Assistive Listening Knowledge Base
  • Harmonised European standard

EN 301 549 V4.1.1 (2026-09): accessibility requirements for ICT products and services

From https://assistivelisteningknowledgebase.org/evidence/etsi-2026-en-301-549-v4/ · record checked 13 October 2026

  • ETSI, CEN and CENELEC
  • European Telecommunications Standards Institute

Standards body (ETSI, CEN and CENELEC, the European standards organisations)

Summary

The new edition of the European ICT accessibility standard, written as a means of meeting the European Accessibility Act, including how kiosks, phones and other ICT should work with hearing technologies.

Key findings

  • Adopted on 24 August 2026; national standards bodies must announce it by 30 November 2026 and publish it by 31 May 2027, and conflicting national standards are withdrawn by 31 May 2028. It gives a presumption of conformity with the European Accessibility Act once cited in the Official Journal.
  • Clause 4.2.5 requires ICT with auditory modes to provide enhanced audio features; a note says letting people connect assistive listening devices, for example through headphone jacks, Bluetooth, USB or WLAN, can contribute.
  • Wired handsets and phones held to the ear must provide magnetic (telecoil) coupling to hearing technologies; a note says kiosks and other ticket and information machines sometimes have such handsets.
  • Its mapping to the European Accessibility Act links the requirement that self-service terminals be compatible with "hearing aids, telecoils, cochlear implants and assistive listening devices" to clauses 4.2, 5.1, 8.2 and 11.5.2.
  • Does not mention LE Audio or Auracast.
  • The cover and document history identify September 2026 as the publication month. Clause 8.2.2.1 requires fixed-line communication devices or wired handsets with speech output typically held to the ear to provide magnetic coupling; marking that compatibility is required where the ICT is designed for public use.

Limits

Covers ICT products and services such as kiosks, terminals and phones, not assistive listening systems in rooms. Whether it has been cited in the Official Journal was not checked.

Read the original

www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_en/301500_301599/301549/04.01.01_60/en_301549v040101p.pdf

Link checked . We link to the original and do not host copies.

Cited in

Cite this source

ETSI, CEN and CENELEC. EN 301 549 V4.1.1 (2026-09): accessibility requirements for ICT products and services. European Telecommunications Standards Institute. September 2026. https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_en/301500_301599/301549/04.01.01_60/en_301549v040101p.pdf (accessed 13 October 2026).

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