SlovakiaElectronic Communications Act, s. 83a, accessibility requirements for publicly available services (inserted by Act 351/2022)
§ 83a zákona č. 452/2021 Z. z. o elektronických komunikáciách v znení zákona č. 351/2022 Z. z.
In force since .
An accessibility requirements rule binding public and private bodies.
What it requires
- If you provide a publicly available service within the Electronic Communications Act (internet access, interpersonal communications or signal-transmission services), provide it in line with the accessibility requirements the Office sets by regulation, and keep it in line for as long as you provide it, including when the requirements, the harmonized standards or technical specifications you rely on, or the nature of the service change (s. 83a(1) and (2)(a); Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 13(1) and (3)).
- Give information on the conformity of the service with the accessibility requirements in written and oral form, also in a way accessible to persons with disabilities, throughout the offer and provision of the service, and keep that information for as long as you provide the service (s. 83a(2)(b) and (c); Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 13(2)).
- Tell the Office without delay that the service has stopped meeting the accessibility requirements, and on its reasoned request give it in the state language all information and documents needed to show conformity (s. 83a(2)(d) and (e); Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 13(4) and (5)).
- A service provided in line with the harmonized standards published in the Official Journal of the European Union, or with the technical specifications, or the parts of them that set accessibility requirements, is taken to meet the requirements (s. 83a(3) and (4); Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 15).
- You need not meet the requirements to the extent that doing so would fundamentally alter the basic nature of the service or impose a disproportionate burden under the criteria of Decree 345/2025, and you cannot rely on the burden if you use funds from public sources, or from private sources other than your own, given to improve the accessibility of services for persons with disabilities (s. 83a(5) and (6); Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 14(1) and (6)).
- A microenterprise, which section 3(c) defines as a businessperson who employs fewer than ten persons in an employment or similar relationship and whose annual turnover or annual balance sheet total is at most one million euro, and a machine-to-machine communication service, are outside section 83a (s. 83a(9); Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 4(5)).
- If you rely on the disproportionate-burden defense, analyze whether its conditions are met, keep the analysis and its documents for five years from the last provision of the service, give them to the Office on request in the period it sets, and repeat the analysis once every five years, when the service changes or when the Office asks (s. 83a(7) and (8); Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 14(3) and (5)).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
If you get it wrong
Penalty structure
Section 124(1) to (3) list no duty of section 83a, so no fine of section 124 reaches it. The Office supervises compliance (section 122(4)(a)), may impose a binding measure to remove the deficiencies found (section 122(8)(a)) and orders their removal within a period it sets (section 122(17)(d)); the provider must remove them within that period and notify the Office in writing (section 122(14)(d)). A person that obstructs supervision by not meeting its duties under section 122(14) may be fined up to EUR 2,000, also repeatedly (section 122(18)). The Administrative Procedure Code does not apply to that supervision, except for section 122(13) and (18) (section 125(1)(h)).
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- Currency
- EUR
- Fixed cap
- 2,000
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
The Regulatory Authority for Electronic Communications and Postal Services (Úrad pre reguláciu elektronických komunikácií a poštových služieb, the Office), which supervises compliance with the Act and with the regulations issued under it (section 122(4)(a)) and may impose a binding measure to remove the deficiencies it finds (section 122(8)(a)).
What it reaches
Instrument type
an act of a legislature
Obligation class
Disclosure, Governance, Reporting
Applicability criteria
The national microenterprise limit is EUR 1 million of annual turnover or balance sheet total, where Article 3(23) of Directive (EU) 2019/882 states EUR 2 million, and section 3(c) applies to a businessperson (podnikateľ) only. Footnote 12 to section 3(c) refers to Article 2(1) of Annex I to Commission Regulation (EU) No 651/2014 for how employees, turnover and balance sheet total are counted.
