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 V3.2.1 (2021-03) directly:

Download EN 301 549 V3.2.1 (PDF, ETSI)

V3.2.1 (WCAG 2.1 AA) is the version cited in the EU Official Journal and currently has legal effect for EAA presumption of conformity. A newer edition, V4.1.1 (WCAG 2.2 AA), has been published but is not yet cited — see what's coming in V4.1.1 for what's changing and when it's expected to take effect.