market Surveillance Act (Act LXXXVIII of 2012), accessibility requirements for products and the duties of manufacturers, authorised representatives, importers and distributors

Section 1(1) of the Accessibility Act applies the Act to the manufacture and distribution by economic operators of consumer general-purpose computer hardware systems and their operating systems, self-service terminals including payment terminals and the self-service terminals used for the services in section 1(2), consumer terminal equipment with interactive computing capability used for electronic communications services, consumer terminal equipment with interactive computing capability used for access to audiovisual media services, and e-readers.

Section 2 point 19 defines an economic operator as a manufacturer, authorised representative, importer, distributor or service provider. Section 3(1) allows an economic operator to place a product on the market only if it meets the accessibility requirements of Annex 1 to the Act. Section 7 refers the obligations of economic operators for the accessibility requirements of products to the Market Surveillance Act.

Point 1.1 of Annex 1 requires products to be designed and produced so that people with disabilities can use them to the greatest extent foreseeable. Point 1.3 of Annex 1 requires a product, including its user interface, to have features, elements and functions that let people with disabilities access, perceive, operate, understand and control it.

Point 1.4 of Annex 1 requires support services, where they are available, to give information on the accessibility of the product and its compatibility with assistive technologies through accessible means of communication. Point 1.3.15.1 of Annex 1 requires self-service terminals to have text-to-speech technology and to let the user use their own headset.

Point 1.3.15.1 also requires self-service terminals to warn the user through more than one sensory channel when a timed response is needed, to allow the time to be extended, to have contrasting and tactile keys and controls where they have them, to be usable without first activating an accessibility feature, and, where they have audio, to be compatible with hearing technologies. Point 1.3.15.2 of Annex 1 requires e-readers to have text-to-speech technology.

Point 1.3.15.3 of Annex 1 requires consumer terminal equipment used for electronic communications services to handle real-time text, to support high-fidelity audio and total conversation where it has video, to connect wirelessly with hearing technologies and to avoid interfering with assistive devices.

Point 1.3.15.4 of Annex 1 requires consumer terminal equipment used for access to audiovisual media services to make accessible to people with disabilities the elements that the audiovisual media service provider supplies for accessible user access, selection, control, personalisation and transmission with assistive devices.

Point 7.1 of Annex 1 requires any function of a product or service that points 1 to 6 do not address to be made accessible by meeting the relevant functional performance criteria, which point 7.2 lists, among them at least one mode of use that does not require vision, one that does not require hearing and one that does not require speech. Point 2 of Annex 1 requires the packaging and the instructions for use of the products it covers, other than self-service terminals, to be made accessible.

Section 5(4) exempts a micro-enterprise that deals in products from preparing the written assessment of the fundamental alteration and disproportionate burden conditions. Section 5(4) requires a micro-enterprise, when the supervising authority asks, to hand over the data and information relevant to the assessment.

Sections 5(3), (4) and (7) bind every economic operator that relies on the fundamental alteration or disproportionate burden condition, so an importer or distributor that relies on it for a product must inform the supervising authority, prepare the written assessment and keep it.

Point 2 of Annex 1 to the Market Surveillance Act requires the technical documentation, where the manufacturer applied section 5 of the Accessibility Act, to demonstrate that the accessibility requirements concerned would fundamentally alter the product or impose a disproportionate burden.

Section 14/B(1) of the Market Surveillance Act requires manufacturers to ensure, when they place their products on the market, that the products were designed and produced to the applicable accessibility requirements of the Accessibility Act.

Section 14/B(2) requires manufacturers to draw up the technical documentation, to carry out or have carried out the conformity assessment procedure of Annex 1 of the Market Surveillance Act and, once conformity is shown, to draw up the EU declaration of conformity and affix the CE marking.

Section 14/B(3) and (4) require manufacturers to keep the technical documentation and the EU declaration of conformity for five years after the product is placed on the market and to keep procedures in place that maintain the conformity of series production.

Section 14/B(8) requires a manufacturer that judges, or has reason to suppose, that a product it placed on the market does not meet the Accessibility Act to take corrective measures without delay, to inform the competent national authorities of the Member States where it distributed the product, and to keep a register of non-conforming products and related complaints.

Section 14/C provides that a manufacturer may appoint an authorised representative by written mandate, and the manufacturer's design duty and the technical documentation are not part of the mandate. Section 14/C(2) requires the mandate to let the authorised representative keep the EU declaration of conformity and the technical documentation for five years for the market surveillance authorities, hand over the information a competent authority asks for, and cooperate with it.

Section 14/D(1) and (2) allows an importer to place only conforming products on the market and requires it, before placing a product on the market, to be satisfied that the manufacturer carried out the conformity assessment and drew up the technical documentation, that the product carries the CE marking and that the required documentation accompanies it.

Section 14/D(3) bars an importer that judges, or has reason to suppose, that a product does not meet the accessibility requirements from placing it on the market until conformity is ensured, and requires it to inform the manufacturer and the market surveillance authorities of a non-conforming product.

