Answers / one question
What counts as a disproportionate burden under Article 14?
It is a documented assessment that compliance with a specific requirement would impose a cost out of proportion to the benefit, judged on the Annex VI criteria. It cannot be claimed if you received funding provided to improve accessibility, and a service assessment must be renewed at least every five years.
The two separate exceptions
Article 14(1) contains two exceptions. The first is a fundamental alteration: compliance would require a significant change that alters the basic nature of the product or service. The second is a disproportionate burden. They are different tests and should be assessed separately, requirement by requirement, because a product can meet some Annex I clauses and rely on an exception for one of them.
The Annex VI method
Annex VI asks for three comparisons. The first is the net cost against the operator's total operating and capital costs for the product or service. The second is what the operator spends and gains against the expected benefit for disabled people, allowing for how many use the thing and how often. The third is the net cost against net turnover. The annex names the one-off organisational costs and the ongoing production and development costs to include.
The funding bar and the renewal cycle
Article 14(6) removes the burden route where the operator receives public or private funding provided to improve accessibility. Article 14(5) requires a service provider relying on the burden route to renew the assessment for each category or type of service when the service is altered, when an authority asks, and at least every five years. Article 14(3) requires the assessment and its results to be kept for five years from the last making available or last provision.
What an authority will look for
Article 19(2) tells a market surveillance authority to check that the assessment was conducted, to review it and the results, and whether the Annex VI criteria were applied correctly, and then to check compliance. A conclusion without the cost build-up, the benefit evidence and the turnover comparison is the usual weak point. Notify the relevant authority where you rely on the exception, unless the microenterprise rule in Article 14(8) applies.
The provisions behind this answer
Check it against the source
Read the provision at EUR-Lex, CELEX 32019L0882. This page states the rule in our own words; the instrument governs. Not legal advice; does not certify.