Exemptions, disproportionate burden and transition periods

1. Overview

The European Accessibility Act (EAA) is Directive (EU) 2019/882. Recital 64 states the principle behind every exemption. It says that "accessibility requirements should only apply to the extent that they do not impose a disproportionate burden on the economic operator concerned, or to the extent that they do not require a significant change in the products and services which would result in their fundamental alteration". In the same breath it says that "control mechanisms should nevertheless be in place in order to verify entitlement to exceptions". Every relief in the Directive follows that pattern. It is conditional. It is usually partial. You must show it, not assume it.

There are four kinds of relief:

• Article 4(5) exempts the smallest service providers from the service requirements.
• Article 2(4) takes certain old or third-party content out of scope.
• Article 14 limits the requirements where compliance would fundamentally alter a product or service, or would impose a disproportionate burden. Annex VI gives the criteria for the burden test.
• Articles 31 and 32 give time. There is a deferral for 112 answering. There are transition periods for products in use, contracts signed and terminals installed before 28 June 2025.

This lesson takes the four in that order. It ends with how to document an Article 14 assessment, using an audit report as the evidence.

One warning on words. In this lesson a microenterprise is exempt from the service requirements. The Directive excludes content from scope. Article 14 limits the requirements to the extent of the burden. The differences matter when an authority asks what you relied on.