Section 14/D(4) and (5) require an importer to mark its name and contact address on the product, its packaging or its accompanying document, and to see that instructions for use and safety information in Hungarian accompany the product. Section 14/D(6) requires an importer to ensure that, while it is responsible for a product, storage and transport conditions do not jeopardise its conformity with the accessibility requirements.

Section 14/D(7) requires an importer to keep a copy of the EU declaration of conformity available to the market surveillance authorities for five years and to ensure that the technical documentation can be made available to them on request.

Section 14/D(8) requires an importer that judges, or has reason to suppose, that a product it placed on the market does not meet the Accessibility Act to take corrective measures without delay, to inform the competent national authorities of the Member States where it distributed the product, and to keep a register of non-conforming products and complaints.

Section 14/D(9) requires an importer to hand over to a competent national authority, on its reasoned request, all the information and documentation needed to establish the conformity of the product and to cooperate with it.

Section 14/E(1) to (3) requires a distributor to act with due care in relation to the requirements of the Accessibility Act, to check before distributing a product that it carries the CE marking and is accompanied by the required documentation and instructions in Hungarian, and not to distribute a product it judges, or has reason to suppose, to be non-conforming until conformity is ensured.

Section 14/E(3) also requires a distributor to inform the manufacturer or importer and the market surveillance authorities of a product that does not meet the accessibility requirements. Section 14/E(4) places the same storage and transport duty on a distributor.

Section 14/E(5) and (6) require a distributor that judges, or has reason to suppose, that a product does not meet the Accessibility Act to see that corrective measures are taken, to inform the competent national authorities, and to hand over documentation and cooperate when the market surveillance authority asks.

Section 14/B(5) to (7) require a manufacturer to mark each product with a type, batch or serial number, to mark the product with its name and contact address, and to supply instructions for use and safety information in Hungarian. Section 14/B(9) requires a manufacturer to hand over to a market surveillance authority, on its reasoned request, all the information and documentation needed to show conformity and to cooperate with it.

Section 14/F treats an importer or distributor as a manufacturer, with the manufacturer's duties of section 14/B, where it 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 conformity.

Section 14/G requires manufacturers, representatives, importers and distributors to identify to the market surveillance authorities, on request, the operators that supplied them with a product and the operators they supplied, for five years. Section 6/A(4) makes the manufacturer, by drawing up the EU declaration of conformity, take responsibility for the product's compliance with the Accessibility Act.

Section 6/A(7) requires the CE marking to be affixed before the product is placed on the market. Section 6/A(1) provides that the EU declaration of conformity states that the applicable accessibility requirements are shown to be met, and where section 5 of the Accessibility Act is used it must name the accessibility requirements to which the exception applies.

Section 15(9) of the Market Surveillance Act lets the market surveillance authority, where a product does not meet the requirements, require warnings, restrict or prohibit the placing on the market, order withdrawal or recall, require the operator to remedy the defects within a time limit, restrict or prohibit distribution until lawful conditions are restored, and impose a fine.

Section 16(1) of the Market Surveillance Act requires the authority, in setting a fine, to take into account whether the operator infringed the same provisions within three years.

Section 16(2) of the Market Surveillance Act sets the fine for an operator with annual net turnover above 100 million forints that is not a small or medium-sized enterprise at 1 million forints up to 5% of annual net turnover and at most 650 million forints, and at 2 million up to 3 billion forints where the infringement harms or endangers the life, physical integrity or health of consumers or users.

Section 16(2)(b) sets the fine for any other operator at 100,000 forints to 2 million forints, and at 200,000 forints up to 5% of annual net turnover, or 6.5 million forints for an enterprise outside the Accounting Act, where the infringement harms or endangers the life, physical integrity or health of consumers or users.

Government Decree 605/2022 designates the NMHH Office as supervising authority for the consumer computer hardware systems and operating systems, the consumer terminal equipment used for electronic communications services and the consumer terminal equipment used for access to audiovisual media services. The Decree designates the consumer protection authority for payment terminals and for e-readers.

Section 1(3) of the Decree makes the Hungarian National Bank the supervising authority for the payment terminals used to accept payment operations and for cash dispensers. Section 39(5) of the Act on the Hungarian National Bank, which section 6 of Act XLVII of 2025 inserted from 19 June 2025, has the Bank act as supervising authority under the Accessibility Act for payment terminals used to accept payment operations and for cash dispensers.

The Decree designates the aviation authority, the bus market surveillance and passenger rights authority, the railway administrative body and the shipping authority as supervising authorities for the other self-service terminals tied to the matching passenger transport services. Section 1(2) of the Decree designates the railway administrative body instead for integrated and linked passenger public transport services as defined in Act XLI of 2012.

Section 39(1a) of the Market Surveillance Act states that it serves compliance with Articles 7 to 11, 16 to 20, 22 and 30 of the Directive. Act LXI of 2022 inserted Chapter III/A of the Market Surveillance Act, and those provisions apply from 28 June 2025.