Purpose and Definitions

The purpose of this Directive is to contribute to the proper functioning of the internal market by approximating laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States as regards accessibility requirements for certain products and services by, in particular, eliminating and preventing barriers to the free movement of certain accessible products and services arising from divergent accessibility requirements in the Member States.

This would increase the availability of accessible products and services in the internal market and improve the accessibility of relevant information.

This Directive defines persons with disabilities in line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, adopted on 13 December 2006 (UN CRPD), to which the Union has been a Party since 21 January 2011 and which all Member States have ratified.

The UN CRPD states that persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.

This Directive promotes full and effective equal participation by improving access to mainstream products and services that, through their initial design or subsequent adaptation, address the particular needs of persons with disabilities.

Other persons who experience functional limitations, such as elderly persons, pregnant women or persons travelling with luggage, would also benefit from this Directive.

The concept of 'persons with functional limitations', as referred to in this Directive, includes persons who have any physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments, age related impairments, or other human body performance related causes, permanent or temporary, which, in interaction with various barriers, result in their reduced access to products and services, leading to a situation that requires those products and services to be adapted to their particular needs.

The disparities between the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of Member States concerning the accessibility of products and services for persons with disabilities, create barriers to the free movement of products and services and distort effective competition in the internal market.

For some products and services, those disparities are likely to increase in the Union after the entry into force of the UN CRPD. Economic operators, in particular small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), are particularly affected by those barriers.

Due to the differences in national accessibility requirements, individual professionals, SMEs and microenterprises in particular are discouraged from entering into business ventures outside their own domestic markets. The national, or even regional or local, accessibility requirements that Member States have put in place currently differ as regards both coverage and level of detail. Those differences negatively affect competitiveness and growth, due to the additional costs incurred in the development and marketing of accessible products and services for each national market.

Consumers of accessible products and services and of assistive technologies, are faced with high prices due to limited competition among suppliers. Fragmentation among national regulations reduces potential benefits derived from sharing with national and international peers experiences concerning responding to societal and technological developments.

The approximation of national measures at Union level is therefore necessary for the proper functioning of the internal market in order to put an end to fragmentation in the market of accessible products and services, to create economies of scale, to facilitate cross-border trade and mobility, as well as to help economic operators to concentrate resources on innovation instead of using those resources to cover expenses arising from fragmented legislation across the Union.

The benefits of harmonising accessibility requirements for the internal market have been demonstrated by the application of Directive 2014/33/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council regarding lifts and Regulation (EC) No 661/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council in the area of transport.