Accessibility Act to affect communication used by banks

The time has come to use plain language in banks’ communications with customers. To date, despite the lack of a statutory obligation, some banks have already begun implementing accessible language and legal design methodologies in their contracts and terms and conditions. However, this change will become a legal requirement as of 28 June 2025, when the Accessibility Act will come into force.

What will the Accessibility Act change?

On 28 June 2025, the Act of 26 April 2024 on Ensuring that Business Entities Meet Accessibility Requirements for Certain Products and Services (the “Accessibility Act”) will enter into force, implementing into Polish law directive (EU) 2019/882 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on the accessibility requirements for products and services.

The Accessibility Act sets out the accessibility requirements for products and services, as well as the obligations that must be met by operators to ensure that the accessibility requirements for products and services are met, which operators include, among others, providers of retail banking services. In offering and providing services, retail banking service providers will be required to provide information that is, inter alia, presented in an understandable waywith the use of fonts of adequate size and suitable shape, taking into account reasonably foreseeable conditions of use, and using sufficient contrast, as well as adjustable spacing between letters, lines and paragraphs. Importantly, one of the additional accessibility requirements in retail banking services is to ensure that information is provided in Polish or, with the consumer’s consent, in another language at language proficiency level B2 (upper intermediate) of the Council of Europe’s Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

Language proficiency level B2 –what does it mean?

Language proficiency is instinctively associated with foreign languages rather than the mother tongue – but there is no obstacle to the level of simplicity and comprehensibility of language also being applied to Polish. In accordance with the new rules, banks are required to provide information at language proficiency level B2 regardless of whether it is formulated in Polish or a foreign language.

The Accessibility Act does not provide much clarification on how to understand this requirement, which can be problematic for those required to apply it. The Accessibility Directive Act merely indicates that providers of consumer banking services should ensure that information is understandable, without exceeding a level of complexity higher than level B2 (upper intermediate).

What needs to be done to adapt communication to the new requirements?

Changing communication to be more accessible is a difficult and time-consuming task faced by all retail banking providers.

A tool that can help banks comply with the new statutory requirements is legal design, a methodology for simplifying legal documents that puts the recipient of the message at the centre. When the language is changed to a more accessible form, unnecessary legal jargon is dropped and graphics are used to facilitate communication. The result is the clear, accessible and reader-friendly level required by the Accessibility Act.

The adaptation of language to the B2 proficiency level can also be facilitated by the ISO 24495-1:2023 plain language standard , i.e. an international standard that sets forth basic principles and guidelines for drafting documents in plain language. By applying the guidance described in the standard, banks can not only meet the statutory requirement, but can also realistically increase customer confidence in the services they offer.

What might the consequences of inaccessible communication be?

A service provider that fails to meet the accessibility requirements of the products or services offered or provided is subject to a fine of up to ten times the average monthly salary in the national economy for the preceding year, but no more than 10% of the turnover achieved in the financial year preceding the year in which the fine is imposed. The amount of a fine will depend on the extent of the violation of the Act, including its gravity, the number of products or services that do not meet the accessibility requirements, and the number of people adversely affected by it.

How can we help?

The Compliance Team has been assisting clients, including those in the banking sector, with simplifying legal documents in accordance with the legal design methodology. Given the new legal requirements under the Accessibility Act, in our view, it is crucial to prove that simplifying language in accordance with the legal design methodology and based on the ISO standard for plain language fulfils the requirement to ensure that information is understandable and does not exceed the level of B2 in complexity. In this respect, a memorandum analysing how the use of legal design and plain language principles meets the requirements directed at consumers can be helpful.

In addition, we also offer ongoing support in connection with the actual simplification of documents, resulting in regulations and contracts that are simple and understandable for bank customers. Document modification will not only ensure that regulatory requirements are met, but also that customers feel secure in their relationship with their retail banking provider.

[1] Financial Ombudsman, Accessibility of banking services to people with special needs. Warsaw, June 2024, available at: https://rf.gov.pl/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Dostepnosc-Uslug-Bankowych-.pdf

Join edulaw.pro’s training course to learn the principles of legal design and plain language to help you create content that is accessible to your clients. The online training will be led by experienced lawyers from our law firm: Dr Anna Partyka-Opiela, Jan Bednarski and Maria Papis-Wieczorek. Course will be held in Polish.