The European Accessibility Act (EAA) is an EU directive — formally Directive (EU) 2019/882 — that requires a wide range of everyday products and services to be accessible to people with disabilities. Adopted in 2019, it was transposed into the national laws of EU member states by June 2022, and its obligations have applied to businesses since June 28, 2025. That means the EAA is no longer a future deadline to plan for: if it covers your business, the requirements are live right now.
The EAA's purpose is twofold. First, it removes barriers for the roughly 100 million people in the EU who live with some form of disability, giving them equal access to shopping, banking, communication, and information online. Second, it harmonizes accessibility rules across the EU, so a business no longer faces 27 different sets of national requirements — one common standard applies across the single market.
Crucially, the EAA does not only apply to European companies. If you sell products or services to consumers in the EU — an e-commerce store shipping to France, a SaaS product with German customers — the law can reach you regardless of where your business is headquartered. That is why many US, UK, and other non-EU businesses are now treating EAA compliance as part of doing business in Europe.
In force since June 28, 2025
The EAA's obligations have applied since June 28, 2025. Covered products and services placed on the EU market must meet its accessibility requirements now, with limited transition periods for some pre-existing contracts and hardware.
Applies beyond the EU
Any business selling covered products or services to consumers in the EU falls within scope, even if it has no European office. Selling into the EU market is what triggers the obligation.
WCAG is the practical benchmark
The EAA sets functional requirements rather than naming WCAG directly, but the harmonized European standard EN 301 549 — which incorporates WCAG 2.1 Level AA — is the accepted way to demonstrate that a website or app conforms.
Microenterprise exemption for services
Service providers with fewer than 10 employees and annual turnover or balance sheet under EUR 2 million are exempt from the EAA's service requirements — though accessibility remains good practice and may be required by other laws.
What the European Accessibility Act covers
The EAA covers a defined list of products and services considered most important to daily life. On the product side that includes computers and operating systems, smartphones, self-service terminals such as ATMs and ticketing machines, e-readers, and TV equipment. On the services side — where most website owners come in — it covers e-commerce, consumer banking, electronic communications, e-books, audiovisual media services, and elements of air, bus, rail, and waterborne passenger transport such as online ticketing and check-in.
E-commerce is the category with the broadest reach. Under the EAA, e-commerce means services provided at a distance, through websites and mobile apps, at a consumer's request, with a view to concluding a consumer contract. In plain terms: if consumers in the EU can buy something through your website or app, that purchasing experience is a covered service and must be accessible — from browsing and product information through checkout, payment, and account management.
Who must comply — and who is exempt
Obligations fall on manufacturers, importers, and distributors of covered products, and on providers of covered services. For a typical online business, the key question is whether you provide a covered service (such as e-commerce or consumer banking) to consumers in the EU. If you do, the EAA applies whether you are based in Berlin, Boston, or Bangalore.
There are two important carve-outs. Microenterprises — businesses with fewer than 10 employees and annual turnover or an annual balance sheet not exceeding EUR 2 million — are exempt from the service requirements. And businesses can invoke a "disproportionate burden" defense where compliance would require an excessive organizational or financial effort, though this must be assessed, documented, and re-evaluated over time; it is not a blanket opt-out, and it cannot be claimed simply because accessibility is inconvenient.
Some transition periods also apply: service contracts concluded before June 28, 2025 may continue unchanged until they expire, up to a maximum of June 28, 2030, and self-service terminals already in use may be operated until the end of their economic life. New websites, apps, and services, however, are expected to comply now.
Core requirements for websites and apps
The EAA is written as functional requirements rather than a technical checklist. Covered services must provide information about how the service works and its accessibility features, and must make websites and mobile apps "perceivable, operable, understandable and robust" — the same four principles that underpin WCAG. Content must be available through more than one sensory channel, presented in understandable ways, and usable with assistive technologies such as screen readers.
