A11yCookies: Episode 2 - European Accessibility Act (EAA)

Susanna: Well the accessibility Act is a law so standards are voluntary and laws are not voluntary they are obligatory so it's a big difference between a law and a standard okay so what is the European accessibility act exactly well exactly that takes more time than we have uh now I think but the ACT is a law so it's a very ambitious law affecting not only EU member states but also all economic operators that produce import or sell certain products and services into the EU.

Shilpi: So it actually affects the the whole world wow and if I was to follow this law what are the dates that matter that I should remember?

Susanna: Well the dates that matter are the 28th of June 2025 that's the, I think the only date that really matters because that is when the legislation enters into force and then there are some transposition measures as well but really it's 28th of June next year and that is when the the law enters into Force. So that is your kind of the cut of date when everything should be accessible. We just wake up on the 29th and everything is fixed that's beautiful one year from now.

Shilpi: One year 10 days and we will wake up to that morning wow I am going to wait to see this happen and I'm sure you are so yeah. So what does this cover web mobile or more?

Susanna: Well the accessibility act covers computers smartphones self-service terminals, ebooks, e-commerce, consumer banking services, emergency communications and many other things so all of this if they have a website or a mobile app that is also included and of course documentation support services around these products and services so it's a lot more than just web and mobile apps.

Shilpi: Very different from the rest of the world I would say when we think about it holistically and what all it's covering for us and you talked about you know products and services.  So what products and services are covered?

Susanna: Well so a product is typically something you can physically hold on to like a smartphone so that is covered Hardware computers all of those things and also self-service terminals, for example so those are all products and the services are like the emergency communication, the e-banking services, the e-commerce, the e-readers and ebooks all of that is kind of you can discuss if it's a product or a service but they are both covered.  Both the content and the actual reader so all these products and services are covered and sometimes you need a service like the e-commerce service to buy a product which is the smartphone and then you have an app in the smartphone that could be either a service or a product. So it's a little bit blurred the limitations between the two but I think with calling it both products and services it kind of covers or should be covering most thing that have to do with for example consumer banking so it doesn't really matter if it's a hardware or software part but if you need this thing to do your bank to handle payments and so on then then it's covered again.

Shilpi: Again a very different perspective from the way the rest of the world looks at it. I've seen so many people tell me that they only have a product and the service aspect of it is not their responsibility and I see that's what you're talking about out here - amazing.

Susanna: This is more holistic really so it's quite clever but it also makes it complex of course to understand

Shilpi: So another complexity the difference between EAA web accessibility directive and EN 301 549 for the Common Man?

Susanna: Well there're really two different things apples and pears that you're comparing so the Accessibility Act and the Web accessibility directive are different laws they're completely different laws with the EU and the EN 301 549 that is a standard. So we already talked about what the ACT is and the web accessibility covers public sector bodies and bodies governed by public law that means kind of the Gray Zone around the public sector that is funded by and managed by the government um but the accessibility act doesn't really then it doesn't matter the legal status you could be a not for-profit or a commercial or a public doesn't matter it's just the actual product and service needs to be in scope for you to be in scope of the law so they are kind of put together in in different ways you could say they differ from each other. The EN 301 549 that's that's my baby it's a standard a harmonized standard that is supporting the minimum requirements. So you can you can read in the law who is covered by the law and what is covered and then you turn to the standard to get support on how to actually achieve accessibility. So it's technical specifications if you will it's a very long document but it's supposed to support companies and organizations that want to comply with the legislation.

Shilpi: And is EAA going to be enforced and how?

Susanna: It's going to be enforced definitely so each member state has sector specific surveillance authorities that will monitor compliance and also handle complaints and the member states always also have the possibility to hand out fines and even take products off market if they refuse to meet the obligations. So products also need to have the CE marking but Services just need to comply with their I mean the product the service itself and also the documentation and the support services need to comply.

Shilpi: Interesting. So now if I have a mobile a travel mobile app that sells airline tickets and that is in the market already but I'm going to be updating this mobile app and releasing it on the 1st of August 2002 do I need to comply with EAA?

Susanna: Well there is never a reason not to comply so of course you should but the ACT applies from the 28th of June 2025 and your question becomes a bit tricky because an app could potentially be considered a product or a service or both and the update could be kind of changing the whole thing or just be a small add-on to you know you moving a comma or something so it really depends. But but if you have a running contract with say an airline Services then that and you have signed that contract before the law entered into Force then you can stay on that contract you continue to use that service for another five years so that may be applicable in this situation but if you are an independent travel app provider then you are in scope of the legislation and you can't kind of have a contract with yourself so then you have to comply directly so you have kind of chosen a French or a borderline question here but yeah that's how it works.

Shilpi: As a last question to you EAA does it make you hopeful or disheartened?

Susanna: That's a good question actually both because I have never been convinced that legislation is really the right way to achieve achieve accessibility improvements many people disagree with me on that but here I am spending most of my working days Consulting about this legislation and this has been the case since since the web accessibility directive came out in 2018. So the good thing is of course that legislation kind of pushes accessibility into the agenda so people talk about it and are aware that's very good but what I see the negative part is that with a law people tend to focus more on do I really have to do this what do I have to do I mean what's the minimum that I can I dodge this some way and and really instead of how can I make my product or service better for as many people as possible which I think is the right way to think about accessibility. But the law has something very beautiful in it and that it says in the accessibility act that that the objective is to maximize the foreseeable use of these products and services and that is to me very beautiful way to to talk about accessibility to maximize the foreseeable use.

Shilpi: Well Suzanna I think you've left me inspired and you want me to do more and I think you will leave everybody else to do more with this so I think we're also hopeful with you but also somewhere disheartened and we will all work towards this but thank you for doing this and I hope to bring you back to to give us a more detailed answer one day because I know the Susanna and you is the more in-depth one than let's touch it on the surface. But thank you so much.

Susanna: Thank you much Shilpi, thank you thanks!