Clause 8 — Hardware

Clause 8 covers the physical, tactile side of ICT accessibility — relevant to any product with a physical control surface: kiosks, ATMs, ticket machines, payment terminals, remote controls, and general-purpose hardware like phones and laptops.

What it covers

• Standard connectors — where a product has audio output, it should offer a standard connection point (e.g. a headphone jack) so people can use their own assistive listening or captioning hardware.
• Operable parts — physical controls must be reachable and operable without requiring fine motor control, tight grasping, or simultaneous multi-point actions.
• Tactile and visual identification — controls should be distinguishable by touch (e.g. a raised marker on the “5” key) as well as by sight, and not rely on colour alone.
• Key repeat — where a device has repeating keys, the repeat rate should be adjustable or able to be turned off, so users with limited dexterity don't trigger unintended repeated input.
• Status indicators — power/on-off and other device status should be perceivable both visually and non-visually (e.g. a tone, not just an LED).

Who this applies to

Self-service terminals and kiosks, ATMs, ticket machines, payment terminals, and general ICT hardware — this is the clause that applies regardless of what software is running on the device.

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.