Proposal to add new definitions to EN301549 run counter to Standards Mandate
ISSUE: The proposals to add new definitions to EN301549 v4.1.1a (2024-01) clause 3.1 (Terms) and to change the wording of subclause 6.2.1.1 (RTT communication) run counter to the terms of the Standards Mandate and are therefore beyond the scope of this activity.
- Annex IV, Part A.1 of the Standards Mandate directs ETSI to revise the EN “in support of Annex I” of the European Accessibility Act (EAA).
Specifically, said revisions “shall not” support any other requirements other than those referenced in the Mandate. Accordingly, expanding the scope of the RTT requirement beyond what is required by the EAA, e.g., to include artificial intelligence, bots, etc., is not permitted by the Mandate.
- Annex IV, Part A.1 also says that the revised EN “shall not…modify any definitions set by Directive 2019/882 or referred therein and in any other legal act referred therein or define any legally relevant terms not defined in Directive 2019/882 itself or in any other legal act referred therein.”
The proposed revisions to the EN referenced above violate these provisions in the following ways:
• It includes definitions for “conversation” and “participant” that would be legally relevant for the RTT requirement but are not defined in the EAA "or any other legal act referred therein," e.g., the European Electronic Communications Code (EECC).
• The proposed definition of “participant” effectively modifies the current definition of “interpersonal communications service” contained in the EECC, a definition incorporated by reference in the EAA.
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- Article 2(5) of the EECC says: “‘interpersonal communications service’ means a service normally provided for remuneration that enables direct interpersonal and interactive exchange of information via electronic communications networks between a finite number of persons, whereby the persons initiating or participating in the communication determine its recipient(s) and does not include services which enable interpersonal and interactive communication merely as a minor ancillary feature that is intrinsically linked to another service” [emphasis added].
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- EECC Recital 17 says: “Interpersonal communications services only cover communications between a finite, that is to say not potentially unlimited, number of natural persons” [emphasis added].
Accordingly, only communications between human participants are in-scope for the EAA. The proposed EN revision, however, defines “participant” as “person, or ICT, that is taking part in an interpersonal communications service session” [emphasis added]. This effectively changes the definition of interpersonal communications services to include communications with ICT. As explained above, changing a definition in the law is prohibited by the Mandate.
Therefore, the new definitions of “participant” and “conversation” should not be added to clause 3.1 (Terms) of a revised EN 301 549, and the wording of clause 6.2.1.1 (RTT Communication) should not be modified from the current text in EN 301 549 v3.2.1.