The European Accessibility Act’s compliance deadline — 28 June 2025 — has already passed. For the many companies still not fully compliant, the question now isn’t “when do we need to act” but “how exposed are we right now.”
The EAA covers specific products and services sold to consumers across the EU, concentrated in a…
The EAA is an EU Directive, which means each member state transposes it into national law with its…
Confirm which of your products/services actually fall in scope — many companies overestimate…
The EAA covers specific products and services sold to consumers across the EU, concentrated in a few sectors: retail, financial services, communications, travel and technology. In scope: computer hardware and operating systems, payment terminals, self-service kiosks (ATMs, ticketing, check-in), e-readers and telecom devices, electronic communications services, audiovisual media access, websites and mobile apps (including e-tickets and transport information), consumer banking, e-books, and e-commerce. If your product or service touches any of these categories and reaches EU consumers, the EAA likely applies regardless of where your company is headquartered.
The EAA is an EU Directive, which means each member state transposes it into national law with its own enforcement mechanism and penalty structure — so the specifics vary by country, but common elements across member states include administrative fines, orders to withdraw non-compliant products or services from the market, and in some jurisdictions personal liability for responsible company officers. Private enforcement is also a feature in several member states, meaning individual consumers (sometimes supported by advocacy organizations) can bring claims directly, not only regulators.
Companies that treat EAA compliance purely as risk mitigation miss the other half of the argument: EU accessibility compliance work, done properly, expands your addressable market in exactly the region you’re trying to sell into. The business case and the compliance case point the same direction.
Yes, if you sell in-scope products or services to EU consumers — the Act applies based on where your customers are, not where your company is headquartered.
WCAG conformance is a strong foundation and closely aligned with the EAA’s digital accessibility expectations, but the EAA also covers non-digital requirements (hardware, kiosks, payment terminals) that WCAG doesn’t address. Full compliance requires looking at the specific harmonized standards referenced for your product category.
It depends heavily on how many products/services are in scope and how far from WCAG AA your current state is, but a focused remediation program for a single website or app typically runs two to four months from audit to verified fix, longer for a full product portfolio.