The EU Compliance headache you don't know you have? A priority primer on the European Accessibility Act

What is happening?

It is now less than a year until the EU Accessibility Act (EAA) comes into force, which will require businesses to ensure a range of products (eg smartphones and computers) and services (eg e-commerce services, consumer banking services, and ebooks) are accessible for persons with disabilities.

Why does it matter?

The provisions of the EAA apply to ‘economic operators’ that place in-scope products and services on the EU market. Businesses based outside the EU but selling to consumers in the EU will be caught.

In-scope products and services are those which have been identified as being most important for persons with disabilities while being most likely to have diverging accessibility requirements across EU Member States. A focus of the EAA is on harmonising requirements across the EU.

Some of the key products and services for retailers to be aware of include:

• smartphones
• computers
• TVs
• e-readers, ebooks and related software
• e-commerce services
• online shops
• bricks and mortar shopping services such as payment terminals in shops and restaurants, ATMs, and information displays.

See our Retail Compass Autumn 2023 edition for more details of what businesses need to do to ensure they comply with the EAA.

These compliance requirements are in some places burdensome and sometimes complex, but businesses are still awaiting detailed guidance from the European Commission and/or local guidance to assist with preparing for compliance.

Further, the relevant technical standard for ICT goods and services (EN 301549 from the ETSI) hasn’t yet been updated to reflect the EAA requirements.

This leaves economic operators without a great deal of clarity on how to comply with the EAA, and compliance is expected from 28 June 2025.

What action should you consider?

Pending more specific guidance on compliance, the sensible starting position is to ensure compliance with the current version of the ETSI standard EN 301549 v3.2.1, and then keep an eye out for updates from the European Commission and ETSI as guidance and standards are brought in line with the impending regulation.

Businesses should also get their house in order to the extent possible now, rather than wait until guidance comes in and face a mountain of compliance work at once:

• get the EAA on the boardroom agenda, so c-suite decision makers have this regulation in mind when making key decisions
• consider bringing in a third-party expert to provide initial analysis on compliance steps
• optimise existing products and services for accessibility, not forgetting the EAA’s harmonisation efforts offer an opportunity to streamline compliance to fit across all Member States
• future-proof new products and services by keeping accessibility front of mind
• engage all levels of the business on accessibility, for example by briefing sales teams on accessibility features
• provide internal training to educate employees on the importance of accessibility and why these steps are being taken.

Explore Retail Compass Autumn 2024