SUMMARY
The European Accessibility Act (EAA) came into force on 28 June 2025. It requires that all in-scope products and services placed on the market or provided after that date in the EU must meet specified accessibility requirements. These are requirements to help people with disabilities make use of certain products and services and will require businesses who offer these products or services to ensure they are accessible to all users.
WHAT PRODUCTS OR SERVICES ARE COVERED BY THE EAA?
The EAA sets accessibility standards for the following products and services:
- Consumer general purpose computers (PCs, including desktops, notebooks, smartphones and tablets) and their operating systems;
- Self-service terminals (including ATMs, payment terminals, ticketing machines and interactive information terminals);
- Smartphones and other devices used for electronic communications services;
- Digital TV and other equipment for accessing audiovisual media services;
- E-readers.
- Electronic communications services;
- Services for accessing audiovisual media services;
- Interactive / digital aspects of air, bus, rail and water passenger transport services, including websites, mobile app services, electronic tickets, and delivery of transport service information;
- Consumer banking services including consumer loans and mortgages, online payment services, services linked to payment accounts (e.g. opening a payment account) and e-money;
- E-books and dedicated software;
- E-commerce (including online retail);
- Answers to emergency calls to the single European number ‘112’.
WHICH ENTITIES ARE WITHIN SCOPE?
The EAA applies to all economic operators and service providers placing specific products and services (which are relevant to persons with disabilities) on the European market. It therefore extends to non-EU entities which offer products or services in the EU.
There are some exemptions for micro enterprises providing services (those businesses with less than 10 employees or an annual turnover of less than €2 million), who are not required to comply with the accessibility requirements. However, these businesses still have to comply with the accessibility requirements for products.
The EAA imposes specific obligations on all parts of the supply chain (i.e. manufacturers, authorized representatives, importers, distributors, and retailers). For example, the obligation to affix the CE marking on products to indicate their conformity with accessibility requirements initially falls on the manufacturer. However, all economic operators are required to ensure that the manufacturer has drawn up the technical documents required by the EAA and that the products bearing the CE marking are accompanied by the necessary documents.
Businesses must ensure three key requirements:
- Information about the use / function is easily available and understandable, and provided via more than one sensory channel, in a way consumers can easily perceive (adequate font size, suitable shape, contrasts, spacing, alternative presentation for non-textual content, etc.);
- compatibility with assistive technologies (screen readers, vocal readers, content descriptions, etc.) and adaptable interfaces (textual options, high contrasts, etc.);
- accessible support services.
They should also ensure that the user interface is designed to allow persons with disabilities to access, perceive, operate, understand and control the product, through alternatives to vision, auditory, speech and tactile elements or by avoiding triggering or inaccessible features.
Services should be provided so that they can be adapted to the needs of persons with disabilities and are interoperable with assistive technologies. This means services providing access to audiovisual media services must include subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing, audio description, spoken subtitles and sign language interpretation, transmitted fully with adequate quality for accurate display, and synchronised with sound and video, while still allowing for user control of their display and use.
All products and services placed on the market after 28 June 2025 must meet the EAA accessibility requirements. There is a transitional period (ending on 28 June 2030) for service providers, to enable them to continue using products that were used to provide services prior to 28 June 2025. Similarly, given the cost and long life-cycle of self-service terminals, businesses may continue to use self-service terminals bought before that date until the end of their economically useful life, but no longer than 20 years after their entry into use.
Note that there is a broad exemption from having to meet the EAA accessibility requirements, with compliance only required if it does not:
- require a significant change in a product or service, resulting in a fundamental alteration of its basic nature; and
- result in the imposition of a disproportionate burden on the businesses concerned.
But this exemption will not apply if a business has received private or public funding for the purpose of financing accessibility.
To fall within the exemption, businesses must carry out documented assessments and keep the relevant results for a period of 5 years from the time a product was last placed on the market / the service was last provided.
As the EAA is in the form of a directive, EU Member States have some latitude about how they implement its requirements. This may create complexities for businesses operating cross-border in the EU, who will need to comply with existing national laws and varying local implementation of the EAA, necessitating a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction compliance assessment.
The EAA therefore provides that compliance with harmonized European standards triggers a “presumption of conformity” across the EU. If a business elects to conform to a harmonized standard, developed by the European Standardisation Organisations, operators and service providers will be presumed to be in conformity with the EAA. For instance, EN 301 549 is a European standard that specifies accessibility requirements for ICT products and services, particularly for public sector bodies in Europe. The standard covers a wide range of ICT, including hardware, software, websites, and mobile applications. However, this presumption will not apply in those EU Member States where national norms has priority over European standards. In those countries where a more specific local law or standard takes precedence over European standards, operators and service providers will not be able to rely on the presumption of conformity and must exercise heightened diligence in assessing and implementing accessibility requirements. Notable examples are the BITV (Barrierefreie Informationstechnik-Verordnung) in Germany and the RGAA (Référentiel général d’amélioration de l’accessibilité) in France, both of which establish comprehensive criteria for digital accessibility that sometimes extend beyond the baseline set by EU standards.
National member state market surveillance bodies will enforce the EAA requirements and can issue penalties for non-compliance. In France for example, depending on the nature of the relevant product or service, the DGCCRF (Direction Générale de la Concurrence, de la Consommation et de la Répression des Fraudes) or l’Arcom (Autorité de régulation de la communication audiovisuelle et numérique) have enforcement powers under the EAA. Member States must ensure penalties are “effective, proportionate, and dissuasive”. They also must take into account the extent of the non-compliance, including its seriousness, and the number of units of non-complying products or services concerned, as well as the number of persons affected. Market surveillance authorities may also require product withdrawal or corrective action.
In France, under Article R451-4 of the Consumer Code, failure to meet accessibility requirements is punishable by a fine of €1,500 (or €3,000 in case of repeated offences).
In Germany, the market surveillance authority can restrict or prohibit the availability of non-compliant products, or require their withdrawal or recall. Additionally, fines ranging from €10,000 to €100,000 may be imposed depending on the severity of the offence. In Italy, accessibility violations are subject to administrative sanctions which may range from €5,000 to €40,000 per infraction.
As a number of local Member State laws may apply to the same services or products, the amount of fines could quickly rise to a significant amount.
WHAT STEPS SHOULD YOU TAKE NOW?
There is no grace period for products and services launched after 28 June 2025 and transitional provisions expire by 28 June 2030 for products and services placed on the market before 28 June 2025.
Given that assessments and audits can require significant lead time, especially for digital platforms and hardware upgrades, businesses should plan now in case major changes are required to facilitate accessibility under the EAA.
*The author acknowledges the contribution of Lilya Slimani in the preparation of this Insight.
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