Rights

European Accessibility Act: Your Rights to Accessible Products and Services

What the European Accessibility Act requires from phones, computers, ATMs, banking, e-commerce, e-books, transport information and emergency communications, plus how to report a barrier.

By the Federal Europa editorial team Reviewed 2026-10-10

On this page

What changed on 28 June 2025
Products and services inside the Act
What accessible design must achieve
E-commerce, banking, transport and 112
The 2025, 2030 and 2045 transition
Microenterprises and documented limitations
How to record and report an accessibility barrier
National enforcement and neighbouring laws
A portable European baseline—and the next test
Sources and review

What changed on 28 June 2025

The European Accessibility Act turns accessibility from a patchwork of national expectations into a common market rule for selected everyday products and services. Its practical promise is that a person should be able to buy a ticket, operate a payment terminal, use a banking service, read an e-book, shop online or communicate without a preventable interface barrier simply because they crossed an EU border. Since 28 June 2025, national laws applying Directive (EU) 2019/882 have governed the covered products newly placed on the market and the covered services supplied to consumers.

Products and services inside the Act

Start with scope, because the Act is broad but not universal. Covered products include general-purpose consumer computer hardware and operating systems; payment terminals; certain ATMs, ticketing and check-in machines and interactive information terminals; consumer electronic communications equipment such as smartphones; equipment used to access audiovisual media services; and e-readers. A product outside that list does not become covered merely because it contains a screen or app.

Covered services include electronic communications, access to audiovisual media services, specified digital elements of air, bus, rail and water passenger transport, consumer banking, e-books and their software, and e-commerce. Transport coverage focuses heavily on websites, mobile services, electronic tickets, ticketing, travel information and self-service terminals. Existing passenger-rights regulations still govern assistance, rerouting and compensation; accessibility law adds a common design and information layer rather than replacing those mode-specific rights.

What accessible design must achieve

Accessibility is functional, not cosmetic. Information should be available through more than one sensory channel, presented so users can perceive and understand it, and supplied in formats that assistive technologies can use. Websites and mobile applications for covered services must be perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. Products need accessible information, instructions, interfaces and functions, while support services must be able to explain accessibility features and compatibility in accessible forms of communication.

That can mean text alternatives for non-text content, sufficient contrast, resizable and readable text, keyboard operation, clear focus, logical navigation, captions or alternatives for audio, compatibility with screen readers, usable authentication and payment steps, and instructions that do not depend on sight or hearing alone. The directive states outcomes rather than prescribing one identical interface. A company can use standards and technical specifications to demonstrate compliance, but a badge or automated scan is not proof that a real checkout, terminal or call works for users with different disabilities.

E-commerce, banking, transport and 112

E-commerce has a specific place in the law. A covered online shop should make identification, security and payment functions accessible and should pass on information about the accessibility of products and services when the responsible seller or provider supplies it. This sits beside ordinary consumer law. The 14-day withdrawal guide explains cancelling a qualifying distance purchase; the Accessibility Act addresses whether the person could independently understand, authenticate, pay and use the service in the first place.

Consumer banking includes specified services such as credit agreements, investment and payment services, payment accounts and electronic money. A covered bank's website, app and service information should be accessible, and the directive limits the complexity of certain information to a level no higher than B2 in the Council of Europe's language framework. This does not guarantee credit approval or erase anti-money-laundering checks. It requires the service route and information to work without excluding a customer because of avoidable design.

The transport boundary is especially useful. A railway app or airline booking flow can be covered by the Accessibility Act, while station assistance, denied boarding, delay compensation and mobility-equipment claims remain governed by passenger-rights law. The site's flight, rail, coach and ferry guides explain those separate remedies. Record whether the barrier blocked information, purchase, check-in, a terminal or physical assistance, because the competent law and authority can differ.

Emergency access is part of the same European direction. The Act requires answering of communications to the single European emergency number 112 to meet specific accessibility requirements, including synchronised voice, text and, where video is provided, total conversation. The technical and national rollout is not identical everywhere, especially for roaming users and older networks. The 112 Proud Europe feature explains the shared gateway, caller location, real-time text and the boundary between common access and national emergency services.

The 2025, 2030 and 2045 transition

The date needs care. Products placed on the market after 28 June 2025 and covered services supplied after that date are the baseline. Service providers can continue until 28 June 2030 using products they were already lawfully using to provide similar services before the Act applied. Service contracts agreed before 28 June 2025 may continue unchanged until they expire, but no later than five years after that date. Self-service terminals already in lawful use can remain until the end of their economically useful life, subject to a maximum of 20 years after they entered use.

Those transitions explain why an inaccessible old ATM or ticket machine is not automatically proof of a breach, but they are not a licence to freeze every service until 2030 or 2045. New covered products and services have the 2025 baseline; service providers must publish accessible information explaining how a service meets the requirements and maintain compliance while it operates. Ask the provider which product, service, contract and transition it relies on rather than accepting a general statement that the law has not started.

Microenterprises and documented limitations

Microenterprises providing covered services are exempt from the service requirements. The directive defines a microenterprise by staff and financial thresholds, and national law implements the details. Microenterprises dealing in covered products do not receive the same blanket product exemption, although they have lighter documentation duties in specified circumstances. A small-business label therefore does not answer the question by itself; identify whether the complaint concerns a product or a service and check the national transposition.

