Clause 13 — ICT providing relay or emergency service access

Clause 13 sits alongside Clause 6 (two-way voice communication) and focuses specifically on the public-interest communications layer: relay services and emergency services.

What it covers

• Relay services — where ICT supports two-way communication, it must not block a user's access to relay services, which let people using different communication modes (speech, text, sign language via video relay, speech-to-speech assistance) communicate with each other, typically via a human operator converting between modes.
• Emergency services — similarly, ICT supporting two-way communication must not block access to emergency services (such as 112 in the EU), including support for real-time text to emergency services where technically feasible.

Who this applies to

Products and services that support two-way communication and could plausibly be a user's means of reaching a relay or emergency service — phone systems, communication apps, and similar.

Read the standard

This page is a plain-language summary, not the normative text. For the full requirement wording, see EN 301 549 V4.1.1 (2026-09) directly:

Download EN 301 549 V4.1.1 (PDF, ETSI)

V4.1.1 is the newest published edition, aligned with WCAG 2.2 AA. It is not yet cited in the EU Official Journal, so V3.2.1 (WCAG 2.1 AA) remains the version with current legal effect for EAA presumption of conformity — see the timeline for the expected citation date.