Digital accessibility of our services

Purpose of this page

This page sets out the position of PremiWeb Design, as a provider of website design and development, design, photography, video and digital maintenance services, under the legal framework for the accessibility of products and services established in Portugal by Decree-Law no. 82/2022 of 6 December, which transposes Directive (EU) 2019/882 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 (European Accessibility Act).

Digital accessibility is today an essential part of inclusion and a legal compliance requirement increasingly expected of businesses offering products and services to consumers in the European Union. This page is intended to provide information on the framework under article 13 of that decree-law and to make clear to clients and users where PremiWeb Design stands under this framework.

General legal framework

Decree-Law no. 82/2022 of 6 December came into force on 7 December 2022 and has applied, in its main phase, since 28 June 2025, the date from which accessibility obligations apply to products placed on the market and to services provided to consumers. It aims to harmonise, across Europe, the conditions that promote accessibility for people with disabilities and functional limitations, removing barriers to the free movement of accessible products and services. The technical accessibility requirements are not set out in the decree-law itself.

They were delegated to Ordinance no. 220/2023 of 20 July, adopted under article 37 of the decree-law. This ordinance contains the wording that applies to websites and mobile apps, requiring them to be perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. It also sets out the requirements for identification, security and payment in e-commerce services.

Neither the decree-law nor the ordinance names the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) or the harmonised standard EN 301 549 directly. The mechanism used is the presumption of conformity in article 15, under which products and services are considered to meet the accessibility requirements when they conform to harmonised standards or technical specifications whose references have been published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Who the framework applies to

Under article 2(3) of Decree-Law no. 82/2022, the framework applies, as regards services, to a closed list of activities, namely: electronic communications services; access to audiovisual media services; elements of passenger transport services (websites, mobile apps, electronic ticketing and real-time travel information); certain consumer banking and financial services; e-books and dedicated software; and e-commerce services.

Article 2(5)(b) excludes micro-enterprises that provide the services listed in paragraph 3. For this purpose, a micro-enterprise is one that employs fewer than 10 people and whose annual turnover or annual balance sheet total does not exceed 2 million euros, taking into account, where applicable, the companies of the same group. The exemption is asymmetric: it covers only the provision of services, not the placing on the market of products covered by the framework.

Difference from the public sector framework (Decree-Law no. 83/2018)

A second accessibility law also applies in Portugal: Decree-Law no. 83/2018 of 19 October, which transposes Directive (EU) 2016/2102 and applies to the websites and mobile apps of the entities covered by the public sector framework (the State, the Autonomous Regions, local authorities and other public entities). It is this law that requires the so-called accessibility and usability statement, following the official template published by the Administrative Modernisation Agency (AMA).

The formal accessibility statement, in the structure published by AMA, is a duty that applies to the entities covered by Decree-Law no. 83/2018. Private companies providing the services listed in article 2 of Decree-Law no. 82/2022 have a different duty, under article 13(2) and Annex II of that law, with its own content and location. Publishing the public template on a private website therefore answers the wrong duty and does not replace the actual obligation.

Information duties of service providers (article 13)

Article 13(2) of Decree-Law no. 82/2022 imposes two cumulative duties on covered service providers: to prepare the information required by Annex II and to explain how their services meet the applicable accessibility requirements, making this information available to the public.

Annex II sets where it must be published: in the general terms and conditions of the service or an equivalent document, in addition to the pre-contractual information duty under Decree-Law no. 24/2014 of 14 February on distance and off-premises contracts. The required content includes a general description of the service in accessible formats, an explanation of its accessibility features and a description of how the applicable requirements are met.

Penalties

Failure to comply with the duties under Decree-Law no. 82/2022 is an administrative offence under its article 29. Offences are graded by seriousness: providing a service that does not meet the accessibility requirements (article 4) and failing to document the assessment of disproportionate burden (article 14) are very serious offences; failing to prepare the Annex II information is a serious offence.

PremiWeb Design’s activity and the scope of the framework

PremiWeb Design provides website design and development, design, photography, video and digital maintenance services, an activity that falls under the service contract provided for in article 1154 of the Portuguese Civil Code. Contracts are mostly concluded at a distance, electronically, through the company’s website, and the company has no premises open to the public.

An analysis of the scope of Decree-Law no. 82/2022 leads to the conclusion that website design and development, as such, is not directly covered by the closed list of services in article 2(3). Whether the framework applies to the agency depends, however, on the nature of the services it actually provides in its own name and on the ways of contracting offered on its website.

Our position regarding the duties of the framework

If it is confirmed that the activities carried out by PremiWeb Design in its own name fall outside the scope of Decree-Law no. 82/2022, the duties under articles 13 and 14 of that law will not apply to it in that capacity. This conclusion depends on the legal classification of the activities and of the services actually provided.

This page nevertheless has a voluntary informative purpose: to make the company’s position clear to its clients and users. This does not, however, remove the need to pay particular attention to the position of PremiWeb Design’s clients. Where a client is itself a business covered by the framework (for example, an online retailer, an electronic communications provider or a public body subject to Decree-Law no. 83/2018), the accessibility of the website we build is a material part of that client’s own compliance. In these cases the agency plays an instrumental role in the end client’s compliance, reflected in the commitments below.

Voluntary commitments of PremiWeb Design

Regardless of the applicable legal framework, PremiWeb Design voluntarily adopts the following digital accessibility commitments, applying to its own website and to the services developed for clients:

a) Apply, when developing its own websites and those delivered to clients, the technical principles of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, conformance level AA, as an internationally recognised technical reference and the basis of the harmonised standard EN 301 549;

b) Ensure that the websites we build follow the four core principles of digital accessibility (perceivable, operable, understandable and robust content), checked with automated tools and manual keyboard and screen reader testing;

c) Provide, when contracted, on websites built for clients covered by Decree-Law no. 82/2022 or Decree-Law no. 83/2018, the technical structure needed to publish the Annex II information or the accessibility and usability statement under Decree-Law no. 83/2018, as applicable;

d) Keep an accessible channel for requests for information in accessible formats, at [email protected], with a reply within 15 business days at most;

e) Make clients aware, when we send a commercial proposal, of the importance of digital accessibility for legal compliance and inclusion, providing accessibility audits and remediation plans whenever requested.

Reporting accessibility barriers

Any user who finds an accessibility barrier on PremiWeb Design’s website, or on websites it has built and actively maintains, can report it at [email protected].

The company undertakes to reply within 15 business days at most and to assess and make the materially feasible corrections, according to the nature of the barrier identified and, on third-party websites, the responsibilities and services contracted. This channel does not affect the user’s right to complain to the competent authorities, according to the nature of the product or service concerned and the supervisory powers provided by law. PremiWeb Design undertakes to cooperate with the competent authorities in any inspection or inquiry concerning the services it has developed.

Contact for accessibility barriers

To report an accessibility barrier or ask for an alternative format, use the following channels:

Email: [email protected]

Website: premiwebdesign.pt

Maximum response time: 15 business days.