European Accessibility Act (EAA)

The EAA (Directive 2019/882) applies to a defined set of products and services sold in the EU, including e-commerce, consumer banking, e-books, ticketing and transport services, and electronic communications. It covers businesses outside the EU too if they sell to EU consumers. There is a limited exemption for microenterprises providing services, but most online retailers and service providers are in scope.

For websites and apps, conformance is demonstrated through the European standard EN 301 549, which in turn incorporates WCAG 2.1 Level AA for web content. So in practice, meeting WCAG 2.1 AA (and WCAG 2.2 AA, which builds on it) is how you satisfy the EAA's web accessibility expectations.

For the website itself it covers most of the ground, because clause 9 of EN 301 549 applies WCAG 2.1 AA to web content. The Directive never names WCAG. Article 15 presumes conformity for services that follow harmonised standards "in so far as those standards or parts thereof cover those requirements", and EN 301 549 is the standard doing that job.

Three things fall outside a WCAG audit of your pages:

• Documents and apps. EN 301 549 has separate clauses for non-web documents (clause 10) and software, which includes mobile apps (clause 11). A PDF you publish or a native app is judged under those.
• Documentation and support. Clause 12 covers documentation and support services, so help content and customer support channels count too.
• The accessibility information itself. Article 13 requires service providers to explain how the service meets the accessibility requirements. Annex V says that explanation goes in the general terms and conditions or an equivalent document, including "a description of how the relevant accessibility requirements set out in Annex I are met". A site that passes WCAG but publishes no such statement is still missing something the Act asks for.

Some sectors carry extra rules in Annex I. Consumer banking information must be understandable "without exceeding a level of complexity superior to level B2 (upper intermediate)" of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. E-commerce services must provide information about the accessibility of the products and services they sell.

Enforcement began on 28 June 2025. Unlike a future deadline you can plan around, EAA obligations are live now, and member states have designated authorities to handle complaints and penalties. If you sell to EU consumers and have not checked your site, that is the gap to close.

Run the free scan above on any page. It renders the page in a real browser and runs axe-core against WCAG 2.2 A and AA (which covers the 2.1 AA the EAA relies on), outlining every failing element and mapping it to the criterion. Automated checks clear the machine-testable issues; items needing human judgement are flagged for manual review.