Existing Law & Free Movement

Some services already follow other EU laws about providing accessible information. If they follow these laws, they also meet the requirements of this Directive:

• Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 - Air passenger rights when denied boarding, canceled, or delayed flights.
• Regulation (EC) No 1107/2006 - Rights of disabled persons when traveling by air.
• Regulation (EC) No 1371/2007 - Rail passenger rights and obligations.
• Regulation (EU) No 1177/2010 - Rights of passengers traveling by sea and inland waterway.
• Regulation (EU) No 181/2011 - Rights of bus and coach passengers.
• Acts based on Directive 2008/57/EC - Railway system interoperability.

If this Directive has extra requirements not in those laws, the extra requirements still apply.

The European Accessibility Act recognizes existing transport regulations. It adds new requirements to make transportation more accessible, such as:

• Websites and mobile apps must meet accessibility standards.
• Self-service terminals need to be accessible to people with disabilities.
• E-ticketing systems should be usable by everyone.
• Real-time travel information must be provided in accessible formats.
• Digital transport documents should be accessible to all users.

These extra requirements work with existing rules to create better accessibility in passenger transport services.

Article 6 of the European Accessibility Act states a simple rule:

"EU countries cannot block products or services that meet this law's accessibility requirements from being sold in their country."

When products and services follow the accessibility rules in this law, they can be sold in any EU country without extra barriers.

Free movement is key to the EU's single market. Having the same accessibility rules for all EU countries helps with:

• Selling products across all EU borders.
• Making rules clearer for businesses.
• Lowering costs to create products.
• Creating better business competition.
• Giving people more choices at better prices.

Before this law, each country had its own accessibility rules. This created these problems for businesses:

• They had to follow different rules in each country.
• They needed to change products for each market.
• They paid more for multiple checks.
• They dealt with many complex laws.

With one set of rules, the European Accessibility Act fixes these problems. Now businesses can:

• Design one product for all EU countries.
• Offer their services in all EU countries.
• Save money on development costs.
• Focus on creating new ideas instead of studying rules.