Does the European Accessibility Act apply to my business?

The European Accessibility Act (EAA) applies to your business if you supply one of the listed products or services to consumers in the EU and you are not a micro-enterprise. For most websites it comes down to one category: e-commerce services, meaning online shops and other sites and apps through which a consumer concludes a contract online. Since 28 June 2025, these have to be accessible to people with disabilities.

This article helps you work out whether the law applies to you, which exceptions exist and which technical standard to follow. It's part of our complete guide to website accessibility. It explains the rules and is not legal advice: if you're unsure about your own situation, ask a lawyer or the regulator.

#What is the European Accessibility Act?

The European Accessibility Act is Directive (EU) 2019/882, a European directive with accessibility requirements for a fixed list of products and services. A directive doesn't apply directly: each country transposes it into its own legislation. The Netherlands did so with the Implementatiewet toegankelijkheidsvoorschriften producten en diensten (the act implementing accessibility requirements for products and services), which applies from 28 June 2025.

The EAA is something different from the rules for public sector websites. Public bodies have long been covered by their own regime. The EAA targets businesses that offer products and services to consumers. According to Article 3 of the directive, a consumer is a natural person who buys or uses something outside their trade, business, craft or profession.

#Which products and services are covered by the EAA?

The EAA applies only to the products and services listed in Article 2 of the directive, not to all businesses or websites. The list is limited and specific.

For most business owners, the e-commerce category matters most. The directive describes these as services provided at a distance, through websites and mobile apps, by electronic means and at the individual request of a consumer, with a view to concluding a consumer contract. In the Netherlands, this obligation is set out in Article 6:230fb of the Dutch Civil Code.

A website that only provides information, such as a portfolio site or a company site with no way to order, is therefore not an e-commerce service. A site with a quote request form sits in a grey area. If a consumer concludes a contract directly through the form, the law is more likely to apply than if it's only a contact request.

Article 2(4) also excludes certain content, even on a site that is covered by the law. This covers video and audio and office files (such as PDFs) published before 28 June 2025, archives that are no longer updated, and third-party content that you don't fund, develop or control.

#Does the EAA also apply to B2B?

The EAA services only count when they are provided to consumers, so an online shop that sells exclusively to businesses is, in principle, outside its scope. Article 2(2) of the directive refers to services "provided to consumers after 28 June 2025". The Dutch Civil Code likewise places the duty on the service provider that offers e-commerce services "to a consumer".

Do watch out for mixed models. If anyone can order in your B2B shop without any checks, consumers can buy there too. In practice you are then also a B2C service. A genuine B2B environment, for example behind a login with a company registration number check, is on firmer ground. Products such as payment terminals are a different matter: they are covered by the law when they are placed on the market, regardless of who ends up using them.

#The micro-enterprise exemption

Micro-enterprises that provide services are exempt from the accessibility requirements for those services. That is set out in Article 4(5) of the directive. A micro-enterprise is, according to Article 3, a business with fewer than 10 employees and an annual turnover or an annual balance sheet total of no more than 2 million euros.

The Dutch Article 6:230fc of the Civil Code adopts that threshold word for word for e-commerce services. Two things are important:

• Both conditions must be met. A business with 6 employees but with both a turnover and a balance sheet total above 2 million euros is not a micro-enterprise.
• The exemption only applies to services. If you place products such as e-readers or payment terminals on the market, you do have to meet the product requirements as a micro-enterprise. Only the documentation duty when claiming a disproportionate burden is lighter for them (Article 14(4)).

If you grow beyond the threshold, the law applies to you from that point on. An online shop that sits just below the threshold today would therefore do well to factor in accessibility when choosing a new theme or a new checkout.

#Disproportionate burden and fundamental alteration

A business covered by the EAA doesn't have to meet a requirement if doing so would fundamentally alter the nature of the service or impose a disproportionate burden. That is set out in Article 14 of the directive and in Article 6:230fc(2) of the Dutch Civil Code. It is an exception per requirement, not a free pass for the whole site.

Article 14 attaches strict conditions to it:

• You carry out your own assessment according to the criteria in Annex VI, weighing the costs against the benefits for people with disabilities.
• You document that assessment and keep the results for five years after the service was last provided.
• You renew the assessment when the service changes, when the regulator asks for it and in any case every five years.
• If you receive external funding to improve accessibility, public or private, you can't claim a disproportionate burden.

Recital 66 of the directive also states that a lack of priority, time or knowledge is not a legitimate reason. So don't assume this claim will succeed without a reasoned, written assessment.

#Since when has the EAA applied, and are there transition rules?

