MaltaAccessibility Measures (European Accessibility Act) Regulations, products: obligations of distributors
In force since .
An accessibility requirements rule binding public and private bodies.
- Private right of action
- Yes
What it requires
- If you are a distributor, act with due care in relation to the requirements of the Regulations when you make a product available on the market (reg. 10(1)).
- Before making a product available, verify that it bears the CE marking, comes with the required documents and with instructions and safety information in a language consumers and end-users in the Member State where it is made available can easily understand, and that the manufacturer and importer have complied with regulations 7(5), 7(6) and 9(4) (reg. 10(2)); the EU declaration of conformity states which requirements are subject to regulation 14 where the manufacturer used it (reg. 16(1)).
- If you consider or have reason to believe a product does not conform to the applicable accessibility requirements, do not make it available until it does, and tell the manufacturer or importer and the market surveillance authority (reg. 10(3)).
- While a product is under your responsibility, keep storage or transport conditions from jeopardising its compliance with the applicable accessibility requirements (reg. 10(4)).
- If you have reason to believe a product you made available does not conform, make sure the corrective measures needed, or withdrawal, are taken, and immediately tell the competent national authorities of the Member States where you made it available, with details of the non-compliance and any corrective measures (reg. 10(5)).
- On a reasoned request from a competent national authority, give it the information and documentation needed to show the product conforms and cooperate on action to eliminate the non-compliance (reg. 10(6)).
- If you, as the distributor, rely on the fundamental alteration or disproportionate burden ground in regulation 14(1) for a product, carry out the assessment against the criteria in Annex VI, document it, keep the results for five years from the last making available of the product on the market, give the authority a copy on request, and send the market surveillance authority information that you rely on it; regulation 14 binds every economic operator, which regulation 2 defines to include the importer and the distributor (regs. 2, 14(2), 14(3) and 14(7)).
- If you place a product on the market under your own name or trade mark, or modify a product already on the market so that compliance may be affected, meet the manufacturer's obligations under regulation 7 (reg. 11).
- On request, identify to the market surveillance authority or a competent national authority the operators that supplied you with a product and those you supplied, and be able to do so for five years after the supply in each direction (reg. 12).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
The Commission for the Rights of Persons with Disability, the market surveillance authority under regulation 2 of the Regulations, as designated by article 22(1)(v) of the Equal Opportunities (Persons with Disability) Act
What it reaches
Instrument type
a regulation made under an act
Applicability criteria
- As of
- Combinator
- Any of
- Criteria
- a distributor, meaning a natural or legal person in the supply chain, other than the manufacturer or the importer, who makes a product available on the market
What this law does
Regulation 10(1) requires a distributor making a product available on the market to act with due care in relation to the requirements of the Regulations.
Before making a product available, a distributor must verify that it bears the CE marking, that it comes with the required documents and with instructions and safety information in a language consumers and end-users in that Member State can easily understand, and that the manufacturer and importer have complied with regulations 7(5), 7(6) and 9(4).
Where regulation 14 has been used, regulation 16(1) requires the EU declaration of conformity to state which accessibility requirements are subject to that exception. Regulation 2 defines an economic operator as the manufacturer, the authorised representative, the importer, the distributor or the service provider.
Regulation 14(2) requires economic operators to assess whether compliance with the accessibility requirements would introduce a fundamental alteration or, based on the Annex VI criteria, impose a disproportionate burden. Regulation 14(7) requires an economic operator that relies on regulation 14(1) for a specific product to send information to that effect to the market surveillance authority, and ends with the proviso that sub-regulation (1) shall not apply to microenterprises.
Article 14(8) of Directive (EU) 2019/882 exempts microenterprises only from its first subparagraph, the duty to send information that an economic operator relies on Article 14(1). A distributor that considers or has reason to believe a product does not conform must not make it available until it conforms, and must inform the manufacturer or importer and the market surveillance authority.
A distributor must ensure that storage or transport conditions under its responsibility do not jeopardise compliance with the applicable accessibility requirements. A distributor that has reason to believe a product it made available does not conform must make sure the corrective measures needed, or withdrawal, are taken, and must immediately inform the competent national authorities of the Member States where it made the product available.
A distributor must give a competent national authority, on a reasoned request, the information and documentation needed to demonstrate conformity and cooperate on action to eliminate the non-compliance. Regulation 11 treats a distributor as a manufacturer, subject to the obligations of regulation 7, where it places a product on the market under its own name or trade mark or modifies a product already on the market in a way that may affect compliance.
Regulation 12 requires a distributor to identify, on request, the operators that supplied it with a product and those it supplied, and to be able to do so for five years in each direction.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app distributes a software product.
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