Accessibility Directive: Final countdown before application on 28 June 2025

On 28 June 2025, businesses will be required to comply with accessibility requirements applicable across the European Union (EU) for a broad range of products and services.¹ These obligations stem from Directive (EU) 2019/882 on the accessibility requirements for products and services (the Accessibility Directive), which establishes a harmonised framework aimed at ensuring greater inclusion in the internal market for persons with disabilities.²

Background

The Accessibility Directive was adopted on 17 April 2019 to improve the accessibility of key products and services for persons with disabilities across the EU and to harmonise national accessibility rules, thereby reducing regulatory fragmentation and removing obstacles to the free movement of accessible goods and services within the EU market.

EU Member States were required to transpose the Accessibility Directive by 28 June 2022. In France, transposition was completed in 2023 through Article 16 of Law No. 2023-171, further supplemented by two decrees (Decree No. 2023-931 and Decree No. 2023-778) and two ministerial orders adopted respectively on 14 August 2023 and 9 October 2023.

Extensive scope of the Accessibility Directive

The Accessibility Directive stands out for its extensive scope, covering a wide range of products and services as well as a significant number of economic operators.

Application of the accessibility requirements to a broad range of products and services

The accessibility requirements apply to a selected range of products and services as being most important for persons with disabilities while being most likely to have diverging accessibility requirements across EU countries.

With respect to services, the accessibility requirements concern, among others, electronic communications services, services providing access to audiovisual media, e-commerce services (namely distance selling services offered through websites or mobile applications), and consumer banking services such as credit agreements and related precontractual documentation.

In relation to products, the accessibility requirements notably cover consumer general-purpose computer hardware systems and their operating systems (such as personal computers, desktops, notebooks, smartphones, and tablets), payment terminals, and self-service terminals, including ATMs, ticketing machines, and check-in machines.

Application of the Accessibility Directive to different actors

The Accessibility Directive sets out specific obligations for different economic operators involved in the product supply chain:

• Manufacturers must, in particular, ensure that products placed on the market are designed and manufactured in compliance with the applicable accessibility requirements. Manufacturers are also required to prepare the technical documentation and carry out the necessary conformity assessment procedures and draw up the EU declaration of conformity;
• Importers are responsible for ensuring that only compliant products are placed on the EU market. Before placing a product on the market, importers must verify that the manufacturer has conducted the conformity assessment and that the necessary technical documentation is available; and
• Distributors who must act with due care when placing products on the market. They are required, in particular, to verify that products comply with accessibility requirements and that appropriate conformity markings and documentation are provided.

For services, the obligations fall directly on service providers. They must notably ensure that the services they design, offer comply with the accessibility requirements and prepare the necessary information.

Exemptions

The Accessibility Directive, as transposed into French law, provides that an economic operator may be exempted from the accessibility requirements if achieving compliance would either require a substantial modification to the product or service or impose a disproportionate burden except where the operator receives external funding aimed at supporting accessibility improvements.

The assessment of whether a disproportionate burden exists must be conducted in accordance with the criteria set out in the French Consumer Code such as the costs and benefits of the measures.

Accessibility requirements for products and services

The accessibility requirements introduced by the Accessibility Directive are intended to promote universal design, allowing products and services to be used by as many people as possible, including persons with disabilities, without the need for adaptation or specialised solutions.

To achieve this objective, the Accessibility Directive sets out general and specific requirements for the products and services falling within its scope. These include obligations relating to the provision of information on the use of the product or the functioning of the service, and requirements concerning the design of user interfaces and product functionalities (e.g., accessible packaging such as easy-open or tactile labelling; accessible user instructions; customer support services providing information on compatibility with assistive technologies; or websites and mobile applications offering text alternatives for non-text content and keyboard navigation features).

However, the Accessibility Directive provides limited practical guidance. Although a presumption of conformity is provided for products and services that comply with harmonised standards or technical specifications related to accessibility, no updated harmonised standards or technical specifications specifically developed under the Accessibility Directive have yet been published in the Official Journal of the EU. The French transposition largely mirrors the Accessibility Directive, without introducing additional substantial national innovations.

In practice, businesses may refer to existing European harmonised standards and technical specifications which include:

• EN 17161 (Design for All), which promotes accessibility through universal design principles;
• EN 301 549, which specifies accessibility requirements for ICT products and services, including websites and mobile applications;
• complementary technical specifications, such as CEN/TS 15209, providing guidelines for incorporating accessibility considerations into standardisation processes, and ETSI EG 202 116, which offers specific recommendations to enhance the accessibility of telecommunication services.

These standards mainly address the accessibility of digital content, and do not yet provide specific detailed requirements for ensuring the accessibility of documents provided on paper, even though such documents fall within the scope of the accessibility requirements. However, other standards can be used to improve the accessibility of printed materials, such as the "European standards for making information easy to read and understand".

Next steps for businesses

In view of the upcoming application date of 28 June 2025, businesses concerned by the Accessibility Directive should take proactive steps to ensure timely compliance. Key actions include:

• Identify which products and services fall within the scope of the Accessibility Directive.
• Determine your role in the supply chain: you must assess whether you act as a manufacturer (or its authorised representative), importer, distributor, or service provider, as the applicable obligations vary depending on your role.
• Assess the applicability of possible exemptions: you should evaluate whether an exemption based on a substantial modification or disproportionate burden could be invoked under the applicable rules.
• Apply the relevant accessibility requirements: where no exemption applies, you must ensure compliance with the general accessibility requirements, identify any specific accessibility requirements, and refer to the most appropriate standards or technical specifications to guide their implementation.

We also note that, whilst the scope of the Accessibility Directive is limited, it is increasingly common for companies to adopt similar technical measures across their websites as a matter of good business practice.