Clarius.LegalNewsroom
- 02.12.24
- Reading time: 4 Minuten
Single market and accessibility:The new Accessibility Improvement Act (BFSG) makes manufacturers and retailers more accountable
The new BFSG comes into force in Germany on June 28, 2025. The national legislator is thus transposing Directive (EU) 2019/882 into national law. The aim of the directive is to regulate uniform standards in the B2C sector regarding the accessibility of services and products. Companies that offer consumer products and services in the IT and telecommunications sectors should therefore use the remaining time to check the conformity of their offering.
Who does the BFSG apply to?
The law applies to manufacturers, distributors and importers of products and services in the information and telecommunications sectors that are placed on the market or provided after May 28, 2024.
In particular, this concerns products (Section 1 (2) BFSG) such as
Hardware systems for universal computers for consumers including the operating system
Self-service terminals such as payment terminals, ATMs, ticket machines, check-in machines, self-service terminals
Smartphones and similar
E-book reader
and the following services (Section 1 (3) BFSG):
Telecommunications services, with the exception of machine-to-machine communication
Services in connection with passenger transportation (websites, apps, electronic tickets or other management of travel information)
Banking services
Provision of e-books
Services in electronic commerce
For micro-enterprises (§ 2 No. 17: fewer than 10 employees and a maximum annual turnover of two million euros) that offer services (!), special guidelines apply in accordance with § 3 III BFSG, which are drawn up by the BMAS.
What are the accessibility requirements?
Products and services are barrier-free if they can be found, accessed and used by people with disabilities in the generally accepted manner, without particular difficulty and generally without outside assistance (Section 3 (1) sentence 2 BFSG). What exactly this means is set out in particular in the Ordinance on the Barrier-Free Accessibility Reinforcement Act (BFSGV) issued at the same time. Section 4 BFSG also refers to “harmonized standards”. The “Accessibility requirements for ICT products and services” (EN 301 549) should be particularly relevant here. With regard to websites, EN 301 549 in turn refers to the “Web Content Accessibility Guidelines” (WCAG) of the standardization organization “W3C”
Both the output and input of digital services or products must serve as many different sensory channels as possible, be adaptable to them and be accessible to as broad a user base as possible.
The requirements for products (§§ 4, 6 BFSGV) relate to the information provided on the product as well as its operation, packaging and instructions.
Examples are
Information about the product must be provided via more than one sensory channel (e.g. text read aloud)
be presented in an understandable way
offer an appropriately large font
contain a description of the user interfaces of the product, such as handling, control and feedback, input and output
In addition, the control system must provide alternatives to vocal input, for example
when using audio or visual elements, allow adjustment of the volume, size or color of the display
Further requirements also apply to the product packaging or instructions in accordance with § 5 BFSGV
Sections 13 et seq. BFSGV also regulate the accessibility requirements for services to consumers. Telecommunications services (Section 14), passenger transport services (Section 15), banking services (Section 16), services in connection with e-books (Section 18) or in electronic commerce (Section 19) are expressly regulated here.
The regulations are comparable to the product regulations listed above as examples. Here too, attention must be paid to sensory capabilities, but also, for example, to particular user-friendliness, such as for people of advanced age or with cognitive impairments.
What are the requirements for the EU Declaration of Conformity and CE marking?
As part of the conformity assessment procedure in accordance with § 18 in conjunction with. Annex 2 BFSG, the manufacturer must maintain technical documentation on conformity with the above-mentioned requirements in accordance with the BFSGV. In addition to a general description of the product, a list of the harmonized standards and technical specifications and their references in the Official Journal of the European Union must also be provided, as well as the respective solutions with which the BFSGV was complied with.
According to § 19 i.V.m. Annex 2 BFSG, the manufacturer affixes a CE marking to confirm conformity.
How is the BFSG monitored/enforced?
Market surveillance authorities are to serve as monitoring and reporting bodies at state level (Sections 20 ff. BFSG). Violations may result in fines or, for example, the order to withdraw or recall a product. In addition, non-compliance may also result in claims under competition law from competitors and associations.
Conclusion: companies must act now
In principle, the European legislator has met its objective of regulating legal certainty by harmonizing requirements for the accessibility of products. However, this does not mean that the extensive requirements, which are spread across a wide variety of legal sources, are easy for companies to understand and implement.
CLARIUS.LEGAL has many years of experience in the areas of compliance and product safety. We will be happy to assist you in adapting your products and services to all requirements by June 28, 2025.
