Regulation

BaFG: the European Accessibility Act in Austria

Everything you need to know about digital accessibility and the EAA in Austria, and how to make your site compliant.

What the European Accessibility Act means in Austria

The European Accessibility Act (EU Directive 2019/882) has applied in Austria since 28 June 2025, as in all 27 member states. It requires many consumer-facing digital products and services to be accessible.

For a website or app, the technical reference is the EN 301 549 standard, which mirrors WCAG 2.2 level AA criteria. A covered service must be perceivable, operable, understandable and robust.

Services concerned

• Consumer-facing e-commerce.
• Consumer banking services.
• Electronic communications (telecoms).
• Passenger transport.
• E-books and certain media services.

Your accessibility statement

In Austria, the official language(s) are: German. Your accessibility statement is best made available in that language or those languages for your local users. It must list non-accessible content and a contact channel.

National framework

National transposition of the European Accessibility Act: Barrierefreiheitsgesetz (BaFG).

Authority(ies) responsible for enforcing services: Sozialministeriumservice (federal market surveillance authority).

Where to start

The simplest first step is to establish a baseline of your site, then fix issues at the source and publish an honest statement. Penalties and their procedures vary by national transposition.