EU Accessibility Act Requirements

Annex I requires that information, user interfaces, and supporting features be accessible so disabled users can perceive, operate, understand, and benefit from the offering. For products, that can reach the product itself, packaging information, instructions, and interfaces. For services, it reaches the information about the service and the digital channels through which the service is delivered.

The local grounding pack also shows that specific categories receive more detailed functional requirements. For example, e-readers are expected to provide text to speech technology, communications services require alternatives to voice only interaction and synchronised emergency communications features where applicable, and media access services must preserve accessibility components such as subtitles and audio description.

Product roles create specific legal duties. Manufacturers need technical documentation under Annex IV, conformity assessment, and an EU declaration of conformity, which then supports the product being placed on the market. Importers must verify the manufacturer has done that work and keep a copy of the declaration for five years while ensuring the technical documentation can be made available. Distributors must not make products available when they know or have reason to believe they are not compliant.

Services do not follow the same declaration workflow, but they still need a disciplined evidence pack. That pack should show scope, requirements, standards used, tests run, barriers identified, remediations completed, any exceptions relied on, and the owner responsible for keeping the record current.