Accessibility Measures (European Accessibility Act) Regulations, products: scope, accessibility requirements and the obligations of manufacturers and authorised representatives

Regulation 3(1) applies the Regulations to consumer general purpose computer hardware systems and the operating systems for those hardware systems placed on the market after 28 June 2025. It also covers payment terminals, automated teller machines, ticketing machines and check-in machines. Interactive self-service terminals providing information are covered, but not terminals installed as integrated parts of vehicles, aircrafts, ships or rolling stock.

Regulation 3(1)(c) to (e) adds consumer terminal equipment with interactive computing capability used for electronic communications services or for accessing audiovisual media services, and e-readers.

Regulation 4(1) lets economic operators place on the market only products that comply with the accessibility requirements in Annex I, subject to regulation 14, and regulation 4(2) requires all products to meet Section I of Annex I and all products other than self-service terminals to meet Section II of Annex I. Section I of Annex I requires a product that provides communication, operation, information, control and orientation to do so through more than one sensory channel, including alternatives to vision, auditory, speech and tactile elements.

For self-service terminals Section I of Annex I requires text-to-speech technology and the use of personal headsets. For e-readers it requires text-to-speech technology. For consumer terminal equipment used for electronic communications services it requires the handling of real time text, support for high fidelity audio and, with video capability, total conversation.

Section II of Annex I adds accessible packaging and accessible installation, maintenance, storage and disposal instructions for products other than self-service terminals. Regulation 7 requires a manufacturer placing a product on the market to ensure that it has been designed and manufactured in accordance with the applicable accessibility requirements.

A manufacturer must draw up the technical documentation under Annex IV, carry out the conformity assessment procedure in that Annex or have it carried out, and, where compliance is demonstrated, draw up an EU declaration of conformity and affix the CE marking. A manufacturer must keep the technical documentation and the EU declaration of conformity for five years after the product has been placed on the market.

A manufacturer must ensure that series production stays in conformity and must take account of changes in product design or characteristics and in the harmonised standards or technical specifications by reference to which conformity was declared. A manufacturer must put a type, batch or serial number on the product and indicate its name, registered trade name or trade mark and a single contact address on the product or its packaging or accompanying document.

A manufacturer must supply instructions and safety information in a language that consumers and other end-users can easily understand, as the market surveillance authority determines from time to time.

A manufacturer that has reason to believe a product it placed on the market does not conform must immediately take the corrective measures needed or withdraw it, inform the competent national authorities of the Member States where it made the product available, and keep a register of non-complying products and related complaints.

A manufacturer must, on a reasoned request from a competent national authority, provide the information and documentation needed to demonstrate conformity in a language that the authority easily understands, and cooperate on action to eliminate the non-compliance. A manufacturer may appoint an authorised representative by written mandate, but the obligations in regulation 7(1) and the drawing up of the technical documentation cannot form part of that mandate.

The mandate must allow the authorised representative at least to keep the EU declaration of conformity and the technical documentation at the disposal of the authorities for five years and to supply the information and documentation needed to demonstrate conformity. The mandate must also allow the authorised representative to cooperate with the competent national authorities on action to eliminate non-compliance of the products it covers.

Regulation 12 requires every manufacturer, authorised representative, importer and distributor to identify to the authorities, 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.

Regulation 14(1) applies the accessibility requirements only to the extent that compliance does not require a significant change that results in the fundamental alteration of the basic nature of the product or service and does not impose a disproportionate burden on the economic operators concerned.

An economic operator relying on regulation 14 must assess the matter against the criteria in Annex VI, document the assessment, keep the results for five years from the last making available of a product on the market, and give the authority a copy on request. Microenterprises dealing with products are exempt from documenting the assessment but must give the authority the facts relevant to it on request if they rely on regulation 14(1).

An economic operator that receives funding from other sources than its own resources for the purpose of improving accessibility cannot rely on the disproportionate burden ground in regulation 14(1)(b).

An economic operator that relies on regulation 14(1) for a specific product or service must send that information to the market surveillance authority or the relevant competent authorities of the Member State where the product is placed on the market or the service is provided, and the regulation 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). Products in conformity with harmonised standards whose references are published in the Official Journal of the European Union are presumed to conform to the accessibility requirements in so far as those standards cover them.

Products in conformity with technical specifications or parts of them are likewise presumed to conform to the accessibility requirements in so far as those technical specifications cover them. The EU declaration of conformity must state that fulfilment of the applicable accessibility requirements has been demonstrated and, where regulation 14 has been used, which accessibility requirements are subject to that exception.

The declaration must follow the model structure in Annex III to Decision No 768/2008/EC, contain the elements in Annex IV, be continuously updated and be translated into the language or languages the Member State requires. Regulation 16(2) provides that the requirements concerning the technical documentation shall avoid imposing any undue burden on microenterprises and SMEs. A manufacturer that draws up the declaration assumes responsibility for the compliance of the product.

The CE marking must be affixed visibly, legibly and indelibly to the product or its data plate, or to the packaging and accompanying documents, before the product is placed on the market. Regulation 18(3) requires the relevant provisions of Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 and of the Market Surveillance and CE Marking Regulations to be observed and adhered to, so that appropriate action is taken in the event of improper use of the marking.

The Market Surveillance and CE Marking Regulations implement Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 in so far as products are covered by the Product Safety Act and the subsidiary legislation made under it. They provide that an economic operator contravening Article 30 of Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 on the CE marking is liable on conviction to the penalties of article 32(2), (3) and (4) of the Product Safety Act.

Article 32(2) of the Product Safety Act sets a fine of not less than EUR 1,164.69 and not more than EUR 11,646.87, or imprisonment for up to three years, or both, and article 32(3) sets a fine of not less than EUR 1,747.03 and not more than EUR 23,293.73, or imprisonment for up to four years, or both, for a second or subsequent offence.

Article 32(4) of the Product Safety Act lets the Court, on conviction, additionally order the suspension or cancellation of any licence issued in favour of the person charged or in respect of the premises involved. Article 31 of the Product Safety Act prescribes criminal actions for offences under it by the lapse of two years. Article 32 of the Product Safety Act, which states those fines in euro, was amended by Legal Notice 426 of 2007.

Legal Notice 426 of 2007 is the Adaptation of Laws (Chapters 401 - 450) Order, 2007, made by the Minister responsible for Finance, and its provisions came into force on 1 January 2008. The Commission for the Rights of Persons with Disability is the market surveillance authority under the Regulations.