of european accessibility law is a Directive of the European Commission and adopted into law by Member States in 2019. Its aim is to improve access to products and services for her EU residents with disabilities. Enforcement begins June 28, 2025.
The EAA applies to many products and services, including mobile phones, e-books, and transportation. This explicitly includes e-commerce websites.
Like the EU General Data Protection Regulation, the EAA requires compliance for companies dealing with customers based in Europe. Regardless of location or place of registration, e-commerce businesses with EU customers must comply with his EAA. Only “very small businesses” with fewer than 10 employees and revenues of less than 2 million euros (about $2.1 million) are exempt.
Businesses around the world with customers in any of the 27 EU countries must comply with the EAA. Source: European Commission.
execution
EU countries have established enforcement mechanisms and penalties for violations. Consumers can file complaints with state watchdogs, which will notify companies and begin investigations, but authorities can investigate and enforce without filing a complaint.
The severity of penalties for non-compliance varies, but failure to comply or dishonesty in reporting can result in fines of more than €60,000 and, in the case of Ireland, up to 18 months in prison.
How to comply
Country-specific legal requirements vary. but, minimumthe law requires us to do the following: Website Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA.
Start with addressing Common violations. Secure:
- Site meets minimum WCAG color contrast guidelines between fonts and background.
- Images (excluding spacers and other decorations) include descriptive alt text for screen reader users.
- Headings are nicely nested to indicate content structure, not just for styling purposes.
Accessibility experts and automated testing platforms can help. Web accessibility assessment tool. However, in my experience, automated checkers only detect 30% of accessibility issues. For example, checking keyboard navigation requires manual testing rather than automation.
Additionally, the European Commission states that automated tools, including overlays and widgets, cannot cover the entire WCAG 2.1 AA standard and cannot replace manual efforts to ensure full EAA compliance.
avoid delays
Accessibility compliance is not a one-time task. If you make any changes to the website layout, navigation, categories, or products; Affect accessibility. Therefore, consider how to maintain compliance over time through regular checks and audits.
Depending on the website, it may take a year or more to fix accessibility defects. If your business has EU customers, don’t delay. Please note that enforcement begins June 28, 2025.
