For the purposes of this Regulation the notion of ‘publicly accessible space’ should be
understood as referring to any physical space that is accessible to an undetermined
number of natural persons, and irrespective of whether the space in question is privately
or publicly owned, irrespective of the activity for which the space may be used, such as
for commerce, for example, shops, restaurants, cafés; for services, for example, banks,
professional activities, hospitality; for sport, for example, swimming pools, gyms,
stadiums; for transport, for example, bus, metro and railway stations, airports, means of
transport; for entertainment, for example, cinemas, theatres, museums, concert and
conference halls; or for leisure or otherwise, for example, public roads and squares,
parks, forests, playgrounds. A space should also be classified as being publicly accessible
if, regardless of potential capacity or security restrictions, access is subject to certain
predetermined conditions which can be fulfilled by an undetermined number of persons,
such as the purchase of a ticket or title of transport, prior registration or having a certain
age. In contrast, a space should not be considered to be publicly accessible if access is
limited to specific and defined natural persons through either Union or national law
directly related to public safety or security or through the clear manifestation of will by
the person having the relevant authority over the space. The factual possibility of access
alone, such as an unlocked door or an open gate in a fence, does not imply that the space
is publicly accessible in the presence of indications or circumstances suggesting the
contrary, such as. signs prohibiting or restricting access. Company and factory premises,
as well as offices and workplaces that are intended to be accessed only by relevant
employees and service providers, are spaces that are not publicly accessible. Publicly
accessible spaces should not include prisons or border control. Some other spaces may
comprise both publicly accessible and non-publicly accessible spaces, such as the
hallway of a private residential building necessary to access a doctor's office or an
airport. Online spaces are not covered, as they are not physical spaces. Whether a given
space is accessible to the public should however be determined on a case-by-case basis,
having regard to the specificities of the individual situation at hand.