Product

Horizon scanning

The European Accessibility Act: increasing inclusivity for consumers

What is happening?
With over one quarter of the European Union (the EU)'s population affected by a form of disability, these individuals can experience challenges accessing day-to-day products and services due to the divergence in national accessibility legislation across the region.

To address this disparity and to increase accessibility in the EU, the EU Commission has introduced the EU Accessibility Act (the EAA), stipulating that accessibility should be achieved through "the systematic removal and prevention of barriers, preferably through a universal design or ‘design for all’ approach...".

The countdown to the EEA coming into full force on 28 June 2025 is now well and truly on and in-scope businesses should ensure they are ready for the changes.

Why does it matter?

Functioning as a minimum harmonisation directive, the accessibility obligations of the EAA are extraterritorial, and bite where an organisation acts as an "economic operator" (ie a manufacturer, authorised representative, importer, distributor, or service provider) in relation to an in-scope product or service made available to EU consumers. While the list of in-scope products is specific in nature (it includes, for example, consumer general purpose computer hardware systems and operating systems, payment terminals, various self-service terminals, and e-readers), the inclusion of "e-commerce services", "electronic communication services" and "services providing access to audiovisual media services" as in-scope services significantly broaden the EAA's application. These in-scope service categories have the potential to capture organisations⁽¹⁾ engaged in the online sale of products or services through their website or mobile applications, websites with chat functions, and online streaming services.

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(1) Microenterprises – businesses with fewer than ten employees and either less than €2m in annual turnover or total assets – are exempted from the obligations of the EAA applicable to services, and have lighter obligations in relation to products, since they have limited human resources and annual turnover.

Online helpdesks, call centres, and training services used to assist customers, may also be subject to the EEA's accessibility obligations for support services.

In order to remain compliant, economic operators must only make in-scope products and/or services available to EU consumers if they are compliant with the accessibility requirements set out across the Annexes of the EAA (unless and only to the extent that such compliance would either require a fundamental alteration of an in-scope product or service and/or impose a disproportionate burden on the economic operator).

It is worth noting that the EAA includes a presumption of conformity, enabling products and services to enjoy a level of presumed compliance with the EAA's accessibility requirements where they are in conformity with published harmonised technical standards for ICT products and services.

Unfortunately, the next version of the relevant standard – EN 301 549 – is not expected until 2026. Industry bodies and economic operators alike have been critical of this misalignment of timelines which means that organisations may seek to achieve the presumption of compliance by meeting the requirements of the current EN 301 549 (v3.2.1), only for their efforts to become outdated by the time the new standard comes into play next year.

From 28 June 2025, non-compliance must be immediately self-reported by economic operators to the relevant authorities (ie in each Member State in which the product or service is provided) and take corrective measures to address any non-compliance.

With Member States empowered to introduce "effective, proportionate and dissuasive" penalties for such non-compliance and consumers, public bodies, private associations (or other entities with a legitimate interest) empowered to take action before the courts, non-compliance could be an expensive mistake.

What actions should you take?
In-scope organisations should already be familiar with the accessibility requirements of the EAA and should look to bring themselves into compliance to the extent there are any gaps in accessibility that need to be remediated.

Important steps as part of this preparation will involve:

getting the c-suite up to speed and on-board regarding the new heightened regulatory environment surrounding accessibility in the EU
mapping a business's relevant territories and assessing whether any additional local law requirements apply in any markets

auditing in-scope products and services and following a gap analysis, bringing them into compliance with the requirements of the EAA (including conducting an assessment as to whether any exceptions may apply)
ensuring that relevant personnel receive appropriate training regarding any accessibility features (particularly those involved in website / user experience design and customer support), and
assessing whether it is appropriate to revise upstream or downstream contracts to ensure that compliance responsibilities are clearly assigned across the supply chain.

Key dates

28 June 2025

Oliver Bray
Partner
+44 7981 232447
oliver.bray@rpclegal.com

Hettie Homewood
Senior Associate
+44 7759 524371
hettie.homewood@rpclegal.com

Eve Matthews
Associate
+44 7851 243230
eve.matthews@rpclegal.com