European Accessibility Act: final steps before national transposition

On 13 March 2019, the European Parliament adopted the European Accessibility Act almost closing the long process of the adaption of this key directive. It is now up to the Council to make the final step before the publication of the text in the Official Journal of the European Union. From there on, the countdown for the transposition at national level will start. The EU Member States will have the three years of time to translate this new piece of legislation into their own national legal framework.

Despite improvement, gaps in scope remain

The Directive will improve the accessibility of a set of products and services for persons with disabilities, including older persons, such as computers, smartphones, tablets, TV sets, banking ATM and services, payment terminals, ticketing machines, but also the 112-emergency number. Unfortunately, the Act still fail to provide with full accessibility to buildings and transport, but also to household appliances (such as washing machines or microwaves). This means that millions of persons with disabilities will still face daily difficulties to use these appliances and live in their own homes.

AGE will continue to work in close relationship with the European Disability Forum (EDF) and ANEC, the voice of consumers in standardisation, to monitor the implementation of the Act.

For more information:

• AGE work on Accessibility
• European Commission website on the EAA