European Accessibility Act (EAA)

The German transposition act is the Accessibility Strengthening Act (BFSG).

As a directive, the EAA does not apply directly. It obliges the Member States to translate its regulatory objective into national law. A company asking about its obligations will therefore always find the answer in the national law, but the EAA explains why this law looks the way it does and why the requirements in Vienna, Amsterdam and Berlin are essentially the same.

What the directive regulates

The EAA's approach is functional. It does not prescribe techniques but results: information must be perceivable via more than one sensory channel, controls must be usable without particular fine motor skills, and content must be presented in an understandable way that is compatible with assistive technology. The specific requirements are set out in the annexes; the directive leaves the technical detail to harmonised standards.

This explains the dual character that surprises many projects. The legal obligation is formulated in abstract terms and leaves room for design. The benchmark by which an authority or a court measures compliance, on the other hand, is very concrete, because it comes in via the standard.

Covered products and services

The scope is a closed list, not a general accessibility obligation for everything digital. On the product side, it covers, among other things, computers and operating systems, self-service terminals such as cash, ticket and check-in machines as well as payment terminals, terminal equipment with interactive computing capability for telecommunications and audiovisual media services, and e-readers. On the services side are:

• E-commerce services, i.e. the classic B2C online shop including its app. This is the decisive category for retail.
• Electronic communications services and access to audiovisual media services.
• Elements of passenger transport services by air, bus, rail and waterborne transport, such as websites, apps, electronic tickets and real-time travel information.
• Consumer banking services, including online banking and identification procedures.
• E-books and dedicated software.
• Emergency communications to the single European emergency number 112.

At the same time, the directive expressly excludes a range of content, which is often overlooked in projects. This includes pre-recorded time-based media published before the date of application, office file formats from before that time, online maps and mapping services provided the information essential for navigation is made accessible, third-party content that the operator neither funds, develops nor controls, and archives that are no longer updated after the cut-off date. For a shop, this means: an embedded customer review widget from a third-party provider, unlike your own template, is not automatically your own responsibility; your own magazine archive only is if it continues to be maintained.

The three exemptions

The EAA has three relief mechanisms that differ considerably in scope.

The first is the micro-enterprise exemption. It applies only to services, not to products. Micro-enterprises within the meaning of the directive are companies with fewer than ten employees whose annual turnover or annual balance sheet total does not exceed two million euros. The combination is decisive: the headcount must be met, while for the financial values one of the two is sufficient. A shop with nine employees, 2.4 million euros in turnover and a balance sheet total of 1.6 million euros therefore remains a micro-enterprise.

The second is fundamental alteration: a requirement does not have to be met if its implementation would change the basic nature of the product or service.

The third is disproportionate burden. It is the most frequently misunderstood. It is not a gut-feeling self-assessment but requires a documented assessment according to the criteria of the directive, including the ratio of costs to overall expenditure and the estimated benefit for persons with disabilities. The assessment must be kept and presented to market surveillance on request, and it must be reviewed regularly. Anyone who has not prepared it cannot rely on it.

Deadlines and transitional rules

The transitional rules are the source of the widespread misconception that there is a grace period until 2030. The German version can be read in Section 38 BFSG: service providers may continue to provide their services until 27 June 2030 using products that were lawfully used before 28 June 2025, and contracts concluded before this date may continue unchanged until they expire, but no later than 27 June 2030. Self-service terminals may continue to operate until the end of their economic life, but no longer than fifteen years after being put into use.

None of these rules extends a deadline for a shop's website or app. The service itself, i.e. the online shop, has been subject to the obligation since 28 June 2025. The transition concerns hardware and existing contracts, not the front end.

From the EAA to national law

Germany transposed the directive with the Accessibility Strengthening Act of 16 July 2021, supplemented by the BFSG ordinance, which fills in the requirements technically. Austria created its own transposition act with the Accessibility Act (Barrierefreiheitsgesetz). In several Member States, transposition was delayed beyond the 2022 deadline, which prompted the Commission to initiate infringement proceedings for non-communication of transposition measures. For retailers operating across borders, this has a practical consequence: the level of protection is harmonised, but procedures, responsibilities and sanction frameworks are not.

Germany itself provides an example of this difference. At EU level, the EAA merely stipulates that Member States must provide for effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties (Article 30) and functioning market surveillance; it does not name amounts. What this market surveillance looks like is decided by national law. In Germany, the Market Surveillance Authority of the Federal States for the Accessibility of Products and Services (MLBF), based in Magdeburg and a joint institution of all federal states, has been responsible since 26 September 2025. In January 2026, it adopted market surveillance strategies that expressly provide for automated preliminary checks of web-based services without a specific cause. A shop can therefore attract attention there without anyone having complained. The range of fines under Section 37(2) BFSG goes up to 100,000 euros, for example if a service is offered that does not meet the accessibility requirements or for which the prescribed information under Annex 3 is missing, or if a non-compliant product is placed on the market. For the other administrative offences, such as failing to provide information to the authority, it is up to 10,000 euros.

