German Accessibility Strengthening Act: The countdown has started

Germany

From 28 June 2025, many products and services must be designed to be accessible to all. The scope of application of the law ranges from smartphones and notebooks to online shops.

In view of the large number of enquiries we have received, our article on this topic, which we published back in 2021, was in need of an update. We will also be taking a closer look at the specific requirements for products and services in two more blog posts.

The German Accessibility Strengthening Act (BFSG) transposes Directive (EU) 2019/882 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the accessibility requirements for products and services – also known as the European Accessibility Act (EAA for short) – into national law, largely without any changes.

The EAA requires EU Member States to make certain products and services accessible and usable by all in the future. Ultimately, this involves particularly important everyday products and services such as computers, mobile phones, ATMs, ticket machines, email services and online shops, which people with disabilities are often unable to use simply because they are not designed for accessibility.

We will go into the specific requirements for products and services in two later blog posts.

The EU-wide transposition of the EAA into national law is also largely complete outside Germany. This applies not only to the content requirements, but also to the establishment of sanctions and regulatory measures in the event of violations of accessibility requirements. Based on our findings, it is still proving difficult to recruit the appropriate personnel required to monitor the market. Given the demanding content and technical requirements for accessibility, this is not surprising.

German Accessibility Strengthening Act: Transition period until 28 June 2025

With a few exceptions, the German Accessibility Strengthening Act (BFSG) and the corresponding implementing acts in the other EU Member States will apply from 28 June 2025. If they fall within the scope of application, products that are placed on the market after 28 June 2025 or services that are provided after this date must meet the accessibility requirements of the German Accessibility Strengthening Act.

If they do not already, this leaves just a few months to design products and services in such a way that they comply with the new requirements. Our experience shows that significant changes to the products and services are necessary in some cases.

What needs to be designed to be accessible?

The scope of application of the German Accessibility Strengthening Act (BFSG) is almost identical to that of the Directive with regard to the products and services covered. Only services that enable consumers to access audiovisual media services (e.g. video-on-demand services) are not included, as their accessibility is regulated separately in the German Interstate Media Treaty (MStV). Accessible use of the emergency phone number 112 is also not part of the law, as this is regulated in the German Telecommunications Act (TKG), or more specifically in the Technical Directive on Emergency Calls (TR Notruf).

The aim of making products and services that are particularly important for everyday participation in society accessible has led to the inclusion of a large number of products and services in the scope of application. However, the German Accessibility Strengthening Act (BFSG) is limited to consumer products and services for consumers. The only things which are not considered consumer products are payment and self-service terminals. However, they are to be seen in the same context as the consumer services provided through them.

The (consumer) products covered by the German Accessibility Strengthening Act (BFSG) include the following:

  • computers and notebooks
  • tablets
  • smartphones and mobile phones
  • ATMs, ticket machines and check-in machines
  • televisions with internet access
  • e-readers
  • routers

In addition, the German Accessibility Strengthening Act (BFSG) sets accessibility requirements for the following (consumer) services in particular:

  • telephone services
  • messaging services
  • services offered on mobile devices (incl. apps) and ticketing services associated with passenger transport
  • e-books
  • banking services
  • e-commerce services

Computers, smartphones, tablets, etc.

The requirements of the German Accessibility Strengthening Act (BFSG) primarily affect ICT consumer products: hardware systems for universal consumer computers, including their operating systems, must in the future be designed to be accessible, including in particular PCs, desktops, notebooks, smartphones and tablets. Due to the limitation to consumer products, computers built purely for business purposes are generally not covered by the requirements.

In practical terms, this distinction is not always easy to make, as manufacturers often design standardised hardware and do not differentiate between devices for consumers and those for commercial users.

The German Accessibility Strengthening Act (BFSG) expressly applies to any consumer device with an interactive element that is used to access audiovisual media services or telecommunications services. This also includes games consoles, streaming sticks (e.g. Amazon Fire TV Stick), tablets and smartphones as "access" products. As the term "audiovisual media services" includes not only the audiovisual offerings of public and private television broadcasters but also the video-on-demand offerings of streaming services (Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc.), any devices via which such services can be accessed (smart TV, tablet, etc.) are covered.

Online shops

Finally, the provisions on accessibility also have a major impact on all types of e-commerce: The EAA requires the Member States to make all online retail accessible to consumers. For example, the accessibility requirements for e-commerce services apply to the online sale of all products and services and cover services provided via websites or apps with a view to concluding a consumer contract. Only micro-enterprises, i.e. companies with fewer than ten employees and a maximum annual turnover or annual balance sheet total of EUR 2 million, are exempt from this obligation.

Accessibility requirements

The German Accessibility Strengthening Act (BFSG) merely lays down the general principle that the affected products and services must be accessible if they are to be made available or provided on the market. According to the definition in the law, products and services are accessible if they can be found, accessed and used by people with disabilities in the usual way, without particular difficulty and generally without outside help. This means not only that the product or service itself must be accessible, but also that people with disabilities must have access to the necessary information.

