The European Accessibility Act (EAA) and the Web Accessibility Directive (WAD) are game changers. However, they also pose challenges for public entities procuring ICT products and services, as well as for bidders. In this context, the European Commission and EFTA funded the revision of two existing documents: CEN-CLC-ETSI TR 101551:2014 ‘Guidelines on the use of accessibility award criteria suitable for public procurement of ICT products and services in Europe’ and CEN-CLC-ETSI/TR 101 552:2014 ‘Guidance for the application of conformity assessment to accessibility requirements for public procurement of ICT products and services in Europe’.
These Technical Reports (TR) fall under the responsibility of the joint CEN, CENELEC and ETSI body, CEN-CLC-ETSI/JTB ‘eAccessibility’, which is managed by the Spanish National Standardization Body, UNE. A new Working Group, CEN-CLC-ETSI/JTB eAcc/WG 1, was created to carry out the revision. After reviewing both of the previous Technical Reports, it was decided that merging them into a single document would be the best solution. The revised document was published in February as CEN-CLC-ETSI/TR 101551:2026 ‘Guidelines for public procurement of ICT products and services in the European Union: accessibility award criteria and conformity assessment’.
The key objective of CEN/CLC/ETSI/TR 101551:2026 is to support contracting authorities to ensure that their public procurement procedures of ICT products and services take the mandatory accessibility requirements into account. To achieve this, the document provides guidance on how to determine technical specifications to meet the EAA and the WAD, as well as on how to define selection and exclusion criteria. It even offers recommendations on award criteria to encourage higher levels of accessibility. In addition, it helps users navigate the conformity assessment process, including common cases where the product or service is yet to be developed and therefore other types of evidence need to be considered.
The annexes further strengthen the report by offering practical examples of how to include accessibility in procurement processes. They also provide information on existing tools to identify relevant accessibility requirements according to the foundational document, EN 301549 ‘Accessibility requirements for ICT products and services’.
