An introduction to the European Accessibility Act (EAA), April 2024
Sophie Stevens | 20 May 2024In April's IAAP Network and Learn session we were joined by Susanna Laurin, Chair at Funka Foundation and IAAP Representative to the EU, who answered questions about the European ACcesibility Act, which comes into force in June 2025.
Read our post about the European Accessibility Act
The European Accessibility Act is "a very ambitious legislation at EU level but it's a directive which means that there is a difference between regulations and directives in the EU. Regulations are like GDPR which means that the EU decides on a regulation and then that goes on all member states directly and everyone needs to do exactly the same. All the accessibility laws that we have in the EU are directives. Directives are another way of law making and the directive leaves more room for flexibility and for interpretation for the member states," Susanna commented.
"The EU can decide on a minimum, the member states cannot go under and they need to do what the minimum requires, but if they want to do more then they're welcome to do more."
Watch the full session in the video below:
Some of the key questions that were asked during the event and subsequently answered by Susanna are listed below. The full list of questions are included as a downloadable document at the end of this blog post:
If you can recommend one thing to go and read to get good understanding of it, what would it be?
"The European Disability Forum has created a toolkit for their members that is quite easy to digest: https://www.edf-feph.org/publications/eaa-toolkit/
How will this be enforced, policed, and monitored, how is the EU going to raise awareness of accessibility?
Enforcement and surveillance are done at member state level, by each sector in scope. The strength of the directive is that the requirements will become part of other sector-specific requirements, including control mechanisms already in place.
Products that do not fulfil the requirements can be taken off market if they do not remediate within a reasonable time. That is quite a strong stick.
Penalties will be decided and enfoced at at Member State-level, so it may take time, but the directive will for sure make a difference in the end.
My impression (not scientifically proven) is that commercial actors in scope of the EAA are generally much more aware than the public sector bodies were a year before WAD entered into force."
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The IAAP is the international Association of ACcessibility Professionals - a fast-growing global body that accredits and connects everyone in the accessibility profession. The UK Chapter of IAAP hosts regular sessions in partnership with the India Chapter, which provide a chance to meet other professinals to discuss current accessibility issues.
The sessions are open to non-members and as well as the networking opportunity they are great for anyone who is thinking of becoming a member.