Chapter X, accessibility requirements in other Union acts
Article 24: Accessibility under other Union acts
Annex I becomes a mandatory accessibility requirement in public procurement, and complying features are presumed to meet accessibility obligations in other Union acts.
- Citation
- Article 24, CELEX 32019L0882 (Directive)
- Binds
- Public buyers and any operator whose product or service is bought under the public procurement directives.
- In the instrument
- Chapter X, accessibility requirements in other Union acts
- 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
Paragraph 1 turns Annex I into mandatory accessibility requirements for the purposes of Article 42(1) of Directive 2014/24/EU and Article 60(1) of Directive 2014/25/EU. A public buyer that procures an in-scope product or service therefore has a legal basis, and a duty in those regimes, to specify the Annex I requirements.
Paragraph 2 gives a wider presumption. Where the features, elements or functions of a product or service comply with Annex I in accordance with Section VI, they are presumed to meet the relevant accessibility obligations in other Union acts for the feature in question, unless the other act says otherwise. Section VI connects specific Annex I requirements to the features being procured or regulated.
For a supplier, the article is a route into public tenders and a way to reuse one accessibility file across several legal regimes. For a buyer, it converts an accessibility policy into a specification that can be evaluated.
In practice
In a tender, translate the Annex I section into evaluation questions. For a product, ask for the technical file and the assistive-device test list. For a service, ask for the Annex V information and the WCAG audit. That turns an accessibility claim into evidence a buyer can score, and it uses the article the way it was written.
What to do
- Cite Annex I in accessibility specifications and evaluation criteria.
- Map each tender requirement to the Annex I section that supports it.
- Use the Section VI route where another Union act imposes an accessibility obligation.
- Keep the conformity evidence that supports the tender claim.
Evidence to keep
- The procurement specification with Annex I citations.
- The tender response and the conformity file behind it.
- The Section VI mapping where another Union act is relied on.
Dates
- 2025-06-28Annex I operates as the mandatory requirement set as the measures apply. (Article 31(2))
Cross-references
Where teams get this wrong
A tender that asks for an accessibility policy statement, rather than the Annex I requirements, does not use the article. The requirement set is the specification, not a promise to improve.
Read from the Official Journal text of Directive (EU) 2019/882, OJ L 151/70, 7 June 2019, Article 24. 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.