The European Accessibility Act stopped being a future deadline and became live law on June 28, 2025, when Directive (EU) 2019/882 reached its application date across all 27 member states (EUR-Lex, 2019). If you ship an in-scope digital product or service to consumers in the EU, the obligation now applies to you regardless of where your company sits.
The engineering gap is wide. In 2026, 95.9% of the top one million home pages had detectable WCAG 2 failures (WebAIM Million, 2026), so most sites that now fall under the EAA do not meet its technical bar today. This guide goes deeper than a general overview of accessibility law. For that wider map of every regime, start with our web accessibility compliance guide. Here we focus on the EAA specifically: who it catches, the product-versus-service split that decides your obligations, the exact standard, the transition clock, and the per-country fines.
TL;DR: The EAA applies as of June 28, 2025 and is market-based, so a US or other non-EU company selling in-scope products or services to EU consumers is covered. Conformance runs through the harmonized standard EN 301 549, which currently references WCAG 2.1 Level AA (WCAG 2.2 AA is expected to follow as the standard is updated). Products need technical docs, an EU Declaration of Conformity, and CE marking; services need an accessibility statement. Microenterprises are exempt from service obligations only. Penalties are set per member state: Germany up to 100,000 euros for non-compliant products, France 50,000 euros plus 25,000 euros for a missing statement, Italy up to 40,000 euros or 5% of turnover (Level Access, 2026).
Does the European Accessibility Act Apply to You?
Probably, if you sell to EU consumers. The EAA is market-based, not establishment-based: it covers in-scope products and services placed on the EU market regardless of where the provider is based (European Commission, 2025). A US, UK, or Asian company selling into the EU is caught the same as a company headquartered in Berlin.
The scope is defined by category, not by industry label. In-scope products include consumer computers and operating systems, smartphones, TVs with digital services, e-readers, ATMs, and ticketing, check-in, and other self-service terminals. In-scope services include consumer banking, e-commerce, e-books, electronic communications, and access to audiovisual media services (European Commission, 2025).
So the practical first question is not "where are we based?" but "do we sell one of these things to a consumer in the EU?" If your SaaS has an EU checkout, your bank has an EU app, or your store ships e-books to French readers, you are inside the scope. Where you host servers or file taxes does not change that.
Citation capsule: The European Accessibility Act (Directive (EU) 2019/882) is market-based: it covers in-scope products and services sold to consumers in the EU regardless of where the company is established, and it applies as of June 28, 2025 (European Commission, 2025; EUR-Lex, 2019). In-scope categories include e-commerce, consumer banking, e-books, smartphones, ATMs, and self-service terminals.
Products or Services? The Distinction Decides Your Obligations
The EAA assigns obligations by role, and those roles split first into products and services. Manufacturers, importers, and distributors carry product obligations; service providers carry service obligations (European Commission, 2025). Which side you land on changes the paperwork you owe and whether the small-business exemption can save you.
If you place a physical product on the market, the burden is heavier. A product needs technical documentation, an EU Declaration of Conformity (retained for five years), and CE marking before it can be sold (Accessible.org, 2025). Services are lighter on formal artifacts: the main deliverable is a published accessibility statement describing how the service meets the requirements.
When does the microenterprise exemption apply?
The microenterprise exemption is the most-missed nuance in the whole directive, and getting it wrong is expensive. A microenterprise (fewer than 10 persons AND annual turnover or balance sheet total not exceeding 2 million euros) is exempt from the SERVICE obligations only (Taylor Wessing, 2025).
Two conditions guard that exemption. Both thresholds (headcount and financial) must be met, and the exemption lapses the moment you cross either one. Grow past nine staff or two million euros and the service obligations attach. Read carefully here.
If you manufacture an in-scope product, there is no microenterprise exemption at all. A two-person hardware startup placing a self-service terminal on the EU market owes the full product obligations: technical documentation, the EU Declaration of Conformity, and CE marking. The small-business carve-out simply does not reach products.
Citation capsule: Under the EAA, products require technical documentation, an EU Declaration of Conformity retained for five years, and CE marking, while services require a published accessibility statement (Accessible.org, 2025). The microenterprise exemption (fewer than 10 staff AND turnover or balance sheet under 2 million euros) applies to service obligations only; in-scope products have no equivalent exemption (Taylor Wessing, 2025).
What Technical Standard Must You Meet?
Conformance runs through the harmonized standard EN 301 549, which gives a presumption of conformity with the EAA. The currently cited version is v3.2.1, which references WCAG 2.1 Level AA for web (European Commission, 2021). Build to that standard and you are presumed to meet the directive's accessibility requirements, which is the cleanest path to defensible compliance.
WCAG 2.1 AA is the operative benchmark today, but it is moving. A future update to EN 301 549 is expected to raise the benchmark to WCAG 2.2 AA, and until a newer version is cited in the Official Journal, WCAG 2.1 AA remains the requirement (European Commission, 2021). The honest summary for a roadmap: target WCAG 2.1 AA today and build toward 2.2 AA. Because 2.2 is a superset of 2.1, building to 2.2 now is the safer bet.