In the explanatory memorandum to the law, this general principle is supplemented to the effect that a product or service is categorised as accessible

if information about it is provided using the two-senses principle, the content is presented in an understandable way, in an appropriate font of an appropriate size, in an appropriate contrast, and in a way that users can perceive.

Specifics established by legal ordinance

The specific requirements to be met in order to achieve accessibility are not contained in the German Accessibility Strengthening Act (BFSG) itself, but in the Ordinance to the German Accessibility Strengthening Act (BFSGV), which was issued shortly after.

Apart from the services for accessing audiovisual media services mentioned at the beginning of this article, the ordinance contains the requirements from Annex I of the EAA. Nevertheless, it is worth taking a look at the Ordinance, as it has a more manageable structure compared to Annex I of the EAA and some passages have been worded more clearly.

However, unsurprisingly, the Ordinance is also formulated in such a way that it does not specify exactly how the specific requirements can be met, and instead sets out what the result in terms of accessibility must be. For example, the Ordinance specifies an accessibility requirement (and target) for the products covered (e.g. tablets, smartphones), where communication, operation, information, control and guidance regarding the products must be designed in such a way that they can be used with more than one sensory channel.

How the specific requirements are to be implemented in purely practical and, above all, technical terms will be described in corresponding (technical) standards. Having received instructions from the European Commission, the European standardisation organisations are already working on developing harmonised standards for accessibility requirements. The most important of these is undoubtedly EN 301 549, which specifies the accessibility requirements for information and communication technology and corresponding services. This standard is not scheduled to be published in the Official Journal of the European Union until May 2026, after the German Accessibility Strengthening Act (BFSG) comes into effect. Other usable technical guidelines and specifications are contained, for example, in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

German Accessibility Strengthening Act: Affected companies

The economic operators affected by the accessibility requirements and obligations in the German Accessibility Strengthening Act (BFSG) are manufacturers, distributors and importers of the products covered as well as service providers.

Accordingly, from 28 June 2025, manufacturers may only place their products on the market if they have been designed and manufactured in accordance with the accessibility requirements, their conformity has been demonstrated in a conformity assessment procedure, an EU declaration of conformity has been issued and the CE marking has been affixed.

Unlike the EAA, the German Accessibility Strengthening Act also explicitly provides for an additional, "Germany-specific" feature in that it includes what it dubs the "quasi-manufacturer", i.e. a person who claims to be the manufacturer by placing a product on the market under their own name or brand, and subjects them to the original manufacturer obligations.

Exemptions

For reasons of proportionality and freedom of innovation , the law provides for two exemptions:

  • Firstly, the accessibility requirements only apply to the extent that compliance with them does not necessitate a substantial modification of the product or service that would lead to a fundamental change in the characteristics of the product or service.
  • The accessibility requirements are also only valid to the extent that compliance with them would not lead to a disproportionate burden on the economic operator concerned.

The economic operator concerned must carry out the relevant assessment of these exemptions itself, e.g. as part of the conformity assessment procedure, document it and, if necessary, notify the competent market surveillance authority.

The German Accessibility Strengthening Act (BFSG) deviates from the EAA in this respect and is less strict, as the aforementioned exemptions apply independently of each other and do not have to be cumulative as in the Directive.

Conformity assessment and CE marking

The German Accessibility Strengthening Act (BFSG) also provides for further specifications regarding marking, packaging, operating instructions and warning notices and standardises extensive specifications on where and how information must be provided. Compliance with the requirements of the German Accessibility Strengthening Act (BFSG) is part of the conformity assessment procedure for a product. However, the EU declaration of conformity for the product in question will have to indicate the EAA rather than the German Accessibility Strengthening Act. In addition, products falling within the scope of the German Accessibility Strengthening Act are subject to CE marking.

Sanctions

Violation of the accessibility requirements will be an administrative offence punishable by a fine (of up to EUR 100,000). The federal states are expected to ensure compliance with the requirements through market surveillance. The German Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA) will be responsible for coordination between the federal states and communication with the European Commission and other EU Member States.

The market surveillance authorities check compliance with the provisions of the German Accessibility Strengthening Act (BFSG) and, in the event of violations, can require the respective economic operator to take corrective actions or to restrict or prohibit provision of the product or its supply on the German market.

German Accessibility Strengthening Act gives consumers and associations a new right to take legal action

To ensure effective legal action, the German Accessibility Strengthening Act (BFSG) will provide consumers with several options to enforce their rights: If products or services do not meet accessibility requirements and can therefore only be used to a very limited extent or not at all, consumers can apply to the competent state market surveillance authority to take actions to remedy the violation. If the application is denied, legal recourse to the administrative courts is possible. The German Accessibility Strengthening Act also allows for the option of a representative action. Consumers can seek representation in court from an association or have their rights enforced by the association in their own name (Prozessstandschaft). The German Accessibility Strengthening Act also creates a separate right for associations and qualified organisations to take collective action.

For more information on the German Accessibility Strengthening Act (BFSG) or European Accessibility Act (EAA) and how it could affect your EU-based business, contact your CMS client partner or these CMS experts:

Daniel Hofmann, Franziska Wenzler, Martin Krings, Anna Carla Sommer-Weisel, Florian Dietrich