A provider or manufacturer can also rely on a fundamental-alteration or disproportionate-burden limitation, but it is not a casual excuse. The operator must assess the relevant criteria, document the conclusion and normally retain the evidence for five years. Lack of time, knowledge or priority is not the legal test. Where public or private funding is supplied specifically to improve accessibility, the directive restricts reliance on financial disproportion. A limitation should be tied to the precise requirement, not used to declare an entire service exempt.

How to record and report an accessibility barrier

If you encounter a barrier, first create a reproducible record. Note the product or service, model or URL, seller or provider, country, date, device, browser, assistive technology and the exact task that failed. Capture the label, screen, error, focus order or missing alternative without exposing passwords or sensitive information. State the outcome you need: an accessible document, a working authentication route, assistance to complete a purchase, correction of a terminal or a refund where the service could not be used.

Send the provider a focused accessibility report and ask for its accessibility information, a temporary accessible route and a correction timetable. For a product, keep the packaging, declaration or CE information, receipt and seller correspondence. For a service, preserve the applicable terms and the provider's accessibility statement or equivalent information. A customer-support workaround can solve an urgent task, but it does not necessarily cure a continuing compliance problem for other users.

National enforcement and neighbouring laws

Enforcement is national. Member states must designate market-surveillance bodies for products and authorities that check services, follow up complaints and verify corrective action. They must also provide procedures through which consumers, public bodies, private associations or other organisations with a legitimate interest can act under national law. Find the authority named by the country where the product was marketed or the service supplied; consumer-protection, equality, communications, financial or transport bodies may share the map.

Do not confuse this Act with every other accessibility rule. Public-sector websites and mobile apps are primarily covered by Directive (EU) 2016/2102 and national public-sector accessibility procedures. Employment accommodation, buildings, medical devices, broadcast content and discrimination can engage different EU and national laws. The disability parking-card guide concerns recognition and local parking concessions, while the Digital Services Act guide concerns platform decisions, interface manipulation and online redress.

A portable European baseline—and the next test

Europe should judge the Act by usable independence, not by the number of compliance statements published. A common accessibility market can improve daily life for people with visual, hearing, mobility, cognitive, speech and other disabilities, while also helping older people, injured users and anyone facing a difficult interface under stress. The federal achievement is a portable baseline. The next test is consistent national enforcement, accessible standards, affordable assistive technology and participation by disabled people in testing what businesses and authorities claim to have fixed.

Four questions that decide an Accessibility Act case

Scope

Is this product or service on the covered list?

Identify the terminal, device, banking, e-commerce, transport, e-book, media-access or communications function before assuming every interface is governed by the Act.

Date

Was it new after 28 June 2025?

Check when the product entered the market, when the service or contract began and whether a genuine transition for existing equipment applies.

Barrier

Which independent task failed?

Record the precise information, navigation, authentication, payment, communication or assistive-technology failure and the outcome needed.

Route

Provider first, national authority next

Request an accessible route and correction, then use the designated product or service enforcement body when the response does not resolve the barrier.

Accessibility barrier evidence checklist

Name the product or service, seller or provider, country, model or URL and transaction date.
Describe the exact task and the point where sight, hearing, speech, mobility, cognition or assistive technology became a barrier.
Record device, operating system, browser, app version and assistive technology where relevant.
Capture screenshots, labels, focus order, missing alternatives or terminal details without exposing credentials.
Check whether the product entered the market or the service was supplied after 28 June 2025.
Ask the provider for its accessibility information, a usable temporary route and a dated correction plan.
Request the documented basis if it invokes a transition, microenterprise exemption, fundamental alteration or disproportionate burden.
Keep the receipt, contract, packaging, service terms, accessibility statement and every reply.
Identify the member state's designated market-surveillance or service-compliance authority.
Use separate consumer, equality, transport, financial or court routes when the harm also falls under those laws.

Check before you rely on it

Federal Europa keeps this friendly, but official details can depend on your country, route, status, timing, airline, seller, or document situation.

Directive (EU) 2019/882 and the national law applying it in the country concerned.
The provider's accessible information explaining how the covered service meets the requirements.
The product's market date or the service, contract and terminal dates before accepting a transition claim.
The member state's designated market-surveillance or service-compliance authority and complaint procedure.
Sector rules for passenger assistance, banking, communications, public-sector websites, equality and consumer remedies that may apply alongside the Act.
A disability organisation or qualified adviser when the barrier causes urgent, repeated or serious exclusion.

Plain-language FAQ

Questions people usually ask next

When did the European Accessibility Act start applying?

Member states had to apply their national measures from 28 June 2025. Transition rules can protect some pre-existing service contracts, equipment and self-service terminals, so the product's market date and the service history matter.

Does the European Accessibility Act apply to every website?

No. It covers websites and apps used to provide specified consumer services such as e-commerce, banking, electronic communications, e-books, media access and parts of passenger transport. Public-sector sites have a separate EU directive, and other private sites may fall outside the Act while still facing national equality or accessibility law.

Which products are covered by the Accessibility Act?

The list includes consumer computers and operating systems, payment terminals, specified ATMs and ticketing or check-in machines, smartphones and other communications equipment, equipment for accessing audiovisual media services, and e-readers placed on the market after 28 June 2025.

Are small businesses exempt?

Microenterprises providing services are exempt from the Act's service requirements. The same blanket exemption does not apply to covered products, and national law determines how the directive's definitions and procedures operate.

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Sources and review

Federal Europa keeps the friendly voice, but practical facts still need official or reliable sources.