When does the European Accessibility Act apply from?

The Directive was adopted on 17 April 2019. Member states had until 28 June 2022 to transpose it into national law, and the obligations apply to products placed on the market and services provided to consumers after 28 June 2025.

Does the EAA apply to B2B businesses?

The services list in Article 2(2) covers services provided to consumers, and the Directive defines a consumer as a natural person acting for purposes outside their trade, business, craft or profession. A service offered only to businesses sits outside that list as written. Many services described as B2B are also bought by sole traders or individuals for personal use, so the answer depends on who actually buys, not on how the business describes itself.

Do existing websites have until 2030 to comply?

Not as Article 32 is written. It requires member states to allow service providers to keep providