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29 January 202510 minute read

Navigating the Belgian Accessibility Act

What should financial services firms know?

In November 2023, Belgium partially transposed Directive (EU) 2019/882 on the accessibility requirements for products and services1 (the European Accessibility Act). It was transposed through the Belgian Accessibility Act,2 amending several books of the Belgian Code of Economic Law (the CEL) and the law of 2 August 2002 on the supervision of the financial sector and financial services.3

The purpose of the European Accessibility Act is to increase the availability of accessible products and services for people with disabilities and to improve the accessibility of relevant information for these individuals. In this alert we provide relevant information for providers of consumer banking services and e-commerce.

This alert will help those responsible for designing services and their associated delivery channels. It will also be useful for legal and compliance departments who will have to ensure that documentation in their remit is drafted to a new accessibility standard. In-scope companies have to provide information demonstrating that their services meet accessibility requirements, which must be included in the terms and conditions or an equivalent document, and must be accessible to people with disabilities.

In this alert we summarise what's expected of service providers to meet these new requirements. DLA Piper can advise you on how to satisfy these requirements.

 

Background and aims of the Accessibility Act

Existing rules on banking and financial services already aim to protect users and provide them with information on the services. But these rules didn't previously include accessibility requirements. 4 These requirements are now included in the European Accessibility Act for some banking and financial services for consumers. The aim is to:

  • enable people with disabilities to use these services throughout the EU, including through websites and mobile-integrated services, such as mobile applications;
  • allow disabled individuals to make informed decisions, ensuring they get adequate protection on an equal basis with other consumers; and
  • ensure fair competition conditions for service providers.

Service providers can only design or provide in-scope services that satisfy the general and service-specific accessibility requirements outlined in Annex I of the Belgian Accessibility Act. These requirements affect:

  • the information provided by the company about its products and services; and
  • the design of the websites or applications used by the company to offer a service.

In the following sections, we'll discuss the scope and content of these new requirements.

 

Scope of the new requirements: Which entities and services do they affect?

The Belgian Accessibility Act is limited to consumer banking services and e-commerce services.

Consumer banking services are defined as providing the following banking and financial services to consumers:

  • consumer and mortgage credits5
  • these investment services:
    • receiving and transmitting orders relating to one or more financial instruments;
    • executing orders on behalf of clients;
    • portfolio management;
    • investment advice

and these ancillary services:

  • safekeeping and administration of financial instruments on behalf of clients;
  • granting credit or a loan to an investor to enable them to carry out a transaction on one or more financial instruments, where the company granting the credit or loan is involved;
  • foreign exchange services when they're related to providing investment services; and
  • investment research and financial analysis, or any other form of general recommendation regarding transactions on financial instruments6
  • payment services7
  • electronic money8
  • services related to payment accounts9
  • E-commerce services are defined very broadly as services provided remotely, through websites, integrated services on mobile devices, electronically, and at the individual request of a consumer, with the aim of concluding a consumer contract.

    The Belgian Accessibility Act applies to providers of consumer banking services and e-commerce services. The scope was intentionally kept broad, as a service provider refers to any natural or legal person offering a service on the EU market or proposing to provide a service to consumers in the EU. The preparatory works of the Belgian Accessibility Act clarify that service providers under these requirements are:

    • for e-commerce services, all businesses providing services via websites or applications with the aim of concluding a consumer contract; and
    • for banking services, all banks and other financial service providers.

     

    New requirements introduced in the Belgian legal landscape

    General requirements

    The Belgian Accessibility Act introduces a series of requirements into the CEL. Providers of consumer banking services and e-commerce services are obligated to design and deliver services that fully comply with the accessibility requirements outlined in Annex 1 of Book VIII of the CEL.

    Providers have to give information about the how the offered service functions and details on its accessibility features and interoperability with assistive devices and functions. Providers have to:

    • provide information through multiple sensory channels;
    • present the information in a comprehensible manner; and
    • ensure the information is perceivable by users.

    Illustrative, non-binding examples provided directly by the Belgian Accessibility Act:

    • Using the same words in a consistent manner, or in a clear and logical structure, so people with intellectual disabilities can better understand it.
    • Providing electronic files which can be read by a computer using screen readers so blind people can use the information.
    • Providing subtitles when video instructions are provided.

    Specific requirements regarding consumer banking services

    To ensure people with disabilities have optimal and predictable use of services, consumer banking services have to include functions, practices, strategies, and procedures, and modifications to the operation of the service, designed to meet the needs of individuals with disabilities and ensure interoperability with assistive technologies. These requirements must be fulfilled in the following ways:

    • providing identification methods, electronic signatures, security, and payment services which are perceivable, operable, understandable and robust;
    • ensuring that the information is 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.

    Illustrative, non-binding examples provided directly by the Belgian Accessibility Act:

    • Ensuring that identification dialogues are readable by screen reader software, enabling use by blind people.

