Article 15(1): Presumption of conformity from harmonised standards
all operators · Article 15(1)
Products and services which are in conformity with harmonised standards or parts thereof the references of which have been published in the Official Journal of the European Union , shall be presumed to be in conformity with the accessibility requirements of this Directive in so far as those standards or parts thereof cover those requirements.
How to satisfy it: The presumption this Directive offers, and the one nobody can currently use: it runs on references published in the Official Journal IN SUPPORT OF THIS DIRECTIVE, and none has been. EN 301 549 is cited under Directive (EU) 2016/2102, which is a different instrument. A vendor claiming EN 301 549 makes you presumed conformant under the EAA is describing a state of affairs that does not exist yet.
Article 15(2): The Commission requests harmonised standards for products
commission · Article 15(2)
The Commission shall, in accordance with Article 10 of Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012, request one or more European standardisation organisations to draft harmonised standards for the product accessibility requirements set out in Annex I. The Commission shall submit the first such draft request to the relevant committee by 28 June 2021.
How to satisfy it: The first draft request was due to the relevant committee by 28 June 2021. Standardisation request M/587 followed in September 2022, which is itself evidence that no standard covered this Directive when it was issued.
Article 15(3): The Commission may adopt technical specifications instead
commission · Article 15(3)
The Commission may adopt implementing acts establishing technical specifications that meet the accessibility requirements of this Directive where the following conditions have been fulfilled:
How to satisfy it: The fallback route, conditional on no harmonised standard reference having been published and on the standardisation procedure having stalled or been refused. Its two conditions are points (a) and (b) of this paragraph and are not modelled as separate rows: they bind the Commission, not an operator.
Article 15(4): Presumption of conformity from technical specifications
all operators · Article 15(4)
Products and services which are in conformity with the technical specifications or parts thereof shall be presumed to be in conformity with the accessibility requirements of this Directive in so far as those technical specifications or parts thereof cover those requirements.
How to satisfy it: The limb most often left out. It is a SEPARATE presumption route and it is not foreclosed by the absence of a harmonised standard — Annex V point 2 and Annex IV(2)(b) both name harmonised standards AND technical specifications for the same reason. Whether any published specification covers a given product or service is a question for the operator and their adviser.
No harmonised standard is cited in the Official Journal under this Directive, so the Article 15(1) presumption of conformity is available to nobody. EN 301 549 is harmonised under Directive (EU) 2016/2102, the Web Accessibility Directive, and not under this one. Conformity is demonstrated against Annex I directly.
Every quoted requirement on this page is verbatim Official Journal text. The surrounding guidance is Legalithm’s commentary and is not regulation. This page states the obligation and its legal basis; it is not legal advice, and the corpus has not been reviewed by counsel.
