Annex I, accessibility requirements for products and services
Annex I Section III: General service duties
Services must use accessible products, explain themselves through more than one channel, run accessible websites and apps, and offer accessible support where available.
- Citation
- Annex I, Section III, CELEX 32019L0882 (Directive)
- Binds
- All services in Article 2(2), including those that also meet Section IV.
- In the instrument
- Annex I, accessibility requirements for products and services
- Applies from
- 28 June 2025 for products placed and services provided from that date (Article 31(2)). The Article 4(8) 112 duty may be deferred to 28 June 2027 where a member state uses Article 31(3).
- Source
- EUR-Lex, CELEX 32019L0882
What it requires
Section III sets the baseline for every service. Point (a) requires the products used in providing the service to be accessible in line with Section I and, where applicable, Section II. A service cannot outsource its duty to an inaccessible terminal or app it chooses to use.
Point (b) requires information about how the service works, its link to the products used, their accessibility characteristics and their interoperability with assistive devices and facilities. The information must be available through more than one sensory channel, understandable and perceivable, in text formats that generate alternative formats, in adequate fonts with sufficient contrast and adjustable spacing, with alternatives for non-text content, and the electronic information needed to use the service must be consistent, adequate, perceivable, operable, understandable and robust.
Point (c) applies the same four qualities to websites and related online applications and to mobile device-based services and apps. Point (d) requires support services, where available, to tell people about the service's accessibility and how it works with assistive technology, using channels they can use.
In practice
Map the service as a journey with the products on it. A booking service may use a website, a payment page, a confirmation email, a mobile ticket and a station terminal. Each is a product or an electronic information channel, and each has to meet its clause. The journey map is the scope statement for the audit.
What to do
- Audit the products the service depends on, including terminals and apps supplied by others.
- Publish service information through more than one sensory channel.
- Make the website and app perceivable, operable, understandable and robust.
- Offer accessibility and compatibility information through support channels.
- Keep electronic information consistent across web, app and assisted channels.
Evidence to keep
- A service journey map with the accessibility of each product in the chain.
- The published service information and its alternative formats.
- WCAG 2.2 AA audit results for the website and app.
- Support scripts and the accessible channels tested.
Dates
- 2025-06-28Section III applies to services provided from this date, except urban, suburban and regional transport. (Article 4(3))
Cross-references
Where teams get this wrong
Point (a) is the clause that catches a service using a third-party kiosk, payment page or booking engine. The supplier's product has to be accessible, or the service does not meet Section III.
Read from the Official Journal text of Directive (EU) 2019/882, OJ L 151/70, 7 June 2019, Annex I, Section III. Check it yourself: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32019L0882. This page states the provision in our own words and is not legal advice; it does not certify any product or service.