The European Accessibility Act (EAA), Directive (EU) 2019/882, has applied since 28 June 2025. If your product serves consumers in the EU, there's a good chance some of it is now in scope. Here's the developer's version.
What's in scope (digital-relevant)
- E-commerce services: online shops and the checkout flow
- Consumer banking services: including apps and websites
- E-books and dedicated reading software
- Electronic communications services
- Services related to passenger transport: websites, apps, e-ticketing
- Access to audiovisual media services
- Plus hardware like computers, smartphones, ATMs, ticket machines
B2B-only software is generally not the focus. Consumer-facing services are.
The microenterprise exemption
Microenterprises providing services (fewer than 10 staff and ≤ €2 million turnover or balance sheet) are exempt from the service requirements. Many indie products qualify, but don't treat that as a reason to ignore accessibility.
The technical standard
The EAA itself sets functional requirements. In practice, teams use the harmonised standard EN 301 549, which incorporates WCAG success criteria for web content. Aim for WCAG 2.1 AA as the baseline, and WCAG 2.2 AA to be future-proof. My WCAG 2.2 checklist for React covers the implementation side.
What a dev team should do
- Determine scope: which products and flows serve EU consumers in covered sectors?
- Audit key journeys: sign-up, search, product pages, checkout, account.
- Fix the high-impact issues first: forms, focus, contrast, keyboard access.
- Publish an accessibility statement describing compliance and how users can report issues.
- Build it into the process: lint rules, automated axe checks in CI, manual keyboard tests in QA.
- Train designers and devs. Most issues start in design.
How it fits with other EU rules
The EAA joins a growing list of EU rules affecting software teams: the AI Act, sustainability rules like CSRD and EUDR, and GDPR. Accessibility is the one that touches every component you ship.