[co-author: Sheharyar Nawaz]
There are over 80 million people with disabilities in the EU. The European Accessibility Act 2019 (EAA) implements the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities (UNCRPD) and aims at providing greater accessibility to everyday goods and services. The EEA has been implemented in Irish Law via S.I. No. 636/2023 - European Union (Accessibility Requirements of Products and Services) Regulations 2023 (Regulations). The Regulations come into effect on 28 June 2025. This article considers what financial services providers and related firms must do to ensure that retail banking products and services are more accessible to persons with disabilities. From 28 June 2025 firms will need to ensure that they design their websites, mobile apps, contracts and all forms of communication with consumers including call centre services as well as devices such as payment terminals and ATMs in a way that is accessible to persons with disabilities.
Obligation to comply with accessibility standards
By 28 June 2025 firms must ensure that they only place on the market products or provide services that meet the relevant accessibility requirements. This means that firms need to design their consumer services in order to ensure that they are accessible for those consumers who are persons with disabilities.
Meaning of 'persons with disabilities'
Under the Regulations, a person with disabilities "means a person who has long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments, which, in interaction with various barriers, may hinder the person’s full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others".
Which financial services and related products are in scope?
Amongst other services, the Regulations are applicable to consumer banking services1 which means the provision to persons with disabilities who are consumers of the following banking and financial services:
- credit agreements,
- payment services,
- services linked to the payment account and electronic money.
The services must be designed in accordance with the accessibility requirements set out in Schedule 1, Part 3 to the Regulations (Accessibility Requirements for Products and Services).
The Regulations also require ATMs and payment terminals (card machines) placed on the market on or after 28 June 2025 to be designed in accordance with certain international standards.
Which firms are in scope?
The Regulations apply to a wide range of "economic operators". This includes financial services providers, including banks, payment services providers and e-money providers. In relation to physical products, the manufacturers, authorised representatives, importers and distributors of ATMs and payment terminals are subject to the Regulations.
A wide range of other economic operators are also in scope of the new requirements (those providing e-commerce services for example).
General requirements
The Regulations set out an extensive list of obligations on firms, requiring them to make their services accessible to persons with disabilities. In order to allow for innovation, these are not detailed technical specifications but functional requirements, which will have to be re-assessed when new services are designed. Consumer banking services must be provided in such a way that maximises their foreseeable use by persons with disabilities, in particular by ensuring that any products used in the provision of banking services are suitably accessible in accordance with the Regulations including;
- providing identification methods, electronic signatures, security, and payment services which are perceivable, operable, understandable and robust;
- making information available via more than one sensory channel (e.g. visual, auditory, speech or tactile);
- presenting the information in an understandable way and to users in ways they can perceive (perceivability is about making the information easy for disabled users to read or hear); information relating to consumer banking services must be understandable, without exceeding a level of complexity superior to level B2 (upper intermediate) of the Council of Europe’s Common European Framework of Reference for Languages;
- making the information content available in text formats that can be used to generate alternative assistive formats to be presented in different ways by the users and via more than one sensory channel (such as text-to-speech technology);
- presenting in fonts of adequate size and suitable shape, taking into account foreseeable conditions of use and using sufficient contrast, as well as adjustable spacing between letters, lines and paragraphs;
- supplementing any non-textual content such as colour, images or audible content with an alternative presentation of that content;
- allowing sufficient time for the consumer to engage with interactive content;
- providing electronic information needed in the provision of the service in a consistent and adequate way by making it perceivable, operable, understandable and robust;
- making websites, including the related online applications, and mobile device-based services, including mobile applications, accessible in a consistent and adequate way by making them perceivable, operable, understandable and robust; and
- where available, operating support services (help desks, call centres, technical support, relay services and training services) providing information on the accessibility of the service and its compatibility with assistive technologies, in accessible modes of communication.
Under regulation 14 and Schedule 3 of the Regulations, service providers are required to provide information to explain how the services meet the relevant accessibility requirements in their terms and conditions.
Are there any exemptions?
There are limited exemptions available; some require notification to the Central Bank of Ireland.
