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European Accessibility Act

Summary

The European Accessibility Act, Directive (EU) 2019/882, is a European Union law that sets common accessibility requirements for a list of products and consumer services, including e-commerce, banking, e-books and passenger transport websites and apps. It was signed on April 17, 2019, and member states had to apply their national versions from June 28, 2025. Microenterprises that provide services are exempt.

Web Building Encyclopedia · Laws and standards · Last reviewed October 22, 2026 · 11 min read

What the European Accessibility Act is

The European Accessibility Act is the common name for Directive (EU) 2019/882, a European Union law on the accessibility requirements for products and services. It was signed on April 17, 2019.1 Accessibility here means that people with disabilities can use a product or service on an equal basis with others.

A directive is a type of EU law that does not apply to businesses directly. Each member state has to write its own national law that carries out the directive, a step called transposition. The Act gave member states until June 28, 2022 to adopt those laws, and required them to apply the rules from June 28, 2025.1

The Act’s stated purpose is to make the EU single market work better. It sets one set of accessibility requirements for certain products and services, replacing rules that differed from country to country and made it harder to sell across borders.1 The European Commission describes the result as common rules that cut costs for businesses and bring more accessible products and services, at more competitive prices, for people with disabilities and older people.2

The Act defines persons with disabilities as people with long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments that, together with various barriers, may hinder their full participation in society on an equal basis with others.1 Its recitals say this definition follows the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.1

For websites, the most important point is that the Act reaches private businesses. An earlier law, the Web Accessibility Directive, covers only the websites and apps of public sector bodies.3 The Act adds a list of consumer services, including e-commerce, that must be accessible whoever provides them.1

From proposal to law, 2015 to 2019

The European Commission proposed the Act on December 2, 2015. In its announcement it estimated that about 80 million people in the EU were affected by a disability to some degree, a figure it expected to reach 120 million by 2020 as the population aged.4 The Council of the European Union’s own timeline dates the presentation of the proposal to the Council two days later, on December 4, 2015.5

The European Parliament adopted its position on September 15, 2017, by 537 votes to 12 with 89 abstentions.6 The Council agreed its own position, called a general approach, on December 7, 2017.5 Negotiators for the two institutions reached a provisional agreement on November 8, 2018, at their seventh and last meeting of this kind, known as a trilogue.56

The Council’s timeline says the Parliament voted on March 13, 2019 and the Council formally adopted the Act on April 9, 2019.5 The Parliament’s legislative tracker gives March 27, 2019 for the Council’s adoption, so the two institutions’ pages disagree on that date.6 Both agree on what followed: the presidents of the two institutions signed the directive on April 17, 2019.16

The Act was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on June 7, 2019 (OJ L 151, page 70) and entered into force 20 days later, on June 27, 2019.17

The Act builds on the Web Accessibility Directive, Directive (EU) 2016/2102, adopted on October 26, 2016 for public sector websites and mobile apps.3 Its recitals say its accessibility requirements should be aligned with that directive, and they name the same four principles for websites and apps: perceivability, operability, understandability and robustness.1 Those four principles come from the W3C‘s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), which group their requirements under four principles named Perceivable, Operable, Understandable and Robust.8

Which products and services it covers

The Act applies to a closed list. Products are covered if they are placed on the market after June 28, 2025:1

  • consumer general purpose computer hardware and their operating systems
  • payment terminals, and self-service terminals such as ATMs, ticketing machines, check-in machines and interactive information terminals
  • consumer devices with interactive computing capability used for electronic communications, such as an iPhone or an Android smartphone, or for audiovisual media services, such as television equipment
  • e-readers

Services are covered if they are provided to consumers after June 28, 2025:1

  • electronic communications services, such as telephony, except transmission services used for machine-to-machine services
  • services that give access to audiovisual media services
  • parts of air, bus, rail and waterborne passenger transport services: websites, mobile apps, electronic tickets, travel information including real-time information, and interactive self-service terminals (urban, suburban and regional transport is covered only for its terminals)
  • consumer banking services
  • e-books and dedicated software
  • e-commerce services

E-commerce services are defined as services provided at a distance, through websites and mobile device-based services, by electronic means and at the individual request of a consumer, with a view to concluding a consumer contract.1 The recitals add that the obligations apply to the online sale of any product or service, not only the products and services on the Act’s own list.1 That definition fits a typical online shop selling to consumers, subject to the exemptions described below.

