Welcome to Pay-Able!
Imagine standing at the checkout of a grocery store. You would like to pay for your groceries with your payment card. For most of us, this might not seem an unusually difficult procedure. But imagine having a disability: it might be difficult to see the numbers on the screen, to hear the sounds from the payment terminal or to press the small keys. Meanwhile, other customers are queuing behind you. Also, you are afraid of making costly mistakes as you cannot clearly see the total amount on the payment terminal. Wouldn’t this situation make you feel uncomfortable?
There are 80 million disabled and close to 100 million elderly consumers in Europe. Many of them regularly experience problems when trying to pay by card. Millions of European citizens are excluded from carrying out payments in shops, restaurants, at ticketing machines and at other public access terminals, on a daily basis. This problem is even more urgent now that our society is transitioning to a less cash environment.
The initiative is supported by all European consumer associations.
Pay-Able is honored to be under the high patronage of Professor Herman Van Rompuy, President Emeritus of the European Council.
Design for All
The problem can be solved. Payment terminals could for example be equipped with audio output, a screen with more contrast and larger fonts and fixed places for the keys. Innovative ways of interacting with a payment terminal, for example through Bluetooth or Near Field Communication (NFC), could be part of the solution.
Design for All is about design for human diversity, social inclusion and equality. It is a concept of designing products to be aesthetic and usable by everyone to the greatest extent possible. Pay-Able believes that payment terminals should be designed following the principle of Design for All. This ensures that everyone, including disabled and elderly consumers, has barrier free access to payment terminals.
To Pay-Able it is clear that an accessibility standard for user-friendly payment terminals is needed for all European citizens to become Pay-Able!
For more information, see our position paper.
European Accessibility Act
In 2015, the European Commission published the proposal for a European Accessibility Act (EAA). Payment terminals were not included in the scope of the proposal. Since then, Pay-Able has advocated for the inclusion of payment terminals in the EAA. In 2017, Pay-Able was delighted to learn that both the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, in their positions on the EAA, have decided to add payment terminals to the scope.
Pay-Able is hoping the negotiations among the European Parliament, the Council and the European Commission (trialogue) on the EAA will be finished soon.
News
Meet us at the ICCHP!
9 July 2018
Pay-Able will attend the International Conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs (ICCHP) in Linz, Austria, which is being held from 11 to 13 July 2018. We are looking forward to see and hear the many interesting presentations the conference has to offer and to meet lots of people and organizations!
We’ll be presenting our campaign story on Friday 13 July 2018 (during the 9.00 – 10.30 time slot).
More info on the conference can be found at the ICCHP website .
European Parliament adds payment terminals to the EAA
Brussels, 3 October 2017
On the 14th of September, the European Parliament (EP) adopted its position on the EAA. In the adopted report, payment terminals are now included, next to Automated Teller Machines, ticketing machines and check-in machines. Pay-Able is very thrilled about this outcome and would like to thank all of its members for the support received in the last 1.5 years. The adopted position will give the European Parliament the mandate to enter into negotiations with the Council of the EU (Council) and the European Commission during the so-called trialogue procedure.
Launch event on Euractiv
Brussels, 28 June 2016
The official launch of Pay-Able took place on 22 June 2016 in the European Parliament in Brussels. An article about the launch event was published on the Euractiv webpage.
Official launch of Pay-Able!
Brussels, 22 June 2016
Today, Pay-Able was officially launched in European Parliament in Brussels. Mr Joep Aarts, Director of Oogvereniging (Eye Association Netherlands), kicked off the initiative by launching the website. View the press release.
Members
European members
National members
Join Pay-Able
Pay-Able can use the support of more (umbrella) organisations in Europe. If you would like to join our effort to make Europe more Pay-Able, please contact us via info@pay-able.eu for more information about membership of Pay-Able.
Publications
Press release
Press release on the Pay-Able launch event which took place in European Parliament on Wednesday 22 June 2016.
Download press release:
Consultation
Pay-Able warmly welcomes the launch of the long-awaited European Accessibility Act (EAA) and is pleased to learn that ATMs are included in the scope of the EAA. However, Pay-Able is surprised to learn that payment terminals are not included in the scope. Payment terminals are widely-used self-service terminals and are more frequently used by European consumers than ATMs. But disabled and elderly consumers in Europe often experience difficulties when operating payment terminals.
The barriers faced are many. They lead to increased economic costs for European society as a whole, for example due to long queues in stores as an elderly or disabled consumer needs to take more time to complete the payment process. Making payment terminals more accessible will therefore benefit European society as a whole.
Download full document:
Position Paper
Are you Pay-Able? Millions of disabled and elderly consumers in Europe are not able to pay independently via a payment terminal. They often feel embarrassed when they experience problems paying in a store due to large queues behind them. In a world where cash is used less frequently it is unacceptable to exclude people from carrying out a basic daily need – paying using a payment card. If Europe wants to become a fully inclusive society, financial inclusion is key.
A standard for user-friendly payment terminals is needed. Pay-Able therefore calls on the European Commission to include payment terminals in the scope of the European Accessibility Act (EAA).
Download full document:
About us
Pay-Able
- is a cross-sectoral, single-issue European platform;
- has one goal: barrier free access to payment terminals for everyone in Europe;
- is an initiative of Oogvereniging (Eye Association Netherlands), as part of the Working Group on Accessibility of the Dutch National Forum on the Payment System, and the European Blind Union;
- was founded in 2015;
- is registered in the EU Transparency Register (204292818153-90);
- is under the high patronage of Professor Herman Van Rompuy, President Emeritus of the European Council.
Contact
Contact us at info@pay-able.eu