Accessibility · November 3, 2026 · 6 min read
The European Accessibility Act, One Year In: What Your Website Needs
Accessibility stopped being a nice-to-have in Europe on June 28, 2025. More than a year later, national authorities are monitoring and enforcing — and the requirements reach well beyond EU-based companies.
What the EAA is
The European Accessibility Act (Directive (EU) 2019/882) harmonises accessibility requirements for a defined set of products and services across all 27 EU member states. On the web, that includes e-commerce, banking services, e-books, transport ticketing and electronic communications, among others.
Who it applies to
It applies to businesses offering covered products and services to consumers in the EU, regardless of where the company is headquartered. Microenterprises providing services — fewer than 10 employees and no more than €2 million in annual turnover — are exempt from the service requirements, and some transitional arrangements for existing services run until 2030.
The technical benchmark
The EAA relies on the harmonised standard EN 301 549, which incorporates WCAG 2.1 Level AA for web content. In practice that means sufficient colour contrast, full keyboard navigation, meaningful alternative text, clear form labels and errors, captions for media and a structure screen readers can follow.
Enforcement is real
Enforcement happens at national level, so approaches differ by country, but authorities across the EU have begun rolling out monitoring, inspection and complaint mechanisms. Accessibility overlays and widgets are not a shortcut: auditors have rejected them as a substitute for an accessible build.
Where to start
Audit your site against WCAG 2.1 AA, fix the critical journeys first — navigation, search, product pages, forms and checkout — and publish an accessibility statement. Then build accessibility into your design system so every new page is compliant by default.
Key takeaways
The EAA has applied since June 28, 2025, including to non-EU sellers.
Start with the journeys that make you money: forms and checkout.
Planning a new website?
OB© designs and builds fast, accessible, search-ready websites in Framer, WordPress and custom code.
Sources