Business location is not the test. Ireland’s Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC), which enforces the e-commerce rules there, says the Act applies to any business that wants to provide relevant services in the EU, regardless of where the business is based.9

Some website and app content is left out. The Act does not apply to pre-recorded audio and video, or to office file formats such as PDFs, published before June 28, 2025; to online maps and mapping services, provided that for maps meant for navigation the essential information is also given in an accessible digital form; to third-party content that the business neither funds, develops nor controls; or to archived content that is not updated or edited after June 28, 2025.1

What covered websites and apps must do

Article 4 requires member states to ensure that businesses provide only services that meet the accessibility requirements in Annex I of the Act.1 Ireland’s 2023 regulations, which carry those requirements into Irish law, show the wording that applies to every covered service.10 Among other things, a service must:

  • make the products used to provide it accessible
  • give information about how the service works in accessible ways
  • make its websites, including related online applications, and its mobile device-based services accessible in a consistent and adequate way, by meeting the same four principles: Perceivable, Operable, Understandable and Robust10

E-commerce services have three more requirements in the same text: give the accessibility information about the products and services being sold where the responsible business supplies it; make the functions for identification, security and payment accessible; and offer identification methods, electronic signatures and payment services that themselves meet the four principles (Perceivable, Operable, Understandable and Robust).10 The checkout, the login and the payment step therefore count, not only the product pages.

Service providers also have paperwork duties. Article 13 requires them to prepare information on how their service meets the requirements, following Annex V, and make it available to the public in written and oral form, including in ways that are accessible to people with disabilities.1 The Irish text lists what that information should include: a general description of the service in accessible formats, the explanations needed to understand how it works, and a description of how it meets the accessibility requirements.10

Article 13 also requires procedures that keep a service compliant over time, including when it changes.1

The Act itself does not name a web standard such as WCAG. Instead, Article 15 says a product or service that conforms to a harmonized standard cited in the Official Journal is presumed to meet the Act’s requirements.1 The section on standards below explains where that stands.

Exemptions, exceptions and transition periods

Microenterprises

The Act defines a microenterprise as a business with fewer than 10 employees and either an annual turnover or an annual balance sheet total of no more than €2 million.1 Microenterprises that provide services are exempt from the service accessibility requirements and related obligations.1 Member states must give microenterprises guidelines and tools to help them apply the national rules.1

The exemption is for services only. The CCPC notes that businesses dealing with covered products, including microenterprises, must still meet the requirements for those products unless an exception applies.9

Fundamental alteration and disproportionate burden

Under Article 14, the requirements apply only as far as they do not require a fundamental alteration of the product or service or impose a disproportionate burden on the business.19 A business that relies on this must make its own assessment against criteria listed in Annex VI, document it and keep the results for five years.1

Service providers must renew that assessment when the service changes, when the authorities ask, and at least every five years. They must inform the relevant authorities when they rely on the exception, although microenterprises do not have to. A business that receives funding from other sources to improve accessibility cannot claim a disproportionate burden.1

Transition periods

Article 32 gives member states a transitional period ending on June 28, 2030, during which service providers may keep using products they lawfully used to provide similar services before that date. Service contracts agreed before June 28, 2025 may continue unchanged until they expire, but for no more than five years from that date. Member states may also let self-service terminals that were lawfully in use before June 28, 2025 stay in service until the end of their economically useful life, up to 20 years after they entered use.1

The Commission must report on how the Act is working by June 28, 2030 and every five years after that.1

National laws and enforcement

Because the Act is a directive, the rules a business actually follows are in national law, and each country chooses its own authorities and penalties. The Commission says it monitors whether the Act has been completely and correctly transposed.2

Many countries were late. The Commission sent letters of formal notice, the first step of an infringement procedure, to 24 member states in July 2022 and to three more in April 2023. On July 14, 2023 it sent reasoned opinions, the next step, to Bulgaria, Ireland, Cyprus, the Netherlands and Poland.11 On July 25, 2024 the Commission decided to refer Bulgaria to the Court of Justice of the EU over the Act, according to the Bulgarian News Agency.12

The Act sets the framework for enforcement. Member states must have procedures to check that services comply, follow up complaints and verify corrective action.1 Consumers must be able to take action before national courts or administrative bodies, and public bodies or associations with a legitimate interest may act on a complainant’s behalf, with that person’s approval.1 Penalties must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive, and must take into account how serious the failure is and how many products, services and people are affected.1

Two national laws show how this looks in practice. Figures are as of October 2026.

