ItalyLegislative Decree 82/2022 (implementing Directive (EU) 2019/882), accessibility duties of providers of consumer services: electronic communications, access to audiovisual media, passenger transport, consumer banking, e-books and e-commerce
D.Lgs. 27 maggio 2022, n. 82, artt. 1(3), 3(2)-(3), 12-14 e 25
In force since .
An accessibility requirements rule binding public and private bodies.
What it requires
- If you provide a consumer service listed in Article 1(3) of Legislative Decree 82/2022 (electronic communications, access to audiovisual media, the passenger transport elements, consumer banking, e-books and dedicated software, or e-commerce), design and provide it in conformity with the accessibility requirements of sections III and IV of Annex I, which the decree applies to urban, suburban and regional transport services as well (Articles 3(2) and 12(1)); the decree has effect from (Article 25(1)). These provisions implement Articles 4(1), 4(3), 4(5), 13, 14, 15 and 32 of Directive (EU) 2019/882.
- Prepare the information required by Annex IV of the decree on how the service meets the accessibility requirements, include it in your general conditions or an equivalent document, make it available to the public in written and oral form in a manner accessible to persons with disabilities, and keep it while the service is operating (Article 12(2) and Annex IV, point 1).
- If you provide an audiovisual media service, ensure where possible that it is available through more than one sensory channel (Article 12(1)).
- If your website or mobile application gives information on local public transport routes, show also the routes accessible to persons with disabilities (Article 12(3)).
- Put in place the measures needed to keep the service in constant conformity as its features, the applicable requirements and the harmonised standards or technical specifications change (Article 12(4)).
- If the service does not conform, take the corrective measures needed and inform the Agenzia per l'Italia Digitale and the national authorities of the Member States where you provide the service immediately, stating the requirements not met and the measures taken (Article 12(5)).
- On reasoned request, give the Agenzia per l'Italia Digitale and the competent authorities of the Member States the information needed to show conformity, and cooperate in the measures taken to bring the service into conformity (Article 12(6)).
- If you rely on the exceptions of Article 13(1) (a substantial modification that changes the nature of the service, or a disproportionate burden), assess them on the criteria of Annex V, document the assessment, keep the results for not less than five years from the last supply of the service, and give a copy of it on request of the Ministry or the competent authorities of the Member States (Article 13(2) and (3)).
- Renew a disproportionate-burden assessment when the service is changed, when the supervising authority asks, and at least every five years (Article 13(5)).
- Unless you are a microenterprise, inform the competent supervisory authority when you rely on Article 13(1) for a specific service (Article 13(7)); Article 13(1)(b) does not apply to an operator that receives public or private funding to improve accessibility (Article 13(6)).
- A service is presumed to conform to the accessibility requirements that harmonised standards published in the Official Journal of the European Union cover when it conforms to them or to parts of them, and to the requirements that technical specifications cover when it conforms to those specifications or parts of them (Article 14(1) and (2)).
- A transport service that meets the accessible-information requirements of Regulations (EC) 261/2004, 1107/2006, 1371/2007, 1177/2010 and 181/2011 and of the acts under Legislative Decree 57/2019 is deemed to conform to the corresponding requirements of the decree, unless the decree sets further requirements that it must then also meet (Article 4(1)).
- The decree does not apply to pre-recorded time-based media or office file formats published before , online maps and mapping services (where navigation maps give essential information in an accessible digital mode), third-party content you neither fund, develop nor control, or archive content not updated after (Article 1(5)).
- Contracts for services concluded before may continue unchanged until they expire, for not more than five years from that date, and until you may keep providing your services using products you lawfully used before that date to provide similar services (Article 25(1)).
- Self-service terminals lawfully used before may stay in use for similar services until the end of their economically useful life, for not more than twenty years from entry into use (Article 25(2)).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
If you get it wrong
Penalty structure
Article 24(1) punishes an operator that breaches Articles 3, 12(1) to (4) and the other duties it lists with an administrative fine of EUR 5,000 to EUR 40,000, set by the extent of the non-compliance, the number of non-conforming units of products or services and the number of users affected, outside the exemptions of Articles 3(3) and 13(1). A legal person within Article 3(1-bis) of Law 4/2004 incurs in every case the sanction of Article 9(1-bis) of that Law. Article 24(2) and (3) set a fine of EUR 2,500 to EUR 30,000 for not complying with an order of the supervisory authority under Article 21(4) and for failing to cooperate. Article 24(4) excludes facts committed in procurement procedures governed by Legislative Decree 50/2016.
