The EU and UK legal framework at a glance

There is not (yet) a uniform approach to the governance of digitally accessible products and services globally. Instead, the current state of play for the EU and UK is as follows:

• All EU Member States and the UK are signatories to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention is the first international, legally binding instrument setting minimum standards for the rights of people with disabilities. It broadly categorizes the term “persons with disabilities” and reaffirms that all persons with all types of disabilities have a right to enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms. In addition, it identifies areas where adaptations must be made for persons with disabilities to allow them to effectively exercise their rights.

• The EU has gone on to develop some fairly articulate and progressive legal frameworks in this respect, with specific laws that introduce some form of digital accessibility governance. These currently include:

  • The Web Accessibility Directive ("WAD"): which aims to provide people with disabilities with better access to the websites and mobile applications of public services. To do so, the WAD, which has been retained as UK law, introduces a duty for public sector bodies to make their websites and apps accessible by reference to specific standards, notably harmonised standard “EN 301 549 V3.2.1 (2021-03) Accessibility requirements for ICT products and services”, which is in line with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines: WCAG 2.1.
  • And most crucially, the European Accessibility Act ("EAA"): which was introduced in April 2019 to harmonise legislation and sets new EU-wide minimum accessibility requirements for certain products and services. The EAA, which is in the process of being implemented by all EU Member States but, as a result of Brexit, has not been adopted in the UK, focuses specifically on enhancing the accessibility of digital products and services for people with disabilities or other functional limitations, such as the elderly.

• On the other hand, the UK has, to date, generally taken a more “light touch” approach, focusing instead on industry self-regulation.

What’s next?

With the introduction of the EAA, which enters into force on 28 June 2025 and is applicable to both public and private entities supplying in-scope products and services in the EU, the EU legislature has sent the following clear messages to economic operators that manufacture digital products or provide digital services for the EU market:

• The starting point must be accessible design. Thinking about accessibility from the outset is something that is a clear expectation under the EAA. This is shown by the introduction of specific ‘accessibility requirements’ that must be met prior to an in-scope product or service being placed or made available on the EU market.

• Accessibility is considered in the same way as safety. Economic operators must ensure their digital products and services comply with the EAA’s accessibility requirements, have adequate procedures in place to ensure conformity, and in case of non-conformity, take the necessary corrective measures to bring the product or service into conformity as well as make the relevant reports to the competent national authorities.

• Digital accessibility isn’t a “one time check”. Economic operators must ensure their digital products and services remain in conformity with the EAA, thus implementing adequate procedures to monitor product manufacturing and service delivery processes, as well as market developments (e.g. changes in legislation, harmonized standards etc.) and customer complaints, so as to ensure ongoing compliance with applicable accessibility requirements.

For the UK, while the EAA is not applicable as it was enacted after Brexit, this does not mean that digital accessibility can simply be ignored. This is because the UK does have legislation that is wide enough to be interpreted as introducing accessibility requirements for digital products and services, including the Equality Act 2010, which requires service providers to make “reasonable adjustments” for people with disabilities, both online and offline.

Economic operators of digital products and services being provided on the EU and UK markets should therefore be alive to the fact that digital accessibility requirements are on the rise – with digital accessibility no longer a “nice to have” – but now a non-negotiable endgame destination.

The Hogan Lovells Digital Accessibility Team comprises a group of highly experienced global lawyers with an in-depth understanding of global digital accessibility requirements, trends and regulatory landscapes. We have a long history of advising leading players of the digital economy on a wide range of issues, from monitoring legislative processes to responsible lobbying, and continue to actively monitor developments in the sphere of digital accessibility in the EU, UK and beyond. We encourage businesses to keep an eye out for our future updates, and to get in touch with any questions they may have.