CountryNational lawWho enforces e-commerce rulesMaximum penalty
GermanyBarrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz (BFSG), dated July 16, 2021, in force June 28, 202513Market surveillance authorities designated under the law of each federal state13Fine of up to €100,000 for offering or providing a non-compliant service and certain other breaches; up to €10,000 for the rest14
IrelandS.I. No. 636 of 2023, made December 12, 2023, in operation from June 28, 202510Competition and Consumer Protection Commission10On conviction on indictment, a fine of up to €60,000, up to 18 months in prison, or both10

The German law also lets a consumer who cannot use a service, or can use it only in a limited way, ask the market surveillance authority to start proceedings, or authorize a recognized association to do so.13 In Ireland, other bodies enforce other services: the Commission for Communications Regulation for electronic communications and the Central Bank of Ireland for consumer banking, for example.10

Standards: EN 301 549 and WCAG

The technical detail behind EU accessibility law sits in EN 301 549, the European standard “Accessibility requirements for ICT products and services.” It is produced jointly by the European standards bodies CEN, CENELEC and ETSI.15 It was first published in 2014 to support public procurement, and version 3.2.1, published in 2021, has formally supported the Web Accessibility Directive since August 2021 under Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2021/1339.15 For web content, that version is based on WCAG 2.1.16

On September 14, 2022 the Commission asked the standards bodies, in a standardization request numbered M/587, to prepare standards for the Act. The request set September 15, 2025 as the deadline for revising EN 301 549, EN 17161 (Design for All) and EN 17210 (the built environment), and later dates for new standards on non-digital information, support services and emergency communications.17 The European Disability Forum, an independent non-governmental organization, had asked in September 2021 that the resulting standards be free of charge for everyone and not be delayed.18

EN 301 549 version 4.1.1 was published on September 2, 2026. It moves the web baseline from WCAG 2.1 to WCAG 2.2 Level AA and is the first version developed with the Act in mind, with an annex mapping its clauses to the Act’s requirements.16 WCAG 2.2 is a W3C Recommendation, most recently updated on December 12, 2024.8

A standard gives a presumption of conformity only once the Commission cites it in the Official Journal.119 As of October 2026, version 4.1.1 had not been cited. Ireland’s National Disability Authority says the citation is expected on December 16, 2026, and that until then version 3.2.1 remains the legally cited standard.16

The Act is one of several laws that shape a website. Outside the EU, other accessibility laws apply, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 508 in the United States. Inside the EU, the Act sits alongside privacy rules such as the GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive, which governs cookies.

Timeline

  1. EN 301 549 V4.1.1, based on WCAG 2.2, is published (not yet cited in the Official Journal)16
  2. Member states must apply their national rules; covered products and services must comply1
  3. The Commission decides to refer Bulgaria to the EU Court of Justice over the Act12
  4. Ireland makes S.I. No. 636 of 2023 to transpose the Act10
  5. Reasoned opinions sent to Bulgaria, Ireland, Cyprus, the Netherlands and Poland11
  6. Commission standardization request M/587 asks for standards supporting the Act17
  7. The Commission sends letters of formal notice to 24 member states11
  8. Deadline for member states to adopt their national laws1
  9. Germany's Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz (BFSG) is signed13
  10. The Act enters into force7
  11. The Act is published in the Official Journal as Directive (EU) 2019/8827
  12. The Parliament and Council presidents sign the directive1
  13. Parliament and Council negotiators reach a provisional agreement5
  14. The European Parliament adopts its position, 537 votes to 126
  15. The European Commission proposes the European Accessibility Act4

What it means for your website

This section is general information, not legal advice. National laws differ, so a lawyer or the authority in the country where you sell can tell you how the rules apply to your business.