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- Minimum
- 5,000
- Currency
- EUR
- Fixed cap
- 40,000
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
The Agenzia per l'Italia Digitale (AgID), the supervisory authority for services under Article 21(1) of the decree
What it reaches
Instrument type
an act of a legislature
Applicability criteria
- As of
- Combinator
- Any of
- Criteria
- a provider of a service listed in Article 1(3) of Legislative Decree 82/2022 that is not a microenterprise, which Article 2(1)(bb) defines as "un'impresa che occupa meno di 10 persone e realizza un fatturato annuo oppure un totale di bilancio annuo non superiore a 2 milioni di euro"
What this law does
Decree 82/2022 implements Directive (EU) 2019/882 on the accessibility requirements for products and services. Article 1(3) applies the decree to electronic communications services other than machine-to-machine transmission services, to services providing access to audiovisual media services, to elements of air, bus, rail and waterborne passenger transport services, to consumer banking services, to e-books and dedicated software, and to e-commerce services.
For passenger transport, the elements covered are websites, mobile services including mobile applications, electronic tickets and ticketing services, the provision of transport information, and interactive self-service terminals in the territory of the Union.
Article 1(5) excludes from the decree the content of websites and mobile applications that is pre-recorded time-based media or an office file format published before , online maps and mapping services, third-party content, and archive content not updated after .
Article 3(2) requires the services in Article 1(3) to comply with the accessibility requirements of sections III and IV of Annex I. Article 3(2) applies section III to every service in Article 1(3), while Article 4(3) of the Directive excepts urban and suburban transport services and regional transport services from section III. Article 3(3) exempts the microenterprises that provide services from those requirements.
Article 3(4) directs the Ministry of Economic Development, with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Sustainable Mobility and the political authority for technological innovation, to draw up guidelines for microenterprises. Article 12(1) requires a service provider to design and provide the services in conformity with the accessibility requirements of Article 3(2).
For the audiovisual media services defined in Article 2(1)(e), Article 12(1) requires the availability of more than one sensory channel to be ensured where possible. Article 12(2) requires the provider to prepare the information required by Annex IV on how the accessibility requirements are met, to make it available to the public in written and oral form, and to keep it while the service is operating.
Annex IV requires the provider to include that information in its general conditions or an equivalent document. Article 12(3) requires websites and mobile applications that give information on local public transport routes to show also the routes accessible to persons with disabilities. Article 12(4) requires the provider to put in place the measures needed to keep the provision of the service in constant conformity with the accessibility requirements.
Article 12(5) requires a provider of a non-conforming service to take the corrective measures needed and to inform the Agenzia per l'Italia Digitale and the national authorities of the Member States where it provides the service immediately.
Article 12(6) requires the provider, on reasoned request, to give the Agenzia per l'Italia Digitale and the competent authorities of the Member States the information needed to show conformity and to cooperate in the measures taken to bring the service into conformity.
Article 13(1) applies the accessibility requirements only to the extent that compliance does not require a substantial modification that changes the nature of the product or service and does not impose a disproportionate burden on the operators concerned. Article 13(2) and (3) require the operators to assess the disproportionate burden on the criteria of Annex V, to document the assessment and to keep the results for not less than five years from the last supply of a service.
Article 13(3) also requires the operators to give a copy of the assessment on request of the Ministry or of the competent authorities of the Member States. Article 13(5) requires a service provider that relies on the disproportionate-burden limb to renew the assessment when the service is changed, on request of the supervising authorities, and at least every five years.
Article 13(6) disapplies the disproportionate-burden limb for operators that receive public or private funding to improve accessibility. Article 13(7) requires operators other than microenterprises that rely on Article 13(1) for a specific service to inform the competent supervisory authorities.
Article 14 presumes a service that conforms to harmonised standards, or parts of them, published in the Official Journal of the European Union to conform to the accessibility requirements those standards cover. Article 14(2) presumes the same for a service that conforms to technical specifications, or parts of them, to the extent they cover those requirements.
Article 4 deems a transport service that meets the accessible-information requirements of Regulations (EC) 261/2004, 1107/2006, 1371/2007, 1177/2010 and 181/2011 and of the acts under Legislative Decree 57/2019 to conform to the corresponding requirements of the decree, unless the decree sets further requirements, which the service must then also meet.
Article 25(1) provides that service contracts concluded before may continue unchanged until they expire but for not more than five years from that date, and that until providers may keep providing their services with products they lawfully used before that date to provide similar services.
Article 25(2) lets self-service terminals lawfully used by service providers before stay in use for similar services until the end of their economically useful life, but for not more than twenty years from entry into use. Article 25(3) disapplies, from , Articles 3-bis(3), 3-ter, 3-quater, 3-quinquies and 4(2) and (2-bis) of Law 4/2004 to the persons who provide the services the decree governs, subject to the last sentence of Article 24(1).
The Agenzia per l'Italia Digitale published its guidelines on the accessibility of services under Article 21(2) of the decree as version 1.0 of . Those guidelines list EN 301 549 version 3.2.1 (2021-03) among the technical references.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app ships a consumer interface, ships a mobile app, distributes a software product, provides telecom services or provides financial services.
Back to the example · Lint your app
Page updated .