How does EN 301 549 map to WCAG?
EN 301 549 is broader than the web guidelines alone. It organizes requirements by what you are building, and several chapters map onto WCAG while adding requirements WCAG never covered, such as real-time text (European Commission, 2021). The table below shows where each part of a typical product or service lands.
Chapter | Covers | Maps to |
|---|---|---|
Chapter 9 | Web content | WCAG 2.1 AA |
Chapter 10 | Non-web documents (PDFs, office files) | WCAG 2.1 AA applied to documents |
Chapter 11 | Software, including mobile apps | WCAG 2.1 AA applied to software |
Beyond WCAG | Hardware, real-time text, two-way comms | EN 301 549 requirements with no WCAG equivalent |
The takeaway for engineering: WCAG 2.1 AA covers your web surface, but if you ship a mobile app, generate PDFs, or build hardware, EN 301 549 reaches further than your web audit does. Scope your conformance work to the chapters that match what you actually sell.
Citation capsule: EAA conformance runs through the harmonized standard EN 301 549, which gives a presumption of conformity. The cited version (v3.2.1) references WCAG 2.1 Level AA (European Commission, 2021). A future update is expected to raise the benchmark to WCAG 2.2 AA, but WCAG 2.1 AA remains operative until a newer version is cited in the Official Journal. The standard also adds requirements beyond WCAG, such as real-time text.
What Are the Deadlines and Transition Periods?
The headline date already passed: the EAA applies as of June 28, 2025 (EUR-Lex, 2019). But Article 32 builds in transition periods that change how the deadline lands for existing products and contracts, and misreading them can either trigger needless panic or false comfort. The timeline below sets out what actually expires when.
Date | What it means |
|---|---|
June 28, 2025 | The EAA applies. New in-scope products and services must conform. |
June 28, 2030 | Service providers may keep using products lawfully used before June 28, 2025 until this date; pre-existing service contracts may run unchanged until they expire or until this date. |
Up to 20 years | Self-service terminals lawfully in use may continue in service for up to 20 years after their entry into service. |
The nuance sits in Article 32. Service providers may continue using products lawfully used to provide services before June 28, 2025 until June 28, 2030, and service contracts agreed before that date may run unchanged until they expire or until June 28, 2030 (EUR-Lex Article 32, 2019). Self-service terminals get the longest runway, up to 20 years from entry into service.
For a release roadmap, that means new work has no grace period, but legacy hardware and contracts have a defined runway. Do not read the 2030 date as a reason to delay your web and app conformance: that benchmark applies now. The transition windows protect existing kit, not new development.
Citation capsule: EAA Article 32 sets transition periods: service providers may continue using products lawfully used before June 28, 2025 until June 28, 2030, pre-existing service contracts may run until they expire or until June 28, 2030, and self-service terminals lawfully in use may continue for up to 20 years after entry into service (EUR-Lex Article 32, 2019).
What Happens If You Miss the Deadline?
There is no single EU-wide fine. Article 30 requires each member state to set penalties that are effective, proportionate, and dissuasive, so the numbers vary by country (Level Access, 2026). If you serve several markets, you face several penalty regimes at once, and you should check each country you actually sell into rather than assuming a flat figure.
The table below shows representative maximums for three major markets. Treat these as the published ceilings, not as the only consequence: market withdrawal, procurement exclusion, and reputational damage often hurt more than the fine itself.
Member state | Maximum penalty |
|---|---|
Germany | Up to 100,000 euros for non-compliant products, plus up to 10,000 euros for inaccurate accessibility information |
France | 50,000 euros for web non-compliance plus 25,000 euros for a missing statement or plan (some sources cite up to 250,000 euros for repeat or serious offenses) |
Italy | Up to 40,000 euros, or up to 5% of annual turnover for companies formerly under the Stanca Law |
All three figures come from Level Access's penalty analysis (Level Access, 2026). Note the French range: the headline statutory figure is 50,000 euros plus 25,000 euros, but some sources cite higher figures up to 250,000 euros for repeat or serious offenses, so do not treat the lower number as a hard cap.
Is the EAA actually being enforced?
Enforcement is recent and uneven, but it has started. According to Level Access, Sweden's PTS received 124 complaints (110 against services and e-retail, 14 against products and ATMs), and French disability NGOs issued formal legal notices on July 7, 2025 to major retailers including Auchan, Carrefour, and E. Leclerc (Level Access, 2026).
Read those signals with the right weight. The complaint volumes and legal notices are early data points reported by Level Access, not a settled body of case law. The pattern they suggest, though, is consistent: complaints cluster on consumer-facing services and e-retail, and advocacy groups are willing to litigate quickly. The risk is real and arriving market by market.
