Another important statement related to the websites

  • (21) Accessibility requirements should be introduced in the manner that is least burdensome for the economic operators and the Member States.
  • (33) This Directive should also cover websites, mobile device-based services including mobile applications developed or made available by operators of passenger transport services within the scope of this Directive or on their behalf, electronic ticketing services, electronic tickets and interactive self-service terminals.
  • (34|) The e-commerce services accessibility obligations of this Directive should apply to the online sale of any product or service and should therefore also apply to the sale of a product or service covered in its own right under this Directive.
  • (47) The four principles of accessibility of websites and mobile applications, as used in Directive (EU) 2016/2102, are: perceivability, meaning that information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive; operability, meaning that user interface components and navigation must be operable; understandability, meaning that information and the operation of the user interface must be understandable; and robustness, meaning that content must be robust enough to be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies. Those principles are also relevant for this Directive.
  • (50) Accessibility should be achieved by the systematic removal and prevention of barriers, preferably through a universal design or ‘design for all’ approach, which contributes to ensuring access for persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others. According to the UN CRPD, that approach ‘means the design of products, environments, programmes and services to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design’. In line with the UN CRPD, ’‘universal design’ shall not exclude assistive devices for particular groups of persons with disabilities where this is needed’. Furthermore, accessibility should not exclude the provision of reasonable accommodation when required by Union law or national law. Accessibility and universal design should be interpreted in line with General Comment No 2(2014) – Article 9: Accessibility as written by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Article 13, 1. 1.   Service providers shall ensure that they design and provide services in accordance with the accessibility requirements of this Directive.

Annex 1, Section III
General accessibility requirements related to all services covered by this Directive in accordance with Article 2(2)

The provision of services in order to maximise their foreseeable use by persons with disabilities, shall be achieved by:

  • ensuring the accessibility of the products used in the provision of the service, in accordance with Section I of this Annex and, where applicable, Section II thereof;
  • providing information about the functioning of the service, and where products are used in the provision of the service, its link to these products as well as information about their accessibility characteristics and interoperability with assistive devices and facilities:
    • making the information available via more than one sensory channel;
    • presenting the information in an understandable way;
    • presenting the information to users in ways they can perceive;
    • making the information content available in text formats that can be used to generate alternative assistive formats to be presented in different ways by the users and via more than one sensory channel;
    • presenting in fonts of adequate size and suitable shape, taking into account foreseeable conditions of use and using sufficient contrast, as well as adjustable spacing between letters, lines and paragraphs;
    • supplementing any non-textual content with an alternative presentation of that content; and
    • providing electronic information needed in the provision of the service in a consistent and adequate way by making it perceivable, operable, understandable and robust;
  • making websites, including the related online applications, and mobile device-based services, including mobile applications, accessible in a consistent and adequate way by making them perceivable, operable, understandable and robust;
  • where available, support services (help desks, call centres, technical support, relay services and training services) providing information on the accessibility of the service and its compatibility with assistive technologies, in accessible modes of communication.

Section IV. Additional accessibility requirements related to specific services

The provision of services in order to maximise their foreseeable use by persons with disabilities, shall be achieved by including functions, practices, policies and procedures and alterations in the operation of the service targeted to address the needs of persons with disabilities and ensure interoperability with assistive technologies:

g. E-Commerce services:

  • (I) providing the information concerning accessibility of the products and services being sold when this information is provided by the responsible economic operator;
  • (ii) ensuring the accessibility of the functionality for identification, security and payment when delivered as part of a service instead of a product by making it perceivable, operable, understandable and robust;
  • (iii) providing identification methods, electronic signatures, and payment services which are perceivable, operable, understandable and robust.