- Make all functionality available from a keyboard, not just a mouse or touchscreen
- Provide text alternatives for images and captions for video content
- Ensure sufficient color contrast and text that can be resized without breaking the layout
- Label form fields clearly and make error messages easy to find and understand
- Make checkout, identification, and payment flows fully usable with assistive technology
- Publish accessibility information explaining how your service meets the requirements
How the EAA relates to WCAG and EN 301 549
The EAA never mentions WCAG by name, which sometimes confuses teams trying to comply. The bridge is EN 301 549, the harmonized European standard for ICT accessibility. Its requirements for web content incorporate WCAG 2.1 Level AA, and conforming to a harmonized standard gives you a presumption of conformity with the EAA's requirements.
Practically, this means the safest path to EAA compliance for a website or app runs through WCAG 2.1 AA: meet those success criteria, address the additional EN 301 549 requirements relevant to your service (such as accessible support documentation and compatibility with assistive technology), and document what you have done. Teams already targeting WCAG 2.2 AA are in an even stronger position, since it builds on 2.1.
Enforcement and penalties
Because the EAA is a directive, each EU member state enforces it through its own national law and market surveillance authorities. Penalties therefore vary by country, but member states are required to make them effective, proportionate, and dissuasive — and in several countries fines can reach into the tens of thousands of euros, with some providing for higher penalties or repeated fines for continued non-compliance.
Enforcement is not only about fines. Authorities can require corrective action, and in serious cases a non-compliant service can be restricted from the market. Consumers and disability organizations can also file complaints and, in many member states, take action through the courts. For most businesses, though, the more immediate costs of ignoring the EAA are commercial: lost customers, procurement requirements you cannot meet, and reputational risk.
Practical steps toward EAA compliance
Compliance is a process, not a one-time fix. A sensible roadmap for most website and app owners looks like this:
- Confirm whether you are in scope: do you provide a covered service to EU consumers, and does the microenterprise exemption apply?
- Audit your website or app against WCAG 2.1 AA, combining automated scanning with manual and assistive-technology testing
- Prioritize fixes on critical user journeys first — search, product pages, checkout, login, and account management
- Publish an accessibility statement describing how your service meets the requirements
- Build accessibility into your design and development workflow so new features ship accessible by default
- Re-test regularly, since every release can introduce new barriers
Frequently asked questions
Does the EAA apply to my business if I'm not based in the EU?
Quite possibly. The EAA applies to covered products and services offered to consumers in the EU, regardless of where the provider is established. If EU consumers can buy from your online store or sign up for your covered service, you should assume you are in scope unless the microenterprise exemption applies.
Is meeting WCAG 2.1 AA enough for EAA compliance?
It is the core of it, but not quite the whole picture. WCAG 2.1 AA conformance covers the web-content requirements via the harmonized standard EN 301 549, but the EAA also expects things like accessible information about your service and an assessment of how you meet the requirements. Meeting WCAG 2.1 AA puts you most of the way there for a typical website.
What happened on June 28, 2025?
That is the date the EAA's obligations began to apply across the EU. Covered products placed on the market and covered services provided to consumers from that date onward must meet the accessibility requirements. Limited transition periods exist — notably for service contracts agreed before that date (until June 28, 2030 at the latest) and for self-service terminals already in use.
Can an accessibility widget make my site EAA compliant?
No tool can guarantee legal compliance on its own, and you should be wary of anyone claiming otherwise. Tools like AccessWiser can help you find issues, fix common barriers, and maintain accessibility over time, but genuine compliance also requires accessible design, testing with assistive technology, and remediation of issues in your underlying code and content.
What is the penalty for not complying with the EAA?
It depends on the member state, since each country sets its own penalties. They are required to be effective and dissuasive, and in several countries fines can reach into the tens of thousands of euros, alongside orders to fix the issues or, in serious cases, restrictions on offering the service. Non-EU businesses can be enforced against through their EU-facing operations and distribution.
This article is provided for general information about accessibility regulations and standards. It is not legal advice — consult a qualified professional about your specific compliance obligations.