Since 28 June 2025, digital accessibility has stopped being good practice and become an obligation. Most businesses still do not know whether it targets them.
The confusion is understandable. The text is European, each country transposed it into its own law, and most of what is written about accessibility addresses the public sector. But the obligation reaches private companies too. Here is how to find out, in three questions.
The text, in one sentence
The European Accessibility Act is Directive (EU) 2019/882. It has applied since 28 June 2025, and each member state has transposed it into national law: the Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz in Germany, Ley 11/2023 in Spain, legislative decree 82/2022 in Italy, an implementation act of April 2024 in the Netherlands, an act of 26 April 2024 in Poland, Decreto-Lei 82/2022 in Portugal, and law 2023-171 in France.
Question 1: are you in scope?
The text names specific sectors. E-commerce is one of them, which covers a large share of sites selling to consumers. So are banking services, transport ticketing, telecommunications and audiovisual media.
If you sell online to consumers, assume you are in scope and move to the next question.
Question 2: are you a microenterprise under the text?
This is where it is decided, and where mistakes happen. The exemption requires both conditions together: fewer than 10 employees and an annual turnover or balance sheet total of 2 million euros or less.
One alone is not enough. A six-person company turning over 3 million is not exempt. A fourteen-person company turning over 900,000 is not exempt either.
Second trap: the exemption covers services only. If you place products on the EU market, it does not protect you for those products.
Third trap, and the most expensive for a growing company: there is no grace period. The day you cross the threshold, the obligation applies. No transition window is provided.
Question 3: what do you actually have to do?
The applicable standard is EN 301 549, which for the web references WCAG 2.1 level AA. It is a list of checkable criteria rather than an intention: sufficient contrast, navigation possible with a keyboard alone, text alternatives on meaningful images, a coherent heading structure, form fields that are labelled, captions on video.
The practical consequence is useful. Because the criteria are checkable, the work can be measured, scoped and priced. You are not buying a promise, you are closing a list.
Why the deadline already passing is not good news
Businesses often read a passed deadline as a sign that nothing happened. The opposite reading is more prudent: the transition period is over, which means enforcement is now the phase we are in rather than the phase ahead. Countries differ in how actively they enforce and in the penalties they apply, so the specific exposure depends on where you operate.
What does not depend on the country is the commercial argument. An inaccessible checkout excludes customers who would have bought. Accessibility work overlaps heavily with things that help everyone: clearer structure, faster keyboard paths, readable contrast, properly labelled forms.
Where to start
With a measurement, not a quote. Our free online audit tool checks several accessibility-related points on your page, including text alternatives on images and the declared page language, with no signup and no email address.
It is not a full accessibility audit and we will not present it as one. It is a factual starting point that tells you whether the subject is open or quiet. If you want to go further, describe your situation and we reply in writing.
