Regulation
The European Accessibility Act, country by country
The EAA (EU Directive 2019/882) applies in all 27 member states since 28 June 2025. Each country applies it through its own transposition. Pick yours.
One directive, twenty-seven applications
The European Accessibility Act is a directive, not a regulation. That distinction is not a matter of vocabulary. A regulation applies as written across the whole Union; a directive sets a result to be achieved and leaves each member state to write its own law to get there. Directive (EU) 2019/882 was adopted on 17 April 2019, and the national measures transposing it have applied since 28 June 2025.
The underlying obligation is therefore the same everywhere, but the text that can be held against you, the authority that enforces it, the level of fines and the complaint procedures all depend on the country. That is exactly what the country pages at the bottom of this page cover.
What the directive covers
Article 2 sets out two distinct groups. The first concerns products, the second services, and a single company may fall under both.
Products
- General purpose consumer computer hardware systems, and their operating systems
- Self-service terminals: payment terminals, automated teller machines, ticketing machines, check-in machines, interactive information terminals
- Consumer terminal equipment for electronic communications services
- Consumer terminal equipment giving access to audiovisual media services
- E-readers
Services
- Electronic communications services
- Services providing access to audiovisual media services
- Certain passenger transport services: air, rail, waterborne and bus
- Consumer banking services
- E-books and their dedicated software
- E-commerce
That last line is the one that surprises people most. E-commerce is not a niche category reserved for large platforms: it covers websites and applications that sell to consumers, whatever the nature of the product sold.
The two exemptions, and what they do not cover
Two ways out exist. Both are narrower than they are generally believed to be.
The microenterprise exemption
Article 4(5) exempts microenterprises providing services. The definition sits in Article 3(23): fewer than ten people employed, and either an annual turnover not exceeding two million euros or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding that same amount.
The point most often missed fits in one line: this exemption covers services. A microenterprise that manufactures, imports or distributes a covered product is not thereby released from the obligations attached to that product.
Disproportionate burden
The directive accepts that compliance may represent an excessive burden. This is not a box to tick. The assessment follows precise criteria set out in Annex VI; it must be supported by concrete evidence, documented, and reviewed periodically. Invoking disproportionate burden without having carried out that assessment rests on nothing.
Transitional periods that do not remove the obligation
Two arrangements accompany the entry into application, and both are frequently read backwards.
Service contracts concluded before 28 June 2025 may continue unchanged until they expire, and no later than 28 June 2030. That period applies to existing contracts: it does not push back the deadline for a service launched after the date of application.
Self-service terminals already lawfully in use may continue to be used until the end of their economically useful life, within a limit of twenty years after they were put into service. This is not a fixed date: the countdown starts when each individual terminal is put into service.
What accessible means in technical terms
The directive states functional requirements, not a list of technical criteria. It is the harmonised European standard EN 301 549 that turns those requirements into verifiable obligations, and for everything web related it builds on WCAG at level AA.
In practice, an online service that meets WCAG level AA across its entire journey covers the essentials of what is asked of it. The whole nuance lies in the word journey: a flawless home page and a checkout that cannot be used with a keyboard do not add up to an accessible service.
Why your country changes the answer
Two comparable companies, one in France and one in Germany, fall under the same European obligation but under two distinct national laws, with two enforcement authorities, two scales of penalties and two complaint procedures. Knowing that the EAA applies to you is therefore not enough: you need to know which national text applies.
Frequently asked questions
- Does the EAA apply to a website that sells nothing?
- Not under e-commerce, which presupposes a transaction with a consumer. But a site with no sales may fall under another category in Article 2, for instance if it gives access to a banking service, a passenger transport service or audiovisual media. The public sector is covered by a separate and earlier text, the directive on the accessibility of public sector websites.
- My company is outside the European Union, am I concerned?
- The directive covers products placed on the Union market and services provided to consumers in the Union. Where the company is established, like where the site is hosted, is not enough to rule it out. What matters is the market being served.
- Is WCAG level AA enough to be compliant?
- For the web part of a service it covers the essentials, since EN 301 549 refers to it. It does not cover the documentation obligations, the requirements specific to hardware, or those concerning the information provided to the consumer.
- Is an accessibility statement required?
- Information obligations vary with the national transposition and with the nature of the activity. Your country page sets out what is expected there.