Technical benchmark: EN 301 549

In practice, the bridge between the abstract legal obligation and testable technology is the European standard EN 301 549. It transfers the WCAG into a European standards framework and adds requirements for hardware, documentation and support. However, neither the EAA nor the German BFSG ordinance prescribes a specific standard or WCAG version. A presumption of conformity only arises once the reference of a harmonised standard under the EAA has been published in the EU Official Journal (Article 15 EAA, in Germany Section 4 BFSG).

The version status needs to be read carefully. The version cited in the Official Journal is V3.2.1, and only under the Web Accessibility Directive (EU) 2016/2102 for public sector bodies; it refers to WCAG 2.1. No version of EN 301 549 has yet been cited in the Official Journal under the EAA (as of October 2026, according to the European Commission's list of harmonised standards). In September 2026, ETSI published version V4.1.1, the first drawn up under the standardisation mandate for the EAA. It aligns the web clauses with WCAG 2.2 and provides a mapping to the EAA requirements in a dedicated annex. As long as no version is cited under the EAA, there is no formal presumption of conformity via the standard; EN 301 549 nevertheless serves as the practical benchmark. In practice, WCAG 2.1 AA is considered the lower limit, because the previously cited version V3.2.1 is based on it.

What this means in practice for operators

Four work steps can be derived from the EAA that apply regardless of the Member State.

• Clarify whether you are affected. Does the offering fall into one of the listed categories, and does the micro-enterprise exemption actually apply? The check should be documented, not assumed.
• Define the benchmark. In practice, WCAG 2.1 AA as a minimum. Anyone building something new should sensibly go straight to WCAG 2.2 AA, because the benchmark will move there with the citation of the new version of the standard. Accessibility then belongs directly in the concept of the web application, not in a later fix sprint.
• Meet the information obligations. The EAA requires information on how the service meets the requirements. In Germany, Section 14 BFSG specifies this obligation via Annex 3. Important: this is not the "accessibility statement" from public sector law but a separate, leaner document.
• Remain able to provide evidence. Keep test reports, test data and, if claimed, the assessment of disproportionate burden. In the event of an audit, documentation is the difference between a request for rectification and fine proceedings.

The European Commission provides further information on the legal act and its context on its overview page on the European Accessibility Act.

Misconceptions

"The EAA applies directly to my company." No, it takes effect via the national transposition law. The addressee of the obligations, procedures and sanctions result from this law, in Germany therefore from the BFSG.

"The EAA is the continuation of the Web Accessibility Directive." Both legal acts exist in parallel and have different addressees. Directive (EU) 2016/2102 obliges public sector bodies and is transposed in Germany via the Disability Equality Act and the BITV. The EAA obliges private economic operators. Anyone who transfers the documentation obligations of one world to the other builds the wrong document.

"Micro-enterprises are completely exempt." The exemption applies only to services. Anyone who manufactures, imports or distributes products within the scope is obliged regardless of company size.

"An accessibility overlay meets the requirements." An overlaid control bar does not change the underlying markup. It is precisely this markup that automated preliminary checks examine. A toolbar can make sense as an additional offering, but not as a conformity strategy.

FAQ

What is the difference between the EAA and the BFSG? The EAA is the EU directive; the BFSG is its German transposition. They are essentially identical in content but differ in procedures, responsibilities and the level of sanctions.

Since when has the EAA applied? Adopted in 2019, to be transposed by 28 June 2022, applicable since 28 June 2025.

Does the EAA also apply to B2B shops? It covers services for consumers. A pure B2B shop usually does not fall under it, but a shop with a mixed customer base does. Wherever consumers can order, the obligation applies.

What happens in the event of infringements? The national market surveillance authority is responsible. In Germany, it works in stages: a request for correction, restriction or prohibition of the service (Section 29 BFSG). In addition, a fine can be imposed under Section 37 BFSG.

Which technical standard has to be met? Neither the EAA nor the German BFSG ordinance prescribes a specific standard. The practical reference point is the European standard EN 301 549 and thus the WCAG at conformance level AA. WCAG 2.1 AA is currently considered the lower limit. Version V4.1.1 of the standard is based on WCAG 2.2 AA but has not yet been cited in the Official Journal under the EAA.