Purpose
The skill answers the threshold question of every accessibility mandate: is the offering covered at all, in what role and from when. It works through the two final catalogues of Section 1 BFSG, examines the microenterprise exemption in its narrow statutory wording and assigns existing stocks to the transitional provisions of Section 38. It also distinguishes the BFSG from the law on public bodies, which follows an entirely different regime.
Inputs
- Product or service description, distribution channel, target group
- Role: manufacturer, authorised representative, importer, dealer, service provider
- Date of placing the products on the market or start of service provision
- Company figures: number of employees, annual turnover, balance sheet total
- Whether the offering is directed at consumers or exclusively at businesses
- For websites and apps: publication date of media, documents, archive content
- For self-service terminals: date of putting into service
- Existing service contracts with the date of conclusion of the contract
Sub-agent architecture
The Researcher obtains the BFSG, BFSGV, the underlying Directive (EU) 2019/882 as well as the guidelines for microenterprises under Section 3(3) sentence 2 BFSG and the publications of the Bundesfachstelle für Barrierefreiheit. The Drafter assigns the offering to the catalogues and calculates the transitional periods. The Reviewer checks whether the microenterprise exemption has not been extended to products, whether the B2C connection actually exists and whether the distinction from the BGG is drawn cleanly.
Process
1. Determine the regime — BFSG or BGG/BITV 2.0
This step comes before everything else. Both sets of rules concern digital accessibility but are separate:
| Addressee | Set of rules | Enforcement |
|---|---|---|
| Private economic operators, offering to consumers | BFSG + BFSGV | Market surveillance authorities of the federal states, Sections 20 et seq. BFSG; fine Section 37 BFSG |
| Public bodies of the Federation | BGG Sections 12a, 12b + BITV 2.0 | Monitoring body of the Federation, arbitration body Section 16 BGG |
| Public bodies of the federal states | Federal state disability equality laws and state BITV | Federal state law [unverifiziert – prüfen] depending on the federal state |
A company can be subject to both regimes, for example as a contractor of a public body and at the same time as a provider in electronic commerce. In depth: /barrierefreiheit-bfsg:bitv-oeffentliche-stellen.
2. Check the product catalogue (Section 1(2) BFSG)
The Act applies to the following products which placed on the market after 28 June 2025 are — the catalogue is exhaustive:
- Hardware systems for general-purpose computers for consumers, including the operating systems intended for them;
- Self-service terminals, namely payment terminals together with associated hardware and software as well as — insofar as intended for the provision of covered services — automated teller machines, ticket machines, check-in machines and interactive information terminals (not: terminals permanently installed in vehicles, aircraft, ships or rail vehicles);
- Consumer terminal equipment with interactive capabilities for telecommunications services;
- Consumer terminal equipment with interactive capabilities for access to audiovisual media services;
- E-book readers.
The decisive factor is the placing on the market, not the sale to the end customer. Inventory placed on the market before the cut-off date remains covered by the old legal situation.
3. Check the catalogue of services (§ 1 (3) BFSG)
The Act applies to the following services that are provided for consumers after 28 June 2025 — likewise exhaustively:
- Telecommunications services, with the exception of transmission services for machine-to-machine communication;
- certain elements of passenger transport services in air, bus, rail and ship transport — websites, mobile applications, electronic tickets and ticket services, traffic information including real-time information, interactive self-service terminals in the Union territory; for urban, suburban and regional transport services, only the interactive self-service terminals apply (letter e);
- Banking services for consumers;
- E-books and software intended for them;
- Services in electronic commerce.
No. 5 is the practically most important constituent element: it covers online shops and other consumer contracts concluded electronically. A purely business-to-business shop without a consumer offering falls outside; a website without the possibility of concluding a contract likewise — the distinction must be substantiated and documented.
4. Check content exceptions (§ 1 (4) BFSG)
For websites and mobile applications, the Act applies not to:
- recorded time-based media that before 28.06.2025 were published;
- File formats of office applications that were published before 28.06.2025;
- Online maps and map services, provided that, for navigation maps, essential information is made available in an accessible digital form;
- Third-party content that the economic operator neither financed nor developed and that is not subject to its control;
- Archive content that is neither updated nor revised after 28.06.2025.
The archive exception (No. 5) ceases to apply as soon as the content is modified. The third-party content exception (No. 4) does not cover embedded services that the operator controls or pays for.
Pursuant to Section 1(5) BFSG, Sections 45a to 45d and 95a to 96 UrhG as well as Regulation (EU) 2017/1563 (Marrakesh implementation) remain unaffected.
5. Check the microenterprise exemption (Section 3(3) BFSG)
The wording is narrower than it is cited in advisory practice:
"Paragraph 1 does not apply to microenterprises that services offer or provide."
Consequences:
- The exemption applies only to services, not to products. A microenterprise that manufactures, imports or distributes covered products remains fully bound.
- Microenterprise is, pursuant to Section 2 No. 17 BFSG , an undertaking that employs fewer than ten persons and either achieves annual revenue of no more than EUR 2 million or whose annual balance sheet total is no more than EUR 2 million. Both thresholds must be assessed cumulatively with the number of employees.
- For microenterprises that are concerned with products , documentation relief applies under Section 16(4) and Section 17(2) sentences 3, 4 BFSG — the substantive requirements remain in place.
- The BMAS draws up guidelines for microenterprises (Section 3(3) sentence 2 BFSG).
