Legal framework

Selling in the EU: which accessibility law applies to your website?

A company that sells online in several European Union countries must consider the law of the country of each targeted consumer, not only the law of the country where it is headquartered. The European framework is shared, but the legislation, authorities and procedures remain national.

Figures, methodology and reuse terms: see the citable data →

The short answer

For a cross-border e-commerce website, the consumer market determines the analysis: a French store that offers its products to German customers must examine the German BFSG for this customer journey, even if its registered office and infrastructure are in France. The European directive establishes a common baseline, but each Member State implements it through its own law, with its own authorities, inspections, and penalties.

Why a European directive results in multiple national laws

The European Accessibility Act corresponds to Directive (EU) 2019/882 on the accessibility requirements for products and services. A directive requires Member States to achieve a common result, but it must be transposed into their national law. It therefore does not replace national laws with a single regulation that applies identically and directly throughout the European Union.

Since 28 June 2025, covered services must comply with the applicable requirements when they are provided to consumers. E-commerce services fall within the scope of the legislation when they are provided remotely, through electronic means, at the individual request of a consumer, and with a view to concluding a consumer contract.

The substantive framework is largely harmonised by the directive, particularly through Annex I. However, businesses must identify, for each market, the transposing legislation, the competent authority, and the national enforcement procedures. The same interface may therefore be subject to several national frameworks based on the same directive.

This interpretation concerns the accessibility obligations arising from the European Accessibility Act. On its own, it does not resolve other questions concerning the law applicable to the contract, consumer protection, jurisdiction, or taxation.

The table of laws to review by market

The operational starting point is to list the countries in which the store actually accepts orders. Each row can be linked to the corresponding national guide as it is published.

A common foundation does not mean a single procedure

Two national laws may impose requirements derived from the same European legislation while organising market surveillance differently. The competent authorities, investigative powers, corrective measures and penalties depend on national law. A policy limited to the law of the country where the company has its registered office therefore leaves a blind spot as soon as the company serves other markets.

The table provides a starting map, not a complete legal assessment. It is still necessary to verify that the service falls within the material scope, that the country is actually targeted and that no exemption provided for by the applicable legislation applies to the company.

How to determine which countries your website targets

The mere technical possibility of accessing a website from another State is not always sufficient to demonstrate that the market in question is being targeted. The assessment is based on a body of evidence showing that the company effectively offers to enter into contracts with consumers in that market.

• The country is listed among the delivery destinations offered during checkout.
• The website provides a language version, terms and conditions, or customer service intended for that market.
• Advertising campaigns or acquisition pages target residents of that country.
• Payment, return, or delivery arrangements are organized for that territory.
• Orders from that market are routinely accepted and fulfilled.

None of these factors should be considered mechanically in isolation. A German-language version is strong evidence, but a French-language store that delivers to and conducts outreach in Germany may also target the German market. Conversely, incidental access by a foreign visitor does not necessarily make that country a market served by the website.

The mapping should be based on the actual user journey rather than solely on the list of translations. It covers discovering a product, viewing its information, creating an account, adding items to the cart, making payment, receiving confirmation, and using support features related to the contract. Mobile applications used in this journey must also be included in the assessment when they form part of the e-commerce service.

Practical example: a French online store that delivers to Germany

Consider a company established in France whose website accepts German addresses, calculates delivery costs to Germany, and allows a German consumer to complete a purchase. For this customer journey, limiting the analysis to French provisions would be insufficient. The service is offered on the German market, and the BFSG must be examined.

The online store does not need to create a second website for this issue to arise. A single website can serve several markets and, depending on the consumers concerned, fall under several national laws. For its French customers, the company examines French law. For its German customers, it adds the BFSG and its implementing provisions to its compliance matrix.

What the team must document

The team can map each requirement to its actual components: navigation, search, product pages, forms, authentication, shopping cart, payment, and digital after-sales service. It retains audit results, remediation decisions, any known limitations, and the versions tested. This traceability helps manage the work and respond to a request from an authority in a structured manner.

