The European Accessibility Act (EAA) is Directive (EU) 2019/882. It sets common accessibility requirements for a defined list of products and services, and it has applied since June 28, 2025, to covered products placed on the EU market and covered services provided to consumers. Because it’s a directive, it works through national law. Each member state wrote the requirements into its own legislation, and each one enforces them and sets its own penalties.
The Act puts into practice commitments the EU and its member states made under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Its practical aim is one set of rules, so a product or service that meets them can be sold across the EU without a different accessibility standard in every country.
What’s the timeline for the EAA?
June 28, 2025, is the date most people know, but it isn’t the last one. Transitional rules run to 2030, and longer for some hardware.
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| April 17, 2019 | The Directive is adopted. |
| June 28, 2022 | Deadline for member states to transpose the Directive into national law. |
| June 28, 2025 | National rules apply. Covered products placed on the market and covered services provided from this date must meet the accessibility requirements. |
| June 28, 2027 | Latest date for member states that chose to delay the requirements for answering emergency communications to the single European emergency number, 112. |
| June 28, 2030 | End of the transitional period for services delivered with products the provider was already lawfully using before June 28, 2025. Service contracts agreed before that date can also run unchanged until they expire, but no later than this date. |
| Up to 20 years after entry into use | Where a member state allows it, self-service terminals such as ATMs and ticketing and check-in machines in use before June 28, 2025, can stay in service until the end of their economically useful life. |
Check your site against EAA requirements to see where it stands today.
What does the EAA cover?
The EAA applies to the products and services listed in Article 2 of the Directive, not to every business that sells in Europe.
Products
- Consumer general-purpose computer hardware and their operating systems
- Self-service terminals, including payment terminals, ATMs, ticketing and check-in machines, and interactive information terminals
- Consumer terminal equipment used for electronic communications or to access audiovisual media services, such as smartphones and smart TVs
- E-readers
Services
- Electronic communications services
- Services providing access to audiovisual media services
- Elements of air, bus, rail and waterborne passenger transport services, including websites, mobile apps, electronic tickets and real-time travel information
- Consumer banking services
- E-books and dedicated software
- E-commerce services
Location doesn’t take a business out of scope. A company outside the EU that places a covered product on the EU market, or provides a covered service to consumers in the EU, has to meet the requirements for that product or service.
Two provisions extend the Act’s reach. Under Article 24, the accessibility requirements feed into EU public procurement rules, so they shape what public buyers specify when they purchase covered products and services. Under Article 4(4), member states may also choose to apply accessibility requirements to the built environment where covered services are provided.
Who and what is exempt?
Microenterprises providing services. A microenterprise employs fewer than 10 people and has an annual turnover or an annual balance sheet total of no more than €2 million. Under Article 4(5), microenterprises that provide services are exempt from the service requirements. The exemption doesn’t extend to products, so a microenterprise that makes or sells a covered product still has to check the product rules.
Fundamental alteration and disproportionate burden. Under Article 14, a business can apply the requirements only in part, or not at all, where meeting them would fundamentally alter the product or service or impose a disproportionate burden. It has to carry out and document that assessment against the criteria in Annex VI. It isn’t a general opt-out.
Certain website and app content. The requirements don’t apply to:
- Pre-recorded time-based media published before June 28, 2025
- Office file formats published before June 28, 2025
- Online maps and mapping services, if essential information for navigation is provided in an accessible digital way
- Third-party content that isn’t funded, developed or controlled by the business
- Website and app content that qualifies as an archive, meaning it isn’t updated or edited after June 28, 2025
How is EAA compliance shown?
The legal requirements are in Annex I of the Directive. They’re functional rather than technical: information has to be perceivable, operable, understandable and robust, and the annex sets out what that means for each kind of product and service.
Technical standards are how most organizations show they meet those requirements. Under Article 15, a product or service that conforms to a harmonised standard cited in the Official Journal of the EU is presumed to meet the requirements that standard covers. For digital accessibility, that standard is EN 301 549. The cited version is still v3.2.1 (2021), which incorporates WCAG 2.1 Level AA. The European standards bodies published v4.1.1 in September 2026. It moves to WCAG 2.2 and is the first version mapped directly to the EAA, but it won’t give a presumption of conformity until the European Commission cites it in the Official Journal, according to AccessibleEU.
Service providers also have a documentation duty. Article 13 and Annex V require them to explain how their service meets the accessibility requirements, in their general terms and conditions or an equivalent document, and to make that information available in accessible formats for as long as the service runs. Many organizations publish it as an accessibility statement, although the Directive doesn’t use that term.
For the work itself, from auditing to building conformance into release processes, see the EAA compliance guide. Siteimprove’s EAA Resource Center collects related guides, checklists and webinars.
How is the European Accessibility Act enforced?
Enforcement is national. Each member state appoints the authorities responsible for market surveillance of products and for checking that services comply, and each one sets its own penalties. The Directive requires only that penalties be “effective, proportionate and dissuasive,” so there’s no single EU-wide fine. The amount depends on the national law that applies.
Member states also have to give consumers a way to act on noncompliance, through the courts or the competent national authority, and organizations with a legitimate interest, such as consumer and disability organizations, can bring proceedings too. Because the rules are national, the law that matters for a given product or service is the transposing act in each member state where it’s sold or provided.
How does the EAA differ from the Web Accessibility Directive?
The Web Accessibility Directive (Directive (EU) 2016/2102) covers the websites and mobile apps of public sector bodies. The EAA covers the listed products and services, most of them provided by private businesses. A public body that provides one of the EAA’s listed services can fall under both. The Web Accessibility Directive FAQ covers the public-sector side.
Frequently asked questions about the EAA
Does the EAA apply to companies outside the EU?
Yes, for the products and services in scope. What matters is where the product is placed on the market or the service is provided to consumers, not where the company is headquartered.
Does the EAA apply to UK businesses?
The UK isn’t an EU member state, so the EAA doesn’t apply to UK businesses as such. It applies to the covered products a UK business places on the EU market and the covered services it provides to consumers in the EU, in the same way it applies to any other business based outside the EU.
Does the EAA apply to B2B companies?
The service requirements apply to services provided to consumers, so a business that serves only other businesses is often outside that part of the Act. Covered products are a separate question, and B2B suppliers can still feel the requirements through their customers’ procurement. For more on where the line falls, see what the EAA means for B2B.
Is WCAG 2.2 required for EAA compliance?
Not yet. The cited version of EN 301 549 incorporates WCAG 2.1 Level AA. Once v4.1.1 is cited in the Official Journal, conformance with it, including WCAG 2.2 Level AA, becomes the route to a presumption of conformity. Teams planning work now can target WCAG 2.2 Level AA, which keeps every WCAG 2.1 success criterion except the obsolete 4.1.1 Parsing.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. The EAA is implemented through national laws, and legal obligations vary by country and context. Consult qualified counsel for legal guidance.
