Key takeaways
- The European Accessibility Act (EAA) has applied since 28 June 2025 to many consumer-facing digital services in the EU, including e-commerce.
- Accessibility is measured against the harmonised standard EN 301 549, which references WCAG; building to WCAG 2.2 AA is the practical target.
- Microenterprises providing services (fewer than 10 staff and no more than €2 million annual turnover or balance sheet) are exempt from the EAA's service requirements.
- Under GDPR and ePrivacy rules, non-essential cookies (such as most analytics and advertising cookies) need consent before they are set.
Who the European Accessibility Act applies to
The EAA covers a defined list of products and services sold to consumers in the EU. For websites and apps, the most common are e-commerce services, consumer banking, e-books, electronic communications and parts of passenger transport such as online ticketing. It also applies to companies outside the EU that sell these services to EU consumers.
National authorities enforce it, and penalties are set by each member state. If you sell online to consumers in the EU and are not a microenterprise, assume it applies to you.
Accessibility checklist
These are the issues most often found in accessibility audits. Each is straightforward to get right when a site is built properly from the start.
- All functionality usable with a keyboard alone, with a visible focus indicator.
- Sufficient colour contrast for text and interface elements.
- Text alternatives for meaningful images; decorative images hidden from screen readers.
- Form fields with visible labels, clear error messages and no reliance on colour alone.
- Correct heading structure, landmarks and link text that makes sense out of context.
- Captions for video and respect for reduced-motion preferences.
- An accessibility statement describing conformance and how to report problems.
How we build for compliance
Every OmniSaas project is designed and coded to WCAG 2.2 AA, with consent-first cookie handling, minimal data collection and EU hosting on request. We sign data processing agreements where needed. We are not lawyers, so legal texts such as your privacy notice should be approved by your own adviser.
Want a quote? $0 upfront. You pay only after your project ships and you approve it.
Websites for European businesses