Since June 2025, accessible websites and apps are not just recommended but mandatory for many companies in the EU. This article briefly sums up who is affected and what to do. The detailed background is in our article on accessibility.
Who is affected?
Public sector websites and apps have had rules for years. The European Accessibility Act (EAA) extends the requirements to certain services of businesses. For websites the most important is e-commerce: webshops, online booking, subscriptions. Consumer banking, electronic communications, some transport services and e-books are covered too. Microenterprises providing services are exempt: companies with fewer than 10 employees and an annual turnover or balance sheet total of no more than 2 million euros.
Does it apply if I only have a company presentation site?
A purely informational company site is generally not covered. But if consumers can enter into a contract through the site, for example book a paid appointment or order a product, it is. If you are unsure, ask for legal advice: this article is for information and is not legal advice.
What should you do?
- Audit: use automated tools (WAVE, axe, Lighthouse) and manual testing (keyboard, screen reader) to find where the site falls short of WCAG 2.1 level AA.
- Remediation plan: issues ranked by severity. Critical barriers, such as a checkout that cannot be used with a keyboard, come first.
- Fixes: in the design and the code, not with an overlay plugin. "Accessibility toolbars" do not ensure compliance.
- Accessibility statement: the site has to inform users how the service meets the requirements.
- Ongoing compliance: keep it in mind with every new piece of content and feature, and recheck from time to time.
How much work is it to fix an existing site?
It depends on the state of the site. On a well-built, modern site, fixing contrast, alt texts, form labels and focus handling is often enough. An old site with many custom solutions may need deeper changes, and sometimes a redesign is more economical. On one of our portal projects we built accessibility into the component library from the start, so every new page was compliant without editors having to think about it.
Updated: 4 November 2026
