Chapter I, general provisions
Article 1: Subject matter
The Directive brings national accessibility rules for named products and services closer together so that divergent rules stop fragmenting the internal market.
- Citation
- Article 1, CELEX 32019L0882 (Directive)
- Binds
- Member States, as the frame for the national laws that bind economic operators.
- In the instrument
- Chapter I, general provisions
- 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
Article 1 states the instrument's purpose rather than a duty on a business. It aims at the smooth working of the internal market by bringing member state laws on accessibility requirements for listed products and services closer together.
The mechanism is negative and positive at once: remove barriers to free movement that arise because each country sets a different accessibility rule, and prevent new ones from appearing. The expected result is more accessible products and services on sale and better accessibility of the information that goes with them.
For a compliance team the article explains why a single European rule exists and why a national rule that adds requirements is constrained by Articles 5 and 6. It does not create a registration, a filing or a label.
In practice
In practice the article is useful in one narrow way. When a national authority or a customer demands a feature that neither Annex I nor the national measure names, the internal-market purpose is the argument that the demand lacks a legal base. It is a framing argument, not a compliance answer, and it should never be used to postpone work on a requirement that does exist.
What to do
- Read Articles 2 to 4 to find the actual duty; Article 1 creates none.
- Use the article when a supplier argues that a national accessibility rule is purely local.
- Treat the internal-market purpose as context, not as a defence against a duty that applies.
Evidence to keep
- No operator evidence arises from this article on its own.
- Keep it in the file as the stated purpose behind the national transposition you are applying.
Dates
- 2019-06-07Published in the Official Journal, L 151/70. (OJ masthead)
- 2019-06-27Entered into force, twenty days after publication. (Article 33)
Cross-references
Where teams get this wrong
A team sometimes reads Article 1 as a soft statement and then treats the whole instrument as optional. The purpose is not a duty, but the duties in Chapter III are, and they come from the same instrument.
Read from the Official Journal text of Directive (EU) 2019/882, OJ L 151/70, 7 June 2019, Article 1. 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.