Self-service terminals

What the EAA covers here

This sector covers ATMs, ticket-vending and check-in machines, and interactive payment terminals as EAA products: physical devices with a digital interface that a consumer operates unaided, typically in public, without staff assistance built into the transaction. That framing as a product rather than a service is what puts hardware design — the keypad, the screen, the card slot, the audio jack — on the same footing as the software running on it.

Terminals deployed specifically as part of a transport service are covered under the passenger-transport sector instead, because that context adds its own requirements; this page is about general-purpose self-service devices.

Hardware and the software running on it

A terminal review has to hold both halves at once. The physical side covers input — whether a keypad or tactile controls exist alongside or instead of a flat touchscreen — and output — screen text size and contrast, and whether audio output is actually routed through a headphone jack rather than only through a speaker anyone nearby can hear. The software side covers the interface running on the device: focus handling, timeout behaviour, and whether gestures the touchscreen expects (swipe, multi-finger tap) have a single-input alternative.

The 20-year transitional window

Terminals already lawfully in use before 28 June 2025 don’t have to be pulled from service immediately: they may keep running until the end of their economic life, capped at 20 years from their entry into use. New terminals deployed from that date have no such transitional period — they’re expected to meet the requirements from installation. That distinction matters for anyone planning a fleet refresh: an existing estate has a runway, a new purchase order doesn’t.

What auditors look at first

A first pass typically checks the keypad and physical controls before anything on screen: is there a way to enter a PIN or make a selection without relying on the touchscreen, and does the device keep its key-repeat and timing behaviour usable rather than too fast or too slow to control. From there it checks on-screen contrast and whether text can be enlarged, whether a session timeout gives a warning before it expires, and whether an assistive-technology connection point — most often a headphone jack — actually carries the transaction’s audio rather than being present but silent.