    Specific requirements regarding e-commerce services

    E-commerce services providers also have to ensure optimal and predictable use by people with disabilities. These services must include functions, practices, strategies, procedures, and modifications designed to meet the needs of individuals with disabilities and guarantee interoperability with assistive technologies. Specifically, this includes:

    • providing accessibility information for the products and services on sale when such information is available from the responsible operator;
    • ensuring the accessibility of identification, security, and payment functions when offered as part of a service rather than a product, by making them perceivable, usable, comprehensible, and robust; and
    • providing identification methods, electronic signatures, and payment services that are perceivable, usable, comprehensible, and robust.

    Illustrative, non-binding examples provided by the Belgian Accessibility Act:

    • Ensuring that available information on the accessibility features of a product is not deleted.
    • Making the payment service user interface available by voice so blind people can make online purchases independently.
    • Making the identification dialogues on a screen readable by screen readers so blind people can use them.

     

    Mitigation measures for impact on in-scope entities

    As the Belgian Accessibility Act emphasizes the importance of making these services accessible to people with disabilities, it also acknowledges the potential impact of these accessibility requirements on businesses. To strike a balance between the accessibility needs of individuals with disabilities and the ability of businesses to meet these needs, two exceptions are provided:

    • Fundamental change exception: when applying accessibility requirements would result in a fundamental alteration of the essential nature of the service, the requirements aren't mandatory.
    • Disproportionate burden exception: if businesses can demonstrate that complying with accessibility requirements imposes a disproportionate burden, they're equally exempted from adhering to these requirements.

    These exceptions are interpreted very strictly and require compliance with specific conditions. For instance, there will be no opt-out based on the disproportionality burden exception when service providers are externally subsidized to enhance accessibility.

     

    Entry into force and implementation

    These provisions will come into force on 28 June 2025. But, until 28 June 2030, companies with fewer than ten employees and an annual turnover or total annual balance sheet not exceeding EUR2 million are excluded from the scope of these requirements.

    In-scope companies have to ensure their services are accessible, for example by providing identification methods, electronic signatures, security, and payment services that are perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. This also includes ensuring compatibility with assistive technologies, providing clear and accessible information on service functionality. In-scope companies have to provide information demonstrating that their services meet accessibility requirements, which must be included in the terms and conditions or an equivalent document, and must be accessible to people with disabilities.

    Our Financial Services team is constantly monitoring the evolution of the Belgian and European regulation around financial services and we're happy to help you with any query you might have.


    1 Directive (EU) 2019/882 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on the accessibility requirements for products and services, L151/70, O.J.E.U., 7 June 2019.
    2 Law of 5 November 2023 amending several books of the Code of Economic Law and the Law of 2 August 2002 on the supervision of the financial sector and financial services, with a view to the partial transposition of Directive (EU) 2019/882 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on accessibility requirements for products...


    1 Directive (EU) 2019/882 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on the accessibility requirements for products and services, L151/70, O.J.E.U., 7 June 2019.
    2 Law of 5 November 2023 amending several books of the Code of Economic Law and the Law of 2 August 2002 on the supervision of the financial sector and financial services, with a view to the partial transposition of Directive (EU) 2019/882 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on accessibility requirements for products and services, with regard to certain services, Belgian Official Gazette, 28 November 2023.
    3 Law of 2 August 2002 on the supervision of the financial sector and financial services, Belgian Official Gazette, 4 September 2002.
    4 Please note that Directive 2023/2673 as regards financial services contracts concluded at a distance requires, on the one hand, that the pre-contractual information to be provided for distance contracts for consumer financial services is provided in a way that it is both easy for the consumer to comprehend and is in a readable format. This implies using characters of a readable size and in colours that don't diminish the comprehensibility of the information but also avoiding overly lengthy and complex descriptions, small print, and excessive use of hyperlinks, as these are methods that diminish the understanding of consumers. Further, this Directive also requires to provide the information, upon request, in an appropriate and accessible format to consumers with disabilities, including those with a visual impairment. The Directive requires, on the other hand, traders to provide adequate explanations to the consumer concerning the proposed financial services contracts permitting to assess whether the proposed contract and ancillary services are adapted to his or her needs and financial situation. The scope of Directive 2023/2673 is nevertheless wider, in that it applies to consumer financial services which is any service of a banking, credit, insurance, personal pension, investment or payment nature. Further, this Directive is of subsidiary application, meaning that where other EU sectoral regulations contain rules relating to aspects covered by Directive 2023/2673, only the corresponding provisions of these sectoral regulations will apply. The possible joint application of directives 2023/2673 and the Accessibility Act will therefore depend essentially on the financial services provided.
    5 The credit agreements governed by Book VII, Title 4, Chapters 1 and 2 of the CEL.
    6 Services referred to in Article 2, 1°, 1, 2, 4, and 5, and 2°, 1, 2, 4, and 5, of the Belgian Law of 25 October 2016, relating to access to the activity of providing investment services and to the status and supervision of portfolio management and investment advisory companies.
    7 Payment services referred to in Article I.9, 1° of the CEL.
    8 Electronic money referred to in Article I.9, 26° of the CEL.
    9 All services related to the opening, management, and closure of a payment account, as referred to in Article I.9, 33°/1 of the CEL.