Dermot McGirr Interviewed on RTE’s Drivetime

Dermot McGirr, Technology Partner, recently talked to John Cooke on RTE Radio 1’s Drivetime. The topic was the European Accessibility Act (EAA), which came into force in Ireland on Saturday 28 June.

The EAA is aimed at improving the accessibility of products and services, ensuring that people with disabilities have better access to essential goods and services across the European Union.

Dermot explained:

“It applies to a specific list of products and a specific list of services, and that’s an important point to understand: that it’s not a general accessibility standard that applies to everything.”

In-scope sectors include e-commerce, banking, telecommunications, and transport.

Dermot highlighted that despite a relatively lengthy lead-in time, some organisations remain underprepared for the new rules. He said:

“I think where we are going to see pockets, potentially quite large pockets, of non-compliance, is the e-commerce element. And the reason for that is because e-commerce is defined quite broadly in the legislation.

Essentially, if you’re selling goods and services online you’re in scope of this, as long as you’re not what’s referred to as a micro enterprise, and that’s quite a low bar.

Listen back to the full discussion via the RTE website.

For more information on the European Accessibility Act and what in-scope businesses need to do to progress towards compliance, contact a member of our Technology team.