The specific services covered by the Act include:

1. E-commerce services. These are the broadest services of the EAA, encompassing all online services that allow consumers to enter into a consumer agreement. The conditions for a consumer agreement are:

• the consumer buys a product or enters another type of agreement;
• the consumer pays a price in money; and
• the seller is a 'trader' acting in the course of their profession or business.

The service should enable the conclusion of such agreements. Note: this does not necessarily mean that the consumer enters into the agreement directly with the provider of the e-commerce service. The term ‘e-commerce service’ also applies to platforms with third-party sellers. Consequently, examples of e-commerce services include online stores (Zalando, Wehkamp) as well as marketplaces
(Bol, Amazon).

To qualify as an e-commerce service, it is not necessary that the products or services that are offered on the service are covered by the EAA themselves. For example, websites offering insurances, sweepstakes or mobile phone subscriptions must also be digitally accessible. The same applies to universities that dedicate a small part of their website to a webshop, for example, for university merchandise.

Only e-commerce-related sub-domains of websites need to be made accessible. This means the EAA does not apply to employee login screens or supplier pages. However, customer service and functions for identification, security and payment do need to be accessible.

2. Electronic communication services. These include services such as internet services, SMS, telephony and other messaging services like WhatsApp.

3. Services providing access to audiovisual media services. These include for instance websites, online applications and mobile apps that provide access to audiovisual media services like YouTube or Netflix.

4. Digital elements of national or international passenger transport by air, bus, train and water. These include for instance websites, apps, electronic tickets and ticketing services, travel information and self-service terminals at stations or airports.

5. Consumer banking services. These include for instance loans, credit agreements, internet and mobile banking, gift cards, mortgages and withdrawing or depositing money. Please note that definitions related to financial services are often quite specific. For example, pension plans may not qualify as consumer banking services, but pension investments do. We therefore recommend to always seek legal advice on this topic.

As with any (new) law, interpretation disputes will likely arise after the Act takes effect. As a matter of fact, several educational institutions have already expressed concerns during the internet consultation about the fact that 'digital learning materials' do not fall within the scope of e-books. The government recognizes this and aims to develop sectoral action plans describing how a sector can gradually achieve general accessibility.

Exceptions
The EAA contains several important exceptions that can exempt organisations from the obligations or reduce certain burdens.

• Micro-enterprises. Service providers with fewer than 10 employees and an annual turnover and/or balance sheet total of less than EUR 2 million are exempt from all obligations. However, the EAA still advises these companies to take as many steps towards digital accessibility as possible.

• Third-party content. Content not developed or financed by the organisation and/or over which it has no control falls outside the EAA. This includes, for example, e-commerce services featuring videos created by another party, social media feeds with external content and content linking to external PDF documents.

• Fundamental change. If complying with the requirements of the EAA would require a fundamental change to a service that no longer resembles the original service, the EAA obligations do not apply. However, service providers must still make all other functionalities accessible that do not require a fundamental change.
  
  An example of this exception applies to services like Paint or Canva, designed for creating visual designs. If these functions need to be made fully accessible to visually impaired people, the purpose of the program would be fundamentally changed.

• Disproportionate (organisational or financial) burden. If, after assessment, justification, and documentation by the service provider, complying with the EAA would impose a disproportionate burden on the organisation, the requirements do not apply. However, the service provider must still comply with all other obligations that do not impose a disproportionate burden. Criteria for a disproportionate burden include:
  • The ratio of implementation costs compared to the total cost of delivering the service;
  • The ratio of costs and benefits for the company compared to the benefits for people with disabilities; and
  • The ratio of compliance costs with accessibility requirements compared to the organisation’s net turnover.

The legislator estimates that the cost of providing information on accessibility to consumers and regulators ranges from EUR 144 to EUR 1,440. This assumes that becoming digitally accessible is a one-time task. However, this estimate only include the costs of providing information. The cost of obtaining information and resolving any findings is not included. The final cost of compliance will depend heavily on the size and complexity of the services.

If an organisation receives funding or subsidies to make the service accessible, it cannot rely on the exemption of a disproportionate burden. Additionally, the lack of time, priority, or knowledge are neither valid reasons.