  • Check whether you sell to consumers in the EU. An online shop or booking site that lets EU consumers buy or sign up is likely an e-commerce service under the Act, and the CCPC says where your business is based does not matter.19 A site that only describes your business, with no way to buy, is a different question to ask your lawyer.
  • Check the microenterprise test. Fewer than 10 staff and no more than €2 million in turnover or balance sheet exempts a service provider. The exemption does not cover products you make or sell.19
  • Use WCAG as your yardstick. The cited version of EN 301 549 is based on WCAG 2.1, and version 4.1.1 references WCAG 2.2 Level AA, so building to WCAG 2.2 Level AA now prepares you for the new version.16 Our glossary entry on web accessibility covers the basics.
  • Test the whole purchase. Login, identification, payment and any security step must be accessible, so test your checkout and your payment gateway with a keyboard and a screen reader, not only your home page.10 Card payments also have security rules of their own; see PCI DSS.
  • Publish your accessibility information. Describe your service and how it meets the requirements, in an accessible format.110
  • Know what is excluded. Videos and PDFs published before June 28, 2025 and archived pages you no longer edit are out of scope; new ones are not.1
  • Re-check after every change. The Act expects services to stay compliant when they change.1 Put accessibility on your redesign checklist.

On a hosted website builder such as Shopify, much of the checkout code belongs to the platform, so ask it what it has done for the Act and what you control. On self-hosted WordPress, your theme and plugins decide much of the result, so check them before you install them. Our list of online store builders is a place to start comparing.

See also

References

  1. Directive (EU) 2019/882 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on the accessibility requirements for products and services. EUR-Lex, Publications Office of the European Union. 2019-04-17. accessed October 22, 2026.
  2. European Accessibility Act (EAA). European Commission. accessed October 22, 2026.
  3. Directive (EU) 2016/2102 on the accessibility of the websites and mobile applications of public sector bodies: document information (ELI). EUR-Lex, Publications Office of the European Union. 2016-10-26. accessed October 22, 2026.
  4. Commission proposes to make products and services more accessible to the disabled persons (IP/15/6147). European Commission press release. 2015-12-02. accessed October 22, 2026.
  5. Timeline – Accessibility. Council of the European Union. accessed October 22, 2026.
  6. Accessibility requirements for products and services (Legislative Train Schedule). European Parliament. accessed October 22, 2026.
  7. Directive (EU) 2019/882: document information (ELI). EUR-Lex, Publications Office of the European Union. 2019-06-07. accessed October 22, 2026.
  8. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2. World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). 2024-12-12. accessed October 22, 2026.
  9. European Accessibility Act: guidelines for microenterprises. Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (Ireland). accessed October 22, 2026.
  10. European Union (Accessibility Requirements of Products and Services) Regulations 2023 (S.I. No. 636 of 2023). Irish Statute Book, Government of Ireland. 2023-12-12. accessed October 22, 2026.
  11. European Commission continues two infringement procedures against Ireland in the field of consumer protection. European Commission Representation in Ireland. 2023-07-14. accessed October 22, 2026.
  12. Bulgaria Referred to EU Court of Justice over Accessibility of Products, Services for Persons with Disabilities. BTA, Bulgarian News Agency. 2024-07-25. accessed October 22, 2026.
  13. Gesetz zur Umsetzung der Richtlinie (EU) 2019/882 über die Barrierefreiheitsanforderungen für Produkte und Dienstleistungen (Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz, BFSG). Federal Ministry of Justice, gesetze-im-internet.de. 2021-07-16. accessed October 22, 2026.
  14. § 37 BFSG: Bußgeldvorschriften. Federal Ministry of Justice, gesetze-im-internet.de. accessed October 22, 2026.
  15. EN 301 549 V3: the harmonized European Standard for ICT Accessibility. ETSI. accessed October 22, 2026.
  16. Updated EN 301 549 Standard Strengthens Accessibility Requirements for ICT Products and Services. National Disability Authority (Ireland). accessed October 22, 2026.
  17. Commission Implementing Decision C(2022) 6456 final on a standardisation request (M/587) in support of Directive (EU) 2019/882 and Directive (EU) 2016/2102. European Commission, via CEPT document archive. 2022-09-14. accessed October 22, 2026.
  18. EDF Position Paper on European Commission's draft Standardisation Request for the European Accessibility Act. European Disability Forum. 2021-09. accessed October 22, 2026.
  19. New Technical Standard for European Accessibility Act Compliance Released. Brandon H. Johnson and Maria T. Browne, Davis Wright Tremaine. 2026-09-18. accessed October 22, 2026.

Web Building Encyclopedia. First published October 22, 2026. Last reviewed October 22, 2026. Every fact on this page is linked to a source we opened. Spotted an error? Write to [email protected].