Citation capsule: The EAA sets no single EU-wide fine; Article 30 requires each member state to impose penalties that are effective, proportionate, and dissuasive. Germany sets up to 100,000 euros for non-compliant products, France 50,000 euros plus 25,000 euros for a missing statement, and Italy up to 40,000 euros or 5% of turnover (Level Access, 2026).
How Do Developers Actually Comply with the EAA?
The path is concrete: build to WCAG 2.1 AA (and toward 2.2 AA), test continuously, document conformance, and publish an accessibility statement. Because automated tools catch roughly 57% of accessibility issues by volume (Deque, 2021), compliance means pairing automated scanning with manual and assistive-technology testing. No single step gets you there alone.
Start by measuring where you stand against WCAG 2.1 AA, then stop new regressions from landing. Our developer's guide to web accessibility testing walks the full workflow, from first audit to ongoing checks. The point is to make accessibility a build-time concern, not a pre-litigation scramble.
How do you automate the detectable majority?
Run a scanner in CI so a contrast failure or a missing form label breaks the build before it merges. Our GitHub Actions setup shows how to gate pull requests with axe and Playwright, and our comparison of testing tools helps you pick the right engine per layer. For scanning many pages or services programmatically, an accessibility scanning API wires checks into any pipeline.
Automation handles the recurring, machine-detectable defects well. In our own scanning work across many sites, the violations that recur most are precisely the automatable ones: low-contrast text, missing labels, empty links, and unlabeled buttons. Fix those first, then bring a human in for keyboard operability, screen-reader behavior, focus order, and cognitive accessibility, which automation cannot verify.
What do you have to produce and document?
Services need a published accessibility statement; products need technical documentation, an EU Declaration of Conformity, and CE marking (Accessible.org, 2025). If you intend to claim the "disproportionate burden" or "fundamental alteration" exemption, you must assess and document that claim in good faith. You cannot simply assert it.
That documentation duty is where many teams get caught short. A disproportionate-burden claim has to rest on a real, recorded assessment, not a one-line note in a ticket. Skip the overlays here too: a single line of JavaScript cannot retrofit conformance, and we lay out the evidence in why accessibility overlays fail. Real compliance comes from fixing source code and content, then proving it with combined automated and manual testing.
Citation capsule: EAA compliance means building to WCAG 2.1 AA via EN 301 549, automating the roughly 57% of issues that tools catch by volume (Deque, 2021), then layering manual testing for the rest. Services must publish an accessibility statement; any "disproportionate burden" exemption must be assessed and documented in good faith, not merely claimed (Accessible.org, 2025).
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the EAA apply to my US (non-EU) company?
Yes, in effect. The EAA is market-based, not establishment-based, so if you sell in-scope products or services to consumers in the EU you are covered regardless of where you are headquartered (European Commission, 2025). An EU checkout, banking app, or e-book store selling to EU consumers brings you inside the scope.
What is the EAA deadline?
The EAA applies as of June 28, 2025 (EUR-Lex, 2019). New in-scope products and services must conform now. Article 32 adds transition periods: service providers may keep pre-existing products and contracts until June 28, 2030, and self-service terminals lawfully in use may continue for up to 20 years after entry into service.
Are small businesses exempt from the EAA?
Only partly. A microenterprise (fewer than 10 persons AND turnover or balance sheet under 2 million euros) is exempt from SERVICE obligations only, and both thresholds must be met (Taylor Wessing, 2025). If you manufacture an in-scope product, there is no microenterprise exemption at all.
What WCAG level does the EAA require?
Functionally WCAG 2.1 Level AA. The EAA points to the harmonized standard EN 301 549, and the currently cited version (v3.2.1) references WCAG 2.1 AA for web (European Commission, 2021). WCAG 2.2 AA is expected to follow as EN 301 549 is updated, so building to 2.2 now is the safer bet.
What happens if we miss the EAA?
Penalties are set per member state. Germany sets up to 100,000 euros for non-compliant products, France 50,000 euros plus 25,000 euros for a missing statement, and Italy up to 40,000 euros or 5% of turnover (Level Access, 2026). French disability NGOs are already issuing formal legal notices to major retailers.
The Bottom Line
The European Accessibility Act is live law, not a future deadline, and it reaches you on the strength of where you sell, not where you sit. If your in-scope product or service touches EU consumers, build to WCAG 2.1 Level AA through EN 301 549 now, and plan for WCAG 2.2 AA as the standard advances. Know which side of the product-versus-service line you fall on, because it decides whether you owe a CE-marked Declaration of Conformity or an accessibility statement, and whether the microenterprise exemption can help you at all.
The stakes are concrete and arriving market by market. With per-country penalties up to 100,000 euros in Germany (Level Access, 2026) and 95.9% of top sites still failing automated checks (WebAIM Million, 2026), the gap between obligation and reality is wide. Close it by shifting testing left: scan in CI to catch the detectable majority, then layer manual testing for the rest, and document any exemption claim honestly. For the wider map of every accessibility law, see our web accessibility compliance guide, then wire a gate into your pipeline with accessibility testing in GitHub Actions.