The European Accessibility Act in plain words

The European Accessibility Act (EAA) has applied since 28 June 2025. It is an EU directive that every member state has turned into its own national law, such as the BFSG in Germany. Its goal is simple: people with disabilities should be able to buy and use everyday products and services, including online.

If you sell to consumers in the EU, there is a good chance it covers your website or app. Here is what it means in practice.

Who it applies to

The EAA covers a list of products and services sold to consumers. For most websites, the relevant ones are:

• E-commerce: online shops and any website or app where consumers buy products or services.
• Consumer banking: online banking, payment and credit services.
• Passenger transport: websites, apps and e-tickets for air, bus, rail and boat travel.
• E-books and the software used to read them.
• Electronic communications and access to audiovisual media services, such as streaming.

It also covers hardware such as computers, smartphones, ATMs, ticket machines and e-readers, but this post is about websites.

It doesn't matter where your company is based. A shop outside the EU that sells to consumers in the EU is covered in the same way.

The small-business exemption

Micro-enterprises that provide services are exempt. A micro-enterprise has fewer than 10 employees and an annual turnover or balance sheet total of no more than €2 million.

So a two-person online shop is usually exempt for its services. A shop with 15 employees, or with €3 million in turnover, usually isn't. The exemption doesn't apply to manufacturers of the covered products.

Being exempt doesn't stop your customers with disabilities from struggling on your site, and many of the fixes are small. Accessibility also helps search rankings and conversion, so it is worth doing anyway.

What it asks your website to do

The EAA describes requirements in general terms: a service must be perceivable, operable, understandable and robust, the same four principles as WCAG. In practice, the reference everyone uses for websites is the European standard EN 301 549, which for web content follows WCAG 2.1 level AA.

That means things like:

1. Text has enough contrast and can be zoomed to 200% without breaking.
2. Images have text alternatives.
3. Everything works with a keyboard, with a visible focus.
4. Forms have labels and clear error messages.
5. Videos have captions.
6. The checkout, account and support pages work for screen reader users.

Service providers must also explain how their service meets the requirements, usually in an accessibility statement linked from the site.

What about existing content and contracts?

There are some transition rules. Service contracts agreed before 28 June 2025 can continue unchanged until they end, for at most five years. Self-service terminals already in use can stay in service until the end of their useful life, up to 20 years. Your website itself has no grace period: what you offer to consumers now should meet the requirements now.

There is also a disproportionate burden exception: if meeting a requirement would be an excessive cost for your business, you can document an assessment of why. It has to be a real, written assessment, and it isn't a blanket way out.

Who checks, and what happens if you don't comply

Each EU country has a market surveillance authority that can check websites, ask for changes and, in the end, impose penalties set by national law. In several countries consumers and consumer associations can also take action.

The bigger everyday risk is simpler: customers who can't complete a purchase leave, and they tell others.

Where to start

1. Check if you're covered. Do you sell to consumers in the EU? Are you above the micro-enterprise threshold?
2. Scan your key pages. Start with the home page, a product page, the cart and the checkout. Our free checker above tests one page and gives the fix for every problem it finds.
3. Fix the templates first. The header, navigation, footer and product template appear on every page; one fix there fixes many pages.
4. Test the checkout with a keyboard. Put the mouse away and try to buy something.
5. Write an accessibility statement. Say what you've tested, what you know isn't accessible yet, and how people can contact you.

We cover the EAA, its technical requirements and a full checklist in our EAA checker guide. For the common fixes, start with the 6 accessibility problems on almost every website.

This is general information, not legal advice. For a decision about your own business, check your country's national law or talk to a lawyer.