Scope

The Directive imposes obligations on manufacturers, importers, distributors and suppliers of general consumer hardware systems and their associated operating systems, certain self-service terminals, banking services, electronic communication services, services providing access to audiovisual media services, e-commerce services, and e-books with accompanying software.

Relevance

The Directive will impact the value chain of the aforementioned goods and services, which includes a wide range of stakeholders. These include manufacturers and providers of e-communication services, e-commerce, and audiovisual media services. We can assist in assessing how the Directive will affect your business. The Norwegian implementation is expected to be done through the Act relating to equality and a prohibition against discrimination, or a new act or regulation.  

Key obligations

Products and services in scope must meet the accessibility requirements outlined in an annex to the Directive, which include aspects such as packaging labelling, functionality, and support services. However, these are only overarching requirements, and it is the responsibility of member states to define the specific technical requirements.

More specifically, the Directive will impact providers of websites and applications by having to enable audio assisted interfaces for visually impaired users, and physical products must avoid modes of operation requiring extensive reach and great strength. Additional requirements apply for specific services such as consumer banking and e-commerce services, which i.e. are required to provide consumers with perceivable, operable, understandable and robust identification methods and electronic signatures.