Obligations for Service Providers
Now for the core of the EAA. What exactly must service providers do if their services fall within the scope of the EAA?

1. Design and service provision in accordance with accessibility requirements. A service must be designed in order for people with disabilities in the spectrum of visual impairment, hearing impairment, cognitive limitations and/or physical/motor limitations being able to use the service. These requirements are outlined in the European accessibility standard, EN301549. The practical guidelines for this standard are the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). More explanation on this can be found on the website of Digitaal Toegankelijk.

In broad terms, the services must support the most common assistive tools such as screen readers, braille displays, keyboards (without a mouse) and fingers (on mobile devices). Practically, this means ensuring that the service has, for example:

• clear color contrast on a screen;
• consistent wording;
• subtitles in the form of extended audio description (such as relevant sounds);
• the ability to adjust the style (such as text size) without losing functionality;
• navigability using only a keyboard with visibility of where the user is on the page;
• multiple ways to interact with interactive elements;
• supplemented non-text elements such as images with alternative text; and
• no content that could trigger attacks or illness, such as displaying a maximum of three flashes per second and preventing automatic playback of media.

Service providers do not have to figure all of this out themselves. There are best practices available for service providers to learn from. Also, of underestimated relevance are good training within the organisation, creativity and collaboration.

2. Documentation (accessibility statement). Service providers must publish and retain an accessibility statement for as long as the service is in operation, explaining how the service complies with the Act. According to the text of the EAA, this statement can be part of the terms and conditions of the service, making it part of the agreement with the user. It is questionable whether this is the right way forward and expressly intended by the legislator. The statement must also be made available in an accessible way. The accessibility page of the Dutch government can be used as an example.

The minimum requirements for this accessibility statement include a description of the applicable requirements, such as:

• a general description of the service in an accessible format;
• an explanation necessary to understand how the service works; and
• a description of how the service complies with the applicable accessibility requirements. This means that you should explain to users what has been done in terms of accessibility, what the plans are, when these will be achieved and how accessibility will be safeguarded in your processes. Ideally, share a link to an official WCAG-EM report to demonstrate compliance.

3. Implement monitoring procedures. Service providers must continuously monitor whether the service still complies with the EAA. This should be done, for example, when the service is modified, but also when there are new legal or technological developments. It is important to keep an eye on the sectoral action plans that the government claims it will develop together with all relevant stakeholders.

4. Take corrective actions and notify the responsible regulator. This is necessary when you suspect that the service might not comply with the EAA. The regulator that must be notified differs per sector, see section 8.

5. Provide information and documentation to the regulator upon request from and cooperate with measures taken by the regulator to ensure compliance.

Supervision and Enforcement
Since the rules of the EAA are implemented in different sectoral laws, the supervision will also be performed by existing sectoral regulators:

• Electronic communication services and e-commerce services (excluding financial services): Authority for Consumers and Markets (Autoriteit Consument en Markt; ACM).

• Consumer banking services and financial e-commerce services: Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiële Markten; AFM).

• E-books and related software, and services providing access to audiovisual media services: Dutch Media Authority (Commissariaat voor de Media; CvdM).

• Digital elements of passenger transport: Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (Inspectie Leefomgeving en Transport; ILT).

Supervision will take place in various ways, for example, based on reports and signals of incidents, theme or sector-specific investigations or risk-based approaches, focusing on known risks within the sector.

Regulators have several options for imposing sanctions, including fines. The ACM can impose a maximum fine of EUR 900,000 per violation or, if greater, 1% of the company's annual turnover. The same applies to the AFM when fining e-commerce services. The AFM can further impose a maximum fine of EUR 1,000,000 on banks and other financial institutions. For the CvdM and ILT, the maximum fine is EUR 67,000 per violation.

Finally, consumers can claim civil damages from organisations for non-compliance with accessibility requirements. Compliance with the requirements can also be enforced through the courts, potentially through collective actions.

[1] See: https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/infographics/disability-eu-facts-figures/#:~:text=How%20many%20people%20have%20a,people%20adults%20in%20the%20EU