On 28 June 2025, the European Accessibility Act (“EAA”)—a 2019 directive—will begin applying to covered products and services.  The EAA imposes various obligations on technology and online service providers among others, requiring them to ensure that the products and services that they offer in the EU are made accessible to consumers with disabilities. According to its recitals, the goal of the EAA is to increase the availability of accessible products and services in the EU and improve the accessibility of information provided to consumers about those products and services.

In 2015, following a consultation and impact assessment, the European Commission proposed the draft EAA. EU lawmakers were motivated by the fact that rules governing the accessibility requirements for products and services were fragmented across the EU, leading to a poorer experience for consumers and undermining the EU’s commitment to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). The EAA was eventually adopted in 2019. As a Directive, the EAA must be transposed into national law by each Member State (the deadline for doing so was June 2022).

Covered products and services

Article 2 of the EAA identifies five categories of products and six categories of services that are subject to harmonized accessibility rules.

The covered products are:

• General purpose computer hardware and operating systems,
• Self-service terminals (such as ATMs),
• Devices used for electronic communications services,
• Devices used to access audiovisual media services, and
• E-readers.

The covered services are:

• Electronic communications services (except for those used to provide machine-to-machine services),
• Services providing access to audiovisual media services,
• Elements relating to passenger transport services, such as websites and electronic ticketing,
• Consumer banking services
• E-books and dedicated software, and
• E-commerce services.

Overview of the accessibility obligations

The substantive accessibility obligations that apply to product manufacturers and service providers are set out in Annexes to the EAA. At a general level, product manufacturers are required to ensure that products they provide to consumers are “designed and produced in such a way as to maximize their foreseeable use by persons with disabilities” and that they are accompanied by “accessible information on their functioning and on their accessibility features” (Annex I, Section 1). Annex I, Section I goes on to describe in some detail the specific requirements for making products accessible to consumers with a range of disabilities, such as visual and hearing impairments, as well ensuring that products are designed so that they can be used by individuals with reduced motor control and/or strength. Annex I, Sections I and II also place accessibility obligations on product manufacturers with respect to the information that they provide to consumers – for instance, by requiring that instructions for use, installation, maintenance, storage and disposal of products are made available using accessible formats.

Annex I, Sections III and IV describe the accessibility requirements for services. Annex I, Section III requires, among other obligations, that service providers provide information about the functioning of the service itself and any accessibility features of the service. They must also ensure that products used to provide the service are made accessible. Additionally, service providers covered by the EAA must make their websites and mobile apps accessible, as well as provide accessible information to consumers via any support services they may offer (such as, help desks). Annex I, Section IV sets out a series of more granular obligations on specific services covered by the Act.

Product manufacturers and service providers must also publish certain information about how they meet their accessibility obligations (as required by Annex IV and Annex V).

The obligations set out in the Annexes are, in some respects, fairly detailed, but they also contain a number of ambiguities regarding how compliance is to be achieved in practice.

Compliance and enforcement

The way the legislature chose to structure the EAA is interesting: specifically, it maps onto, and adopts in part, the EU’s legislative framework for the regulation of product safety. This means that the EAA introduces certain requirements regarding CE markings on products (Articles 17 and 18) , as well as obligations on product manufacturers, importers and distributors of products (Articles 7 through 10). These entities in the product supply chain must, among other requirements, ensure that products placed on the EU market remain in conformity with the EAA and must identify any products that fail to do so. Where non-conformance is identified, these entities must ensure that “corrective measures” are taken to bring the product into conformity (it is unclear what this means in practice), or report the non-conformance to “competent national authorities” identified by each Member State.

The EAA also adopts the oversight and enforcement structure of product safety legislation and applies it to in-scope products. Most notably, each Member State must appoint one or more “market surveillance authorities” to monitor the compliance of products made available on their national market (Article 19). Although these authorities will need to cooperate with each other across the EU, there is no “one stop shop” for enforcement. More complicated still is the fact that many Member States have appointed more than one authority to enforce the law in their jurisdiction. Penalties for failure to comply are to be set by the Member State (Article 30). They include not only the prospect of financial penalties but also the possibility that a non-conforming product will need to be withdrawn from the national – and potentially EU – market (Article 20). Services, on the other hand, are regulated in a lighter-touch way: Member States must appoint authorities who are responsible for assessing whether services are complying with the EAA, address any complaints they receive relating to non-compliance, and verify that service providers take “the necessary corrective action” (Article 23). Consumers – or groups that represent them – are also entitled to take action before the courts or competent authorities (Article 29).

Another interesting feature of the EAA is the reliance on “harmonized standards” for assessing compliance. Standards are a type of “soft law” instrument that can be linked to EU legislation. Although compliance with these standards is not mandatory, organizations that can demonstrate that they do comply with a harmonized standard benefit from a “presumption of conformity” with that legislation. Under the EAA, the Commission has appointed European standardization bodies to prepare a set of harmonized standards that will accompany the law (Article 15). One of those standards is EN 301 549, a well-known, European accessibility standard, which articulates a set of highly detailed, technical accessibility requirements for IT products and services (i.e., covering both hardware and software). This standard also incorporates the international accessibility standard for websites, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). The Commission determined that EN 301 549 should be updated to bring it into alignment with the requirements of the EAA, rather than drafting a new standard from scratch. This is helpful, given that many organizations have already adopted EN 301 549 as their standard for achieving accessible products and services. This standard is currently in the process of being revised and is due to be adopted by September 2025. Even if an organization covered by the EAA cannot or chooses not to fully comply with this standard, it is a useful guide for identifying the technical requirements for achieving accessibility of products and services covered by the legislation.

The Covington team closely monitors developments relating to accessibility legislation in the EU, the U.S, and beyond. We regularly advise the world’s top technology companies on compliance with accessibility rules. If you have questions, we are happy to assist with any queries.