The EAA has applied since 28 June 2025: from that date, member states apply the rules (Article 31). Article 32 of the directive provides a transition period until 28 June 2030. During that period, service providers may keep using products they were already lawfully using before that date, and contracts agreed before 28 June 2025 may continue unchanged for up to five years after that date.

For online shops, the Dutch transition rule is in Article 190aa of the Transitional Act for the new Dutch Civil Code. Among other things, it provides that the new rules don't apply to e-commerce services performed before the law entered into force. An online shop that takes orders today is therefore simply covered by the new rules. The transition period is about existing products and running contracts, not about your website as a whole.

#Which standard to follow: EN 301 549 and WCAG

The EAA itself contains no technical checklist, but functional requirements in Annex I, such as that information must be perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. You make that concrete through a harmonised standard. According to Article 15 of the directive and Article 6:230fd of the Dutch Civil Code, a service that meets such a standard is presumed to conform.

For websites and apps, that standard is EN 301 549, the European standard for digital accessibility. For web content, it refers to the W3C's WCAG, levels A and AA. Here is what is known about the version:

• The version that currently applies, EN 301 549 V3.2.1 from 2021, refers to WCAG 2.1 level AA.
• According to Ireland's National Disability Authority, version V4.1.1 was published on 2 September 2026, with WCAG 2.2 AA as its basis.
• That new version only becomes legally binding once the European Commission publishes it in the Official Journal. According to the NDA, that is expected on 16 December 2026.

Our advice: aim for WCAG 2.2 AA now. According to the W3C, WCAG 2.2 adds nine success criteria to 2.1, and the existing criteria stay virtually the same. What the new criteria ask of you is covered in WCAG 2.2 explained. For online shops, most of the risk sits in the checkout; see accessible forms and checkout.

Besides the technical requirements, Annex V says you must explain how your service meets the requirements. You do that in your general terms and conditions or an equivalent document. Many businesses do this with an accessibility statement; how to put one together is explained in writing an accessibility statement.

#Who supervises in the Netherlands?

Which regulator is responsible depends on the product or service. The Dutch government lists the Dutch Authority for Digital Infrastructure (RDI), the ACM, the AFM, the Dutch Media Authority (Commissariaat voor de Media), the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT) and the Justice and Security Inspectorate.

For online shops, the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets is the regulator. Since 28 June 2025, the ACM has supervised the accessibility of e-commerce services and electronic communications services. According to the Dutch government, a regulator can, for example, issue a warning or impose a fine in the event of a breach. Consumers can file a report if a product or service is not accessible.

#Decision tree: is your business covered by the EAA?

These five questions let you work out where you stand in a few minutes. Answer them in order.

1. Do you supply a product or service from the list in Article 2? Think of an online shop, banking service, e-book, telecoms service or passenger transport. No: the EAA generally doesn't apply to you. Yes: go on to question 2.
2. Do you supply consumers in the EU? Only businesses, and consumers really can't order: the EAA service requirements in principle don't apply. Yes or unsure: go on to question 3.
3. Is it a service or a product? For a product (such as an e-reader or payment terminal), the product requirements apply, including to micro-enterprises. Go on to question 5. For a service: go on to question 4.
4. Are you a micro-enterprise? Fewer than 10 employees and an annual turnover or balance sheet total of no more than 2 million euros: you are exempt for that service. Otherwise: go on to question 5.
5. Would a requirement fundamentally alter the service or impose a disproportionate burden? Only then can you make a documented exception for that specific requirement. In all other cases you have to meet the requirements and publish an explanation in line with Annex V.

If your business falls outside the EAA, accessibility is still worthwhile. Accessible sites have clearer forms and a better structure. If you also sell in the United States, read ADA compliance for European businesses.

#How to check this on your own site

Once you know the EAA applies to you, these are the first steps to see where you stand:

1. Record why the law applies to you, using the decision tree above, and keep that assessment.
2. Pick your most important customer journeys: homepage, category page, product page, basket, checkout and account. That's where most of the obligations sit.
3. Test those pages automatically against WCAG 2.2 A and AA. An automated test finds some of the problems, such as missing labels and alt text.
4. Then test manually: use the site with only the keyboard, check the colour contrast and go through the checkout with a screen reader. How to approach this is covered in testing website accessibility.
5. Publish an explanation in line with Annex V and schedule a regular repeat, for example with every new release of your theme or checkout.

Flowproof's accessibility check is included in the Pro and Business plans. It tests your pages with axe-core against WCAG 2.0, 2.1 and 2.2 levels A and AA, and also checks whether you have an accessibility statement, a skip link and no audio that plays automatically. The scan flags colour contrast as something to check manually. See the plans on the pricing page.