European Accessibility Act: what changes for your site

Web accessibility has stopped being an optional good practice: it's now a legal requirement. Since 28 June 2025, the European Accessibility Act (EAA) has applied across the European Union, the directive that requires a large share of digital products and services to be usable by people with disabilities too. If you run an e-commerce store, a platform or a consumer-facing service, it's worth understanding what changes, without panic, but with a plan.

What the EAA actually is

The European Accessibility Act is Directive (EU) 2019/882, transposed by each member state and applied from 28 June 2025. The goal is simple: harmonise accessibility rules across Europe, so a business doesn't have to chase twenty-seven different sets of rules and a person with a disability finds the same standards everywhere.

The directive doesn't only cover public-sector websites (already addressed by earlier rules): it extends the obligation to many private, consumer-facing services. That's the real shift.

Who must comply (and who can breathe easy)

The EAA applies in particular to anyone offering the public:

• e-commerce and online sales services;
• banking and financial services for consumers;
• transport (ticketing, travel information, mobility apps);
• electronic communications and audiovisual media services;
• e-books and related devices/terminals.

There is, however, an important exemption: microenterprises providing services, fewer than 10 employees and annual turnover (or balance sheet) up to 2 million euros, are not subject to the same obligations. Note: the exemption applies to services, not automatically to those who manufacture products. If in doubt, it's better to verify your position than to assume it.

Complying in practice: the WCAG 2.2 AA standard

"Accessibility" isn't a vague concept: it has a precise technical standard. The reference is WCAG 2.2 level AA (in Europe often delivered through the harmonised standard EN 301 549). In practice, that means working on a few concrete pillars:

• sufficient colour contrast between text and background, so content stays readable even with reduced vision;
• full keyboard navigation, because not everyone uses a mouse: every function must be reachable with Tab and Enter alone;
• alternative text for images, so screen readers can describe them to people who can't see them;
• correct semantic structure (headings, lists, landmarks, labelled forms) that gives the page order and meaning;
• visible focus, a clear indicator of where you are while navigating by keyboard.

These are technical tasks, but well within reach of any project built with care from the start. Fixing things after the fact costs more: that's why accessibility should be treated as a requirement, not a last-minute patch.

What about penalties?

Penalties exist and vary from one member state to another, because each country transposed the directive with its own enforcement rules. Be wary of anyone quoting precise, universal figures: there is no single European fine. What's certain is that enforcement is in place, and a non-compliant service can be reported. The calmest way to handle the topic is simply to become compliant.

Why it pays off beyond the obligation

Reducing the EAA to a box-ticking exercise would be short-sighted. An accessible site brings real benefits to everyone:

• a wider reachable audience: a significant share of the population lives with some form of disability, permanent or temporary, and is often excluded today;
• better SEO: clean semantic structure, alternative text and correct markup are exactly what search engines reward;
• better UX for everyone: adequate contrast, keyboard navigation and clear hierarchies make a site more comfortable even for people without any disability, on mobile or in tricky lighting.

Accessibility, in short, is good product engineering: it raises overall quality, not just compliance.

In short

The European Accessibility Act isn't an obstacle, it's an opportunity to build more robust, inclusive digital products. The rules are clear, the standards are defined and the work is concrete.

If you'd like to know where your site stands against WCAG 2.2 AA, and what it would take to get it compliant, we can assess it together with a free quote.