- As of
- Combinator
- All of
- Criteria
- a provider of a publicly available service within the Act (section 2(21): a service the use of which anyone may apply for)
- not a microenterprise, which section 3(c) defines as a businessperson who employs fewer than ten persons in an employment or similar relationship and whose annual turnover or annual balance sheet total is at most one million euro (section 83a(9): „Povinnosti uvedené v tomto paragrafe sa nevzťahujú na poskytovateľa verejne dostupnej služby, ktorým je mikropodnik“)
- the service is not a machine-to-machine communication service (section 83a(9))
What this law does
Article VIII, point 2, of Act 351/2022 inserted section 83a after section 83 of the Electronic Communications Act (452/2021). Section 83a(1) obliges a provider of a publicly available service to provide the service in line with the accessibility requirements for services for persons with disabilities that the Office sets by a generally binding regulation issued on the basis of section 82(5).
Section 83a(2)(a) obliges the provider to keep the services in line with the requirements for as long as they are provided, including when the requirements, the harmonized standards or technical specifications, or the nature of the service change.
Section 83a(2)(b) and (c) oblige the provider to give information on the conformity of the service in written and oral form, also in a way accessible to persons with disabilities, throughout the offer and provision of the service, and to keep that information for as long as the service is provided.
Section 83a(2)(d) and (e) oblige the provider to tell the Office without delay that the service has stopped meeting the requirements and, on its reasoned request, to give it in the state language all information and documents needed to show conformity.
Section 83a(3) and (4) treat the requirements as met where the service is provided in line with the harmonized standards published in the Official Journal of the European Union, or with the technical specifications, to the extent they cover the requirements. Section 83a(5) disapplies the duties in paragraphs 1 and 2 to the extent that they would mean a fundamental alteration of the service that changes its basic nature, or a disproportionate burden by the criteria in the Office regulation.
Section 83a(6) denies the disproportionate-burden defense to a provider that uses funds from public sources, or from private sources other than its own, given to improve the accessibility of services for persons with disabilities.
Section 83a(7) and (8) oblige the provider to analyze whether the conditions of paragraph 5 are met, to keep the analysis and documents for five years from the last provision of the service, to give them to the Office on request in the period it sets, and to repeat the analysis once every five years, when the service changes or when the Office asks.
Section 83a(9) exempts a provider that is a microenterprise, and machine-to-machine communication services, from the duties of section 83a. Section 3(c) defines a microenterprise by a headcount limit and a limit on annual turnover or annual balance sheet total, for a businessperson. Footnote 12 to section 3(c) refers to Article 2(1) of Annex I to Commission Regulation (EU) No 651/2014 for the count of employees, annual turnover and balance sheet total.
Article 3(23) of Directive (EU) 2019/882 defines a microenterprise by a headcount limit and a limit on annual turnover or annual balance sheet total. Article 2(2)(a) of Directive (EU) 2019/882 applies it to electronic communications services, except transmission services used for machine-to-machine services. Section 122(4)(a) has the Office supervise compliance with the duties of the Act and with the generally binding legal regulations issued on its basis.
Section 122(8)(a) lets the Office impose a binding measure to remove the deficiencies found in supervision. Section 124(1) to (3) of the Act, which set the fines the Office imposes, do not list section 83a. Section 122(17)(d) has the Office order the removal of the deficiencies found in supervision within a reasonable period it sets, where removal is possible.
Section 122(14)(d) obliges the supervised person to remove the deficiencies within that period and to notify the Office of their removal in writing. Section 122(18) lets the Office impose a procedural fine of up to EUR 2,000, also repeatedly, on a person that obstructs supervision by not meeting its duties under section 122(14). Section 125(1)(h) disapplies the Administrative Procedure Code to supervision under section 122, except for section 122(13) and (18).
None of the transitional provisions of the Act, sections 131 to 131f, deals with section 83a. Article 32(1) of Directive (EU) 2019/882 provides a transitional period ending on during which service providers may continue to provide their services using products lawfully used before that date, and lets service contracts agreed before continue without alteration until they expire, but no longer than five years from that date.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app ships a consumer interface or provides telecom services.
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