Few businesses may be aware that the Polish Accessibility Act may cover the business activity they conduct online. The new act provides for obligations including standardisation of websites and mobile applications, to be achieved by making sure that they are perceivable, operable, understandable and compatible. Importantly, this does not only apply to e-commerce in the everyday sense; it also applies to services provided and on offer online in almost any form.

The Act of 26 April, 2024, on Ensuring that Business Entities meet Accessibility Requirements for Certain Goods and Services (Polish Accessibility Act – PAA) transposes the European Accessibility Act, which is Directive (EU) 2019/882 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on the accessibility requirements for products and services. The PAA will take effect on 28 June, 2025, and will apply to products such as terminals, e-book readers and computer hardware, and services, such as telecommunications, retail banking, services providing access to audiovisual media services and e-commerce. The PAA will not be applicable to services offered or provided by microenterprises.

Importantly, the PAA defines e-commerce services as distance services offered or rendered via websites and mobile devices, electronically and at the individual request of the consumer, in order to conclude a contract. Thus, under the PAA, e-commerce refers not only to online shopping sites, but also to any websites on which a contract for purchase of a product or service can be concluded, or on which even the first step to entering into such an agreement can be taken. If a business operates a website on which: 

  1. an agreement can be entered into directly to purchase goods or services,
  1. a consumer provides contact details for the purpose of an offer being made other than via the website,
  1. a booking is made for an offline service provided at a certain time,

the website will most likely constitute e-commerce and be subject to the PAA.

Service providers subject to the PAA will have to redesign their operations accordingly before the act comes into force. Within a few months from now, their new obligations will include:

  • providing the relevant information about services and service accessibility in their terms and conditions;
  • conducting an accessibility assessment;
  • ensuring that their websites are standardised and accessible.