European Accessibility Act Exemptions

The microenterprise exemption

Article 4(5) of the Directive states that "microenterprises providing services shall be exempt from complying with the accessibility requirements" and from "any obligations relating to the compliance with those requirements". It is a full exemption for the services concerned, not a lighter version of the rules, and nothing has to be filed to claim it.

Article 3 defines a microenterprise as an enterprise that:

• employs fewer than 10 persons, and
• has an annual turnover not exceeding €2 million, or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding €2 million.

Keep the evidence to hand: headcount, turnover and balance sheet are the facts an authority would ask for.

What it does not cover

• Products. The exemption is for microenterprises providing services. A microenterprise that places a covered product on the market still has to make it accessible.
• National variations. Transposition can differ. Belgium, for example, treats banking and e-commerce microenterprises with a delayed scope rather than the Directive's flat exemption; the Belgium page has the detail. Check yourcountry page before relying on the EU text alone.
• Growth. The thresholds describe the business as it is. A business that crosses them is no longer a microenterprise.

Source: Directive (EU) 2019/882, Articles 3 and 4(5).

Fundamental alteration and disproportionate burden

Article 14 applies the accessibility requirements only to the extent that compliance does not require a significant change resulting in the fundamental alteration of a product or service's basic nature, and does not impose a disproportionate burden on the economic operator. It is open to a business of any size. It is also much narrower than it sounds.

It applies requirement by requirement

It does not take a business out of the EAA. It lets a business show that one specific requirement, for one specific product or service, would fundamentally alter it or impose a disproportionate burden. Everything else still applies.

It has to be assessed against fixed criteria

The economic operator must carry out an assessment, and a disproportionate burden has to be based on the criteria in Annex VI:

1. The ratio of the net costs of compliance to the operator'soverall costs, operating and capital expenditure, of making the product or providing the service. Costs include one-off organisational costs, such as staff with accessibility expertise, training and process development, and ongoing costs of design, production, testing and documentation.
2. The estimated costs and benefits for the operator, in relation to theestimated benefit for persons with disabilities, taking into account how often and how long the product or service is used.
3. The ratio of the net costs of compliance to the operator'snet turnover.

What does not count is written down too. Recital 66 of the Directive states that"lack of priority, time or knowledge should not be considered to be legitimate reasons."

It has to be documented, kept and handed over

Article 14(3) requires the assessment to be documented, with the results kept forfive years from the last time the product was made available or the service provided, and a copy handed to the authority on request.

It has to be notified

Under Article 14(8), an operator relying on it for a specific product or service must inform the relevant market surveillance or service-compliance authority of each member statewhere the product is placed on the market or the service is provided. Microenterprises are exempt from that notification.

It has to be renewed

Service providers relying on disproportionate burden must renew the assessment for each category or type of service when the service is altered, when the authority asks, andin any event at least every five years (Article 14(5)).

Funding removes it

Under Article 14(6), an operator that receives funding from other than its own resources, public or private, provided for improving accessibility, cannot rely on disproportionate burden at all.

Microenterprises selling products get lighter paperwork

Article 14(4) exempts microenterprises dealing with products from the requirement to document their assessment. The requirement to make the product accessible, or to assess whether a burden applies, does not go away.

Source: Directive (EU) 2019/882, Article 14, Annex VI and Recital 66.

Which route could apply to you

Fewer than 10 staff, turnover or balance sheet up to €2 million, providing a service

Very likely exempt from the requirements for that service under Article 4(5). Check your country page for national variations.

Same size, but you place a covered product on the market

Not exempt for the product. You may rely on Article 14 for a specific requirement, and you do not have to document that assessment.

Above the thresholds

No automatic exemption. Article 14 is available for specific requirements only, with a documented assessment against Annex VI, notification to each member state concerned, and renewal at least every five years for services.

You received funding to improve accessibility

The disproportionate burden ground is not available to you.