European Accessibility Act: does it apply to your website?

Since 28 June 2025 the European Accessibility Act has applied to many websites that sell to consumers. Online shops, banks, airlines and e-book stores are covered. A small service business with fewer than 10 people is exempt, and so is a site that only presents what you do.

So for many owners who read this, the short answer is "probably not". Below I show how to check it in four steps and what the fines look like in Slovakia, Austria and Germany. There is also a 15-minute test that is worth doing either way. I'm not a lawyer. This is my reading of the official texts, with links, so you can check them yourself.

What is the European Accessibility Act?

It is an EU directive from April 2019, Directive (EU) 2019/882. Each country had to turn it into its own law by June 2022, and those laws apply from 28 June 2025. The goal is that people with disabilities can buy and use common products and services on their own. That includes people who are blind and use a screen reader, people who can't use a mouse, and people who need large text.

For websites, the requirements follow the same four ideas as WCAG, the W3C web accessibility guidelines. Content must be perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. In practice the European standard EN 301 549 uses WCAG 2.1 level AA as the measure for web pages.

Does it apply to my website?

Go through these four questions in order. If you answer "no" at any step, the act doesn't cover your website.

There is one grey zone. The directive defines e-commerce as services at a distance "with a view to concluding a consumer contract". Read literally, online booking with payment can fall under that. If online booking is your main way of selling and you have 10 or more people, treat your site as covered and ask your adviser.

Slovakia's law is worded more broadly. Instead of "e-commerce" it says "information society services", a term from the Slovak e-commerce act. This can include more online services sold to consumers, so in Slovakia the grey zone is bigger. The micro-enterprise exemption is the same.

The exemption covers services only. If you make, import or sell products such as payment terminals or e-readers, other duties apply.

Some old content doesn't have to be fixed. Videos and office files such as PDFs published before 28 June 2025 are outside the rules. So is archived content that is no longer updated.

What are the national laws and fines?

Each country wrote its own law, with its own fines and its own authority. Here are three of them: Slovakia, where I'm based, plus Austria and Germany.

These amounts are maximums. The directive says fines must be "effective, proportionate and dissuasive" and must go together with steps to fix the problem. The Slovak law goes further. If you fix an inaccessible service after the inspection finds it, SOI does not impose the fine for that breach. A fine of €30,000 in Slovakia is for not cooperating with the inspection at all.

In Austria consumers can report a website to the Sozialministeriumservice. So can the consumer association VKI, the disability council, the Chamber of Labour and the Chamber of Commerce (WKO). The office has eight weeks to answer in writing.

How common are the problems?

Very common. Every year WebAIM, a non-profit at Utah State University, scans the home pages of the top million websites with an automatic tool. In February 2026 it found detectable WCAG failures on 95.9% of them. On average there were 56.1 errors per page. Most of them are the same few mistakes.

• Low contrast text83.9%
• Images without alt text53.1%
• Form fields without labels51%
• Empty links46.3%
• Empty buttons30.6%
• No page language set13.5%

Source: WebAIM Million 2026 report, top 1,000,000 home pages

All six are cheap to fix on a small site. Automatic tools only catch some of the problems, so a quick manual check still matters.

What can I check myself in 15 minutes?

Open your home page and your contact or order page on a laptop. Then go through this list. The numbers in brackets are the WCAG 2.2 criteria, in case your developer asks.

If most of these pass, your site is in better shape than most of the web. If several fail, don't panic. On a small site the fixes usually take days, not weeks (my estimate).

I'm exempt. Should I still care?

Yes, though not because of fines. Accessibility helps far more people than the law has in mind. Someone reading your prices on a phone in the sun needs good contrast. A customer in their seventies needs text that zooms. Clear labels help everyone who fills in your form in a hurry.

It also helps search. Alt text, real headings and a set page language are the same signals Google and AI assistants use to understand a page. I wrote more about that in what a business website should do in 2026.

How do I handle accessibility on my sites?

I build every site with WCAG 2.2 level AA as the target. This site aims for the same. It works fully with a keyboard and has a visible focus ring and a "skip to content" link. It has enough contrast and the correct language on every page. Visitors who switched motion off in their settings see no animation.

I don't use accessibility overlay widgets. I fix the problems in the site itself. If your current site fails the 15-minute check, I can look at it and tell you what the fixes would involve. You can see what's included on my websites page, or write to me with your website address.

Questions people ask

I run a salon with 4 people and an online booking form. Does the law apply to me?

No. A business with fewer than 10 people and turnover or balance sheet of no more than €2 million is a micro-enterprise. Micro-enterprises that provide services are exempt from the accessibility requirements.

Does an accessibility plugin or overlay make my site compliant?

The law does not mention plugins. The requirements are about the site itself: text, contrast, keyboard use, labels and code. I fix those in the site and do not use overlay widgets.

Do I need an accessibility statement?

Only if the law covers you. Then you must publish information that explains how your service meets the requirements, in a form people with disabilities can use. Most businesses put it on a separate page.

WCAG 2.1 or 2.2: which one should I aim for?

The European standard EN 301 549 builds on WCAG 2.1 level AA. WCAG 2.2 is the newer W3C version and adds a few checks, such as tap target size. A site that meets 2.2 AA also covers the 2.1 AA checks, so I aim for 2.2 AA.

What happens if a covered website is not accessible?

The national authority can order you to fix it and can fine you. In Slovakia the fine for an inaccessible service is up to €6,000 and the inspection drops it if you fix the problem. Austria allows up to €80,000, Germany up to €100,000.

Sources

1. Directive (EU) 2019/882 on the accessibility requirements for products and services (Articles 2, 3, 4, 13, 14, 30, 32), EUR-Lex, Official Journal of the EU, checked 18 August 2026
2. Zákon č. 351/2022 Z. z. o prístupnosti výrobkov a služieb (§ 2, § 8, § 10, § 12), Slov-Lex, checked 18 August 2026
3. Barrierefreiheitsgesetz (BaFG), BGBl. I Nr. 76/2023 (§ 3, § 6, § 36), RIS, Austrian Federal Legal Information System, checked 18 August 2026
4. Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz (BFSG) (§ 2, § 3, § 37), Gesetze im Internet, German Federal Ministry of Justice, checked 18 August 2026
5. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2, W3C, checked 18 August 2026
6. The WebAIM Million: 2026 report on the accessibility of the top 1,000,000 home pages, WebAIM, checked 18 August 2026

Facts and prices are as of the dates in the sources.