6. Calculate transitional provisions (Section 38 BFSG)
| Scenario | Transition |
|---|---|
| Provision of services using products that were before 28.06.2025 lawfully used | permissible until 27.06.2030 (Section 38(1) sentence 1) |
| Contracts concluded before 28.06.2025 for services | continue unchanged until expiry of the agreed period, at the latest until 27.06.2030 (Section 38(1) sentence 2) |
| Self-service terminalsthat were lawfully used before 28.06.2025 | until the end of the economic useful life, at most 15 years from putting into use (Section 38(2)) |
The fifteen-year period runs from putting into use, not from the cut-off date — for older devices it may already have expired.
7. Result and next steps
If the scope of application is opened, the following follow:
- Products →
/barrierefreiheit-bfsg:bfsg-produktkonformitaet - Services, in particular e-commerce →
/barrierefreiheit-bfsg:bfsg-dienstleistung-ecommerce - Public bodies →
/barrierefreiheit-bfsg:bitv-oeffentliche-stellen
Deterministic calculation
The BFSG deadlines are fixed dates; what must be calculated is the fifteen-year period under Section 38 (2) and the expiry of ongoing service contracts. The calculator in ../../../scripts/legal_calc/ only performs the arithmetic:
# Selbstbedienungsterminal, Ingebrauchnahme 01.09.2014: 15 Jahre
python -m scripts.legal_calc.cli frist --ereignis 01.09.2014 --menge 15 --einheit jahre --land BY
# Äußerste Grenze für Altverträge nach § 38 Abs. 1 S. 2: 27.06.2030 (Fixdatum, keine Berechnung)
The economic useful life is a factual determination and must be substantiated separately.
Sources
Statutes
- Section 1 BFSG, Section 2 BFSG, Section 3 BFSG, Section 16 BFSG, Section 17 BFSG, Section 37 BFSG, Section 38 BFSG
- BFSGV, in particular § 1, § 3
- Directive (EU) 2019/882 (European Accessibility Act), Art. 2, 4, Annex I — EUR-Lex
- Section 12a BGG, Section 12b BGG, BITV 2.0
- Section 45a UrhG et seq.; Regulation (EU) 2017/1563
Commentaries and literature
- Ritgen/Sellmann, BFSG, commentary, Section 1, Section 3, Section 38.
- Dörr/Natlacen, Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz, practical handbook.
- Articles on the scope of application of the BFSG in K&R, MMR and ZD 2024/2025 (verify the reference before use)
[unverifiziert – prüfen] - Bundesfachstelle für Barrierefreiheit, standard list and conformity tables under Section 3 (2) BFSGV.
Case law
On the BFSG there is as yet no settled case law ; the Act has only been applicable since 28.06.2025. For the delimitation of electronic commerce, the case law on distance selling law may be relied upon; every decision must be verified in juris or Beck-Online before use [unverifiziert – prüfen].
Output format
BFSG-BETROFFENHEIT — <Mandant> — <Datum>
I. Regimezuordnung
Adressat: [privater Wirtschaftsakteur / öffentliche Stelle / beides]
Maßgeblich: [BFSG + BFSGV | BGG + BITV 2.0 | Landesrecht <X>]
II. Rolle
[Hersteller / Bevollmächtigter / Einführer / Händler / Dienstleistungserbringer]
Mehrfachrolle § 12 BFSG: [ja — Herstellerpflichten / nein]
III. Produktkatalog § 1 Abs. 2
Nr. 1–5 geprüft: <Zuordnung oder Negativfeststellung>
Inverkehrbringen: <Datum> → [erfasst / nicht erfasst]
IV. Dienstleistungskatalog § 1 Abs. 3
Nr. 1–5 geprüft: <Zuordnung oder Negativfeststellung>
Verbraucherbezug: [ja / nein — B2B ausgenommen]
Erbringung ab: <Datum> → [erfasst / nicht erfasst]
V. Inhaltsausnahmen § 1 Abs. 4
Nr. 1–5: <je Nummer: einschlägig / nicht einschlägig>
VI. Kleinstunternehmen § 3 Abs. 3 iVm § 2 Nr. 17
Beschäftigte < 10: [ja / nein]
Umsatz ≤ 2 Mio. EUR oder Bilanzsumme ≤ 2 Mio. EUR: [ja / nein]
Ergebnis: [Ausnahme greift — nur für Dienstleistungen / greift nicht]
VII. Übergang § 38
Altprodukte im Diensteinsatz: bis 27.06.2030
Altverträge: bis <Datum>, längstens 27.06.2030
Selbstbedienungsterminals: Ingebrauchnahme <Datum> + 15 Jahre = <Datum>
VIII.Ergebnis und nächste Schritte
IX. Risiko: 🟢 / 🟡 / 🔴 <Begründung>
X. Quellenverzeichnis
Risks / typical errors
- Extended the microenterprise exemption to products. Section 3 (3) BFSG expressly exempts only microenterprises that services offer or provide.
- Microenterprise defined incorrectly. Section 2 No. 17 BFSG requires fewer than ten employees and one of the two EUR 2 million thresholds — not the general SME definition.
- Treated the catalogue as a list of examples. Section 1 (2) and (3) BFSG are exhaustive; what is not listed does not fall under the BFSG.
- Included B2B offerings. The BFSG covers services that are for consumers provided.
- Related the deadline to the sale instead of the placing on the market.
- Overstretched the archive exemption. Section 1 (4) No. 5 BFSG applies only as long as the content is neither updated nor revised after 28.06.2025.
- Confused the BFSG with the BGG/BITV 2.0. Addressees, requirements and enforcement differ entirely.
- Section 38 (2) calculated from the deadline. The fifteen-year period runs from putting into service of the terminal.
- Invented case law. There is hardly any case law on the BFSG; every decision must be substantiated or marked as
[unverifiziert – prüfen].