The European Accessibility Act (EAA) is a directive aimed at harmonising accessibility requirements across the European Union. It comes into effect from 28th June 2025, and its goal is to ensure that a wide range of products and services are accessible to people with disabilities.
The Act applies to various products and services. It is mainly focused on digital accessibility but it does crossover with physical accessibility. The one we would like to draw your attention to is ‘e-commerce websites’; this includes any websites that sell products to people in the EU. If you fall within this categorisation, you are required to adhere to the EAA.
On a practical level, this means aligning your content and functionality with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA (or later) criteria. However, the EAA requirements may not be limited to these guidelines as It is possible for countries to publish their own set of requirements which will each need to be adhered to separately, but we may not know what this looks like until the June 2025 deadline.
Some businesses or organisations may benefit from a transition period, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), but will still need to comply eventually.
Failure to comply can result in fines, ranging from €5,000 (~£4,000) to €20,000 (~£16,500) per violation, depending on the severity, as well as losing the right to sell products in the EU.
Summary
💸 e-commerce websites that sell products to the European Union fall under the new European Accessibility Act
🗓️ The EAA comes into effect from June 2025
☹️ If you don’t adhere to these regulations, you may lose the right to sell products in the EU
😄 If you do adhere to these regulations, you open your market up to everyone, regardless of ability
Ensure your website meets EAA standards with expert support
Fret not, if these laws apply to you, your digital transformation partner, Spindogs, are equipped to support you on your transition to a fully accessible website. We offer an accessibility assessment which allows you to make informed decisions around the areas of your site that need addressing. Get in touch with us to get the ball rolling.
