Digital accessibility is no longer a nice-to-have - across the EU it is now law. The European Accessibility Act (EAA) requires many websites, apps, and digital services to work for people with disabilities. Here is who must comply and what it takes.
Are you in scope?
The EAA has applied since 28 June 2025, transposed into national law across all 27 member states. It covers economic operators that sell covered products or provide covered services to EU consumers - regardless of where the company is based. The sectors most affected:
- e-commerce and online shops;
- banking, payments, and financial services;
- telecoms, transport, and ticketing;
- e-books, streaming, and computing hardware.
Microenterprises providing services - fewer than 10 staff and under 2M EUR turnover - are exempt, but only for services, not products.
What “accessible” actually means
In practice, compliance means meeting the EN 301 549 standard, which today maps to WCAG 2.1 level AA. The next version of EN 301 549, expected in 2026, folds in WCAG 2.2 - so building to 2.2 now is the safe bet. Concretely that means keyboard navigation, sufficient colour contrast, text alternatives for images, captions, clear labels and focus order, and forms that work with screen readers.
This overlaps with the quality basics in our technical SEO guide - clean, semantic markup helps accessibility and search at once.
Deadlines and penalties
New services had to comply from 28 June 2025; services already on the market get until 28 June 2030. Enforcement and fines are set by each member state and can include withdrawing the product or service from the market. Beyond the legal risk, an inaccessible checkout quietly loses you the roughly 25% of users who have some form of disability - the same audience your web shop is paying to attract.
This article is general information, not legal advice. The EAA is transposed and enforced per member state; confirm your exact obligations with qualified counsel.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the EAA apply to my small business? If you sell to EU consumers in a covered sector, likely yes. Service providers with fewer than 10 staff and under 2M EUR turnover are exempt, but product makers are not.
Which accessibility standard must I meet? The EN 301 549 standard, currently aligned with WCAG 2.1 AA. WCAG 2.2 is expected to become the reference in 2026, so aim for 2.2.
What is the deadline? New services since 28 June 2025; services already on the market have until 28 June 2030.
What are the penalties? Each member state sets its own fines and can pull a non-compliant service from the market.
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Need an accessible website or app?
We audit your site against WCAG 2.1/2.2, fix contrast, keyboard, and screen-reader issues, and build accessibility into new products from day one - so compliance is engineered in, not bolted on.
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