On 28 June 2025, the German Accessibility Reinforcement Act (Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz, BFSG) entered into force with the objective of digital inclusion. People with disabilities, handicaps and elderly people should be given equal access to products and services that are important for participation in life in society. This entails new obligations for companies. Violations may result in fines and other sanctions.
The Act applies to companies that place the products specified in the BFSG on the market or render services after 28 June 2025. This includes, in particular, banking services for consumers, telecommunications services, electronic ticketing services, self-service terminals such as ATMs or ticket machines, hardware systems and their operating systems for consumers (computers, tablets, notebooks), devices with interactive performance capabilities such as smartphones and smart tvs, e-books and e-readers.
In addition, the requirements of the BFSG also apply to all electronic commerce services. Thus, every company is concerned that sells its products or services via an online shop.
This applies in principle to all companies operating in the relevant areas. In case of services, only micro enterprises are exempted that offer employment to less than ten people and have an annual turnover or an annual balance sheet total of no more than EUR 2 million. However, they should receive advisory services in order to be able to provide services that are accessible to everyone. Companies, that manufacture, import or distribute products, must also meet the requirements of the BFSG as micro enterprises.
Accessibility requirements, however, must only be met if their compliance does not require any fundamental change in the essential characteristics of a product or a service. The manufacturer or service provider must document such an assessment and submit it to the competent market surveillance authority upon request.
In addition, the accessibility requirements apply only insofar as their compliance would not result in a disproportionate financial burden on the company. Companies are obliged to carry out and document an appropriate assessment before providing a product or service and to inform the competent market surveillance authority immediately.
The BFSG transposes the EU Directive 2019/882 ("European Accessibility Act", shortly EAA) into German law. It obliges the addressees to make the products and services covered accessible und provide information.
Products and services must meet specific requirements for accessibility. They are barrier-free according to the legal definition in section 3 (1) sentence 2 BFSG if they can be found, accessed and used by people with disabilities in the usual manner, without any particular difficulties and generally without external help. Regarding the specific requirements, the BFSG refers to the Regulation on the Accessibility Requirements (BFSGV) (in German).
Products must contain components, functions and characteristics that enable people with disabilities to access, perceive, operate, understand and control the product. The same applies to the product packaging, user instructions and warnings. For instance, they must be made available via more than one sensory channel, must be easy to find and linguistically understandable and must be displayed in an appropriate font size.
Services must provide for functions, procedures and possible changes in the performance that are tailored to the needs of people with disabilities. This relates, in particular, to information on the functioning of the service. Comparable requirements for the comprehensibility and perceptibility apply here as for product packaging.
If services are offered online, the corresponding websites, including mobile apps, must also be designed to be perceptible, operable, understandable and robust. This includes ensuring interoperability with assistive technologies, such as screen readers.
In addition to these general requirements, the BFSGV contains numerous additional regulations regarding certain products and services, such as telecommunications services, banking services or e-books.
When fulfilling the requirements of the BFSGV, companies must observe the state of the art. For products and services that comply with harmonised standards or technical specifications, it is presumed that they meet the requirements of the BFSGV.
Manufacturers and providers may only place their products and services on the market and/or offer them if they meet the accessibility requirements. Traders must monitor compliance with these obligations of the manufacturer and may only make a product available on the market if it is compliant. If there is reason to assume that a product does not meet the accessibility requirements, traders may not distribute it.
In addition to the implementation of the accessibility requirements, service providers are also obliged to provide information on how these requirements are actually met. Additionally, this information must contain at least a general description of the service in an accessible format, descriptions and explanations that are required to understand the performance of the service, and the indication of the competent market surveillance authority.
This information can be included in the General Terms and Conditions used, but may also otherwise be made available, e.g. via a separate link on the website, as far as this is clearly perceptible.
Insofar as a product or service must be made accessible without barriers pursuant to the BFSG, all contents that functionally belong to the product or service must also be accessible without barriers. For instance, this may concern GTC, but also data protection declarations.
In this case, it must be ensured in particular that there is a text structuring through headings, there are alternative texts for embedded images or other media, a clear, comprehensible language is used, the font size and contrast are appropriate, and the compatibility with screen readers is guaranteed.
In principle, companies have had to meet the new accessibility requirements since the Act came into force, thus, since 28 June 2025. Partially, transitional provisions take effect. By 27 June 2030, services may be provided using products that have been used lawfully by the service provider already before 28 June 2025. Agreements on services concluded before 28 June 2025 must be adapted by 27 June 2030 at the latest.
Self-service terminals that companies used to provide services before 28 June 2025, may continue to be used until the end of their economic useful life, but for no longer than fifteen years after they are put into use.
Negligent and wilful violations of certain requirements of the BFSG are subject to fines of up to EUR 10,000 in minor cases and up to EUR 100,000 in serious cases. The specific amount of the fine is based on the circumstances of the individual case.
The market surveillance authorities of the federal states verify compliance with the requirements of the BFSG. This task should be carried out by the "Market Surveillance Authority of the Federal States for the Accessibility of Products and Services" (Marktüberwachungsstelle der Länder für die Barrierefreiheit von Produkten und Dienstleistungen, MLBF) centrally in the future. In addition to the imposition of fines, market withdrawals of non-compliant products and a prohibition of service provision are imminent.
Administrative offence proceedings can be initiated ex officio, at the request of a consumer, an association recognised under the German Act on Equal Opportunities of Persons with Disabilities (Behindertengleichstellungsgesetz) or a consumer protection association. Competitors may also take action against alleged violations by way of a warning under competition law. In this case, the assertion of claims for injunctive relief and damages is imminent.
Companies should verify whether they are addressees of the obligations of the BFSG. If necessary, they should check their digital offers for accessibility and adapt them where appropriate. An accessibility audit or a quick check may help to identify and to remedy weak points in the technical implementation of accessibility requirements or of information obligations.
However, it can also make sense for companies that do not fall within the scope of the BFSG to improve the accessibility of their products and services. In addition to an image gain by supporting inclusion of disadvantaged people, this may also lead to a measurable increase in sales, by reaching new customer groups.
Kristin Trittermann, LL.M.
Mathias Zimmer-Goertz
