The European Accessibility Act (EAA): a practical guide

The European Accessibility Act — Directive (EU) 2019/882 — is the EU law that makes digital accessibility mandatory for most consumer-facing products and services. It has applied since 28 June 2025.

Who is in scope

• E-commerce websites and apps selling to EU consumers — including companies based outside the EU.
• Consumer banking, e-books, transport, telecoms and other listed services.
• Exemption: micro-enterprises providing services (fewer than 10 employees and ≤ €2M turnover).

What it requires

• Perceivable, operable, understandable and robust digital interfaces. The harmonised technical benchmark is EN 301 549, which incorporates WCAG 2.1 Level AA for web content.
• An accessibility statement describing how the service meets the requirements.
• Documentation demonstrating compliance effort — market-surveillance authorities can request evidence.

Enforcement and penalties

Each member state enforces the EAA through national law (e.g. the BFSG in Germany) with its own penalty regime — fines commonly range from €10,000 to €500,000 per member state, and non-compliant services can be ordered off the market. Consumers and disability organisations can file complaints.

A pragmatic compliance path

• 1. Scan your site against WCAG 2.1 AA to establish a baseline (automated, minutes).
• 2. Fix the violations — starting with critical/serious ones. Deterministic issues (contrast, missing attributes) can be fixed mechanically; semantic issues (alt text, labels) need human-reviewed AI assistance.
• 3. Verify by re-scanning, and add manual checks for criteria automation can't cover.
• 4. Document: keep timestamped audit reports and publish an accessibility statement.
• 5. Monitor: re-scan after every release — compliance is a process, not a one-off.

Legal reference: Directive (EU) 2019/882 on EUR-Lex. This guide is general information, not legal advice.