Source: European Parliament
Question for written answer E-000884/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
Maria Ohisalo (Verts/ALE)
The latest Eurostat figures reveal that 20.3 % of the EU population aged 16 or over report having some degree of visual impairment, including over 2.5 % with severe difficulties. The EU and all Member States have ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which requires them to promote accessibility in all aspects of life.
Blind and partially sighted people aspire to independent living, and accessible household appliances play a crucial role in their autonomy. However, many appliances – such as stovetops, washing machines, and vacuum cleaners – are becoming less accessible with the growing reliance on touchscreen-operated systems with purely visual controls, lacking tactile or audio feedback, or voice-enabled features.
Household appliances are not covered by the European Accessibility Act[1]. The operating systems of general-purpose computers and similar digital devices are covered by the act, but not embedded systems with limited user interfaces and functional scope, such as those found in household appliances. The relevant standards of the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) are only recommendations, which manufacturers neglect because there is no legal requirement to make household appliances accessible.
- 1.Is the Commission aware of this gap in legislation?
- 2.What does the Commission intend to do to ensure that household appliances are accessible for visually impaired users?
Submitted: 28.2.2025
- [1] Directive (EU) 2019/882 of 17 April 2019 on the accessibility requirements for products and services, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/2019/882/oj.