Accessibility compliance guides · Europe & UK

European Accessibility Act compliance

The European Accessibility Act is the first EU-wide accessibility law aimed at private-sector products and services. It has applied since June 28, 2025. If you sell covered services to consumers in the EU, the company’s address does not take you out of scope.

Applies from: June 28, 2025
Technical route: EN 301 549, which incorporates WCAG 2.1 Level AA for web content
Who: Covered consumer products and services, including non-EU sellers targeting the EU

What it is

Directive (EU) 2019/882, the European Accessibility Act, became applicable on June 28, 2025. Before that, EU web accessibility law was mostly a public sector story under the Web Accessibility Directive. The EAA extends accessibility to businesses selling certain products and services to consumers.

Each member state writes the directive into national law and sets penalties. Germany’s BFSG, France’s rules, and Italy’s Stanca Act regime are examples of how different the enforcement can look. The technical target is shared: conformity is presumed when the service meets the harmonized standard EN 301 549, which incorporates WCAG 2.1 Level AA for web content.

Microenterprises that provide services — fewer than 10 employees and under €2 million in turnover or balance sheet — are exempt from the services obligations. Products can still be covered. Some pre-existing service contracts and self-service terminals have transition periods running as far as 2030. Services newly provided from June 28, 2025 do not get that wait.

The United Kingdom is no longer an EU member and is not bound by the EAA. UK businesses that sell to EU consumers are. EU businesses that serve UK customers still answer to the Equality Act.

Who needs to comply

The EAA follows the consumer. A Canadian or U.S. store that targets the EU is in the same conversation as a store in Amsterdam.

E-commerce. Online stores selling to EU consumers. This is the widest category: product pages, cart, checkout, account, and support.
Banking and payments. Consumer banking sites, apps, and payment terminals.
Passenger transport. Air, rail, bus, and water booking, tickets, and related self-service terminals.
Telecom, media, and devices. Electronic communications, e-books and e-readers, audiovisual media, computers, smartphones, and self-service terminals such as ATMs.
Non-EU companies. If you ship to EU consumers, price in euros, or otherwise target the EU market, scope follows the customer. Market surveillance authorities can order corrections, fine traders, and withdraw services.

Timeline

The main date has passed. Transition periods are the exception, not the rule.

June 28, 2025. EAA applies across the EU. New covered services must comply.
Through 2030. Some pre-existing service contracts and self-service terminals have longer transitions. Confirm whether yours qualifies before you rely on it.
Ongoing. Member states enforce through market surveillance. Consumer and disability organizations can complain and, in some states, bring representative actions.

What the rule requires

Presumed conformity runs through EN 301 549. The shopping and account journey is where audits should start.

EN 301 549 / WCAG 2.1 AA. Web content at WCAG 2.1 Level AA, plus the EN 301 549 clauses that apply to documents, apps, and identification. A WCAG 2.2 alignment of the standard is in progress; we test 2.2 AA when you want that headroom.
The whole transaction. Product pages, cart, checkout, account, invoices, and support. CAPTCHA and two-factor flows are frequent failures.
Information and feedback. Consumers need to know how the service meets the requirements and how to reach you when it does not. We draft an accessibility statement that matches the audit.
Evidence for authorities. Market surveillance can ask for the technical file. We keep the test record with the fixes.

How we help

We help EU sellers and non-EU companies that target the EU meet EN 301 549 on the journeys customers actually complete.

A scope check: covered service or not, microenterprise exemption or not, and whether a transition period applies to anything you already operate.
An audit of the purchase and account journey against EN 301 549 / WCAG 2.1 AA, then remediation in the storefront or app.
Manual testing with NVDA, JAWS, and VoiceOver, plus keyboard-only use and browser zoom. The failures these rules care about are often invisible to an automated scan.
Remediation in your production code by our developers, so the fix lives in the product and not only in a report.
An accessibility statement and, where a buyer or regulator expects one, a VPAT-based Accessibility Conformance Report grounded in the audit.
Training for the people who publish pages, documents, and campaigns after the audit.
A retest after major releases, so a later deploy does not quietly undo the work.

Web accessibility audit and remediation

Our process

Confirm what applies to you. We confirm which products and services are covered, whether the microenterprise exemption applies, and which member states you sell into.
Audit the live experience. We review the pages, flows, documents, and apps people actually use, with assistive technologies as well as automated checks, and map each finding to the standard this rule points to.
Fix the barriers that block access. Our developers remediate structure, keyboard access, forms, contrast, names, and media in your codebase, starting with the journeys that gate a service.
Document what was tested. You receive the findings, what we fixed, and the statement or conformance report your team, counsel, or procurement office needs on file.
Keep it from slipping. We train publishers and retest after significant releases so new content does not reopen the same gaps.

Longer background: European Accessibility Act, including how the Netherlands applies it.

Frequently asked questions

We are in Canada and ship to the EU. Does the EAA apply?

If you target EU consumers — shipping into the EU, pricing for that market, or otherwise directing the service there — yes. The Act follows the consumer the way GDPR follows the data subject.

We have eight employees. Are we exempt?

Service providers with fewer than 10 employees and under €2 million turnover or balance sheet can be exempt from the services obligations. Both parts of the test matter. Products may still be covered. We will tell you if the exemption actually fits.

Is WCAG 2.1 AA the whole EAA?

It is the web part of EN 301 549, which is the harmonized route to presumed conformity. Apps, documents, terminals, and identification methods have additional clauses. We test the ones your service uses.

What is the fine?

Each member state sets its own. They range from corrective orders to substantial fines — Germany’s BFSG, France, and Italy’s Stanca Act are three different pictures. We fix the service to the shared standard so you are not rebuilding once per country.

Related guides

This page is general information from Peradeo Technologies Inc., not legal advice.

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