Under Regulation 15, an exemption may be available if compliance with the Regulations either:
- requires a significant change in a product or service that would "fundamentally alter its basic nature"; or
- imposes a disproportionate burden on the firms concerned.
Firms seeking to rely on the exemption will need to carry out and document an assessment of whether compliance would impose a disproportionate burden in accordance with the criteria specified in Schedule 4 to the Regulations.
Any firm seeking to rely on an exemption should take advice as any such decision needs to be carefully documented and improper reliance on exemptions could lead to regulatory enforcement action.
Transitional Provisions
Service providers may continue to provide their services using products which were lawfully used by them to provide similar services before 28 June 2030. Service contracts agreed before 28 June 2025 may continue without alteration until they expire, but no longer than 5 years from that date.
There is also an exemption for payment terminals and ATMs which were lawfully in use before 28 June 2025. This applies either until the end of their life or for 20 years from first use, whichever is sooner.
Provisions unique to consumer banking services and relationship with the Consumer Protection Code (CPC)
Additionally under Schedule 1, Part 4(e) (Additional accessibility requirements related to specific services), providers of consumer banking services should include identification methods, electronic signatures, security, and payment services which are perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. In addition, information provided in respect of consumer banking services should be understandable, without exceeding a level of complexity superior to level B2 (upper intermediate) of the Council of Europe's Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.
These requirements apply to banking services provided to consumers, being any natural person who, for purposes which are outside his or her trade, business, craft or profession, purchases a product or receives a service to which the Regulations apply. This is different to the definition of consumer under the CPC. The CBI emphasises that "the requirement of the Code to secure customers’ interest requires financial services firms to take reasonable steps to ensure that their processes and services are appropriately designed so as not to disadvantage persons with a disability when interacting with the firm". While disabled persons are not inherently vulnerable, it is possible that their circumstances and the way in which services are provided could make them vulnerable within the definition of a vulnerable consumer under the CBI Guidance on Protecting Consumers in Vulnerable Circumstances2. The CBI discusses the interaction of the Regulations with the CPC.
Consequences of non-compliance
The competent authority (the CBI in relation to consumer banking services) has wide powers to seek information and seize relevant documents. It may direct a firm to comply with the requirements of the regulation. It the firm fails to comply the CBI can seek a court order directing compliance.
In addition, consumers can seek an order for compliance against firms in the Circuit Court if they believe that there is a failure to comply with one or more requirements laid down by the Regulations.
The Regulations provide for the following financial penalties for certain breaches of the requirements, include failure to co-operate with the relevant regulator, knowingly providing false or misleading information to the regulator, failure to notify the regulator or maintain proper records regarding any reliance on exemptions and failure to comply with a direction imposed by the regulator:
- on summary conviction, a class A fine (a fine not exceeding €5,000) or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or both; or
- on conviction on indictment, a fine not exceeding €60,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 18 months or both.
Where a corporate firm is responsible for breaching accessibility requirements, directors, managers, company secretaries and other officers can be held individually liable where the breach committed with their consent, connivance, approval or by wilful neglect . However, it shall be a defence if the person charged is able to prove that he or she exercised due diligence and took all reasonable precautions to avoid the commission of the offence.3
Compliance authority
The Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) is the designated national competent authority to ensure compliance with the accessibility requirements relating to consumer banking services. The National Disability Authority has been granted a special status under which it can advise the CBI under the Regulations. Regulation 24 highlights the obligations of the CBI in enforcing the Regulations. Firms who are operating across the EU will need to ensure that they comply with national rules implementing the European Accessibility Act and could be subject to enforcement action in other jurisdictions.
As the June 2025 deadline for the Regulations coming into effect approaches, the Hogan Lovells Dublin team is available to assist you in assessing how you are impacted by the Accessibility Regulations and what action you need to take now to ensure compliance. If you would like to discuss this topic further, please feel free to get in touch with one of the people listed above or your usual Hogan Lovells contact
You can also follow any updates relating to the EAA on our dedicated Digital Accessibility Page.
- Regulation 3(2)(e) of SI 636/2023.
- See paragraph 3.2.2 of the CBI Guidance on Protecting Consumers in Vulnerable Circumstances.
- Regulations 33 and 34 of SI 636/2023.
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