Goods and services must be easier to use for disabled and elderly persons
Key products and services, like smartphones, ATMs, ticketing machines and banking services, will have to be made more accessible to people with disabilities.
The European Accessibility Act, to be voted on by Parliament on Wednesday, was provisionally agreed with Council last November. It aims to improve the daily lives of disabled and elderly persons and to encourage businesses to innovate and provide more accessible products and services.
The “built environment” where the service is provided (infrastructure such as ramps, doors, staircases, etc) should also become continuously and progressively more accessible, EU lawmakers said, encouraging member states to align their diverging requirements as much as possible.
All goods and services complying with the accessibility requirements will be able to circulate freely on the internal market.
Around 80 million people in the EU live with a disability to some degree, a number that is expected to increase due to an ageing population.
Procedure: Co-decision, 1st reading agreement
Procedure Code: 2015/0278(COD)
Vote: Wednesday, 13 March