Compliance is not limited to publishing a statement. The accessibility of the service must be addressed, and the required information on its accessible operation must be provided in accordance with the applicable law. The expected content and format must be verified against the national legislation and with the competent authority.

If the online store stops accepting German orders but remains accessible from Germany, the targeting analysis must be reassessed based on the facts. Apparent geographical blocking alone is not sufficient if other customer journeys or channels still allow the contract to be concluded.

Scope, exemptions and transitional period

The European Accessibility Act does not apply indiscriminately to every professional web page. For online commerce, the central question is whether an e-commerce service is provided to a consumer. A purely corporate website, with no user journey intended to conclude a consumer contract, requires a different classification.

The directive provides an exemption for microenterprises that provide services. It defines a microenterprise as an enterprise employing fewer than 10 persons and whose annual turnover or annual balance sheet total does not exceed EUR 2 million. The practical application of this exemption must be verified under the relevant national law, taking into account the activity and structure concerned.

Other mechanisms are available where compliance with a requirement would result in a fundamental alteration to the basic nature of the product or service, or would impose a disproportionate burden. They do not constitute a general exemption. They require an assessment conducted in accordance with the legislation, documented, retained and reviewed in the circumstances specified therein.

28 June 2030 is relevant to certain transitional measures. In particular, the directive allows service contracts concluded before 28 June 2025 to continue without alteration until that date, subject to the conditions it lays down. This rule must not be treated as a general deadline granted to all websites: new services or modified user journeys must be assessed according to their specific circumstances.

Before invoking an exemption or transitional measure, an enterprise operating in several countries must review each national transposition. A lawyer familiar with the markets concerned can validate the classification adopted and the necessary supporting documentation.

Building reusable compliance across multiple countries

A common technical foundation remains possible despite the plurality of laws. The directive harmonizes a large proportion of the functional requirements, making it possible to fix shared components once and then verify their linguistic and national variants. This approach avoids treating each country as an entirely separate project.

• Map the countries where consumers can actually complete a purchase.
• Associate each country with its transposing law, its authority, and the relevant public documents.
• Test the complete journey using automated checks and manual verification.
• Prioritize obstacles that prevent users from navigating, understanding, entering information, or completing a step.
• Retain evidence of testing, the fixes implemented, and the validated legal decisions.

Technical standards provide ways to structure the assessment, but the European Accessibility Act cannot be reduced to a claim that a website complies with the WCAG. Checks must be linked to the requirements applicable to the service, the information provided to the public, and national oversight rules.

The state of the market warrants concrete verification rather than an assumption based on the visual theme or CMS. The Inclaria 2026 study finds that 94.5% of the 55 websites analyzed in the French e-commerce sample have at least one critical or serious compliance issue. This result describes this specific sample and measures neither the entire European market nor, on its own, the websites’ full legal compliance.

An automated scan can quickly identify some testable defects, for example in the structure or certain interactive components. It cannot independently assess the relevance of all alternative text, the logical order of every journey, the quality of the screen reader experience, or all legal obligations. Inclaria acknowledges this limitation: automation supports detection and prioritization, while full compliance also requires manual testing.

The right decision-making sequence for a cross-border project

The registered office remains useful information, but it is not the criterion that allows you to disregard the laws of the markets served. The first decision is to identify the consumers to whom the service is offered. The second is to determine the nature of the service and any applicable exemptions. The third is to assess the user journey against the requirements and procedures of each country concerned.

This method also helps structure national publications. The central guide answers the question of which law applies, while the Spain, Netherlands, Portugal, Germany and Italy fact sheets can specify the local legislation, the competent authority, the enforcement regime and the official resources. Each fact sheet must be updated if the law, its implementing legislation or the authority’s guidance changes.

This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. A company whose targeting, status or distribution model raises doubts should have its case reviewed by a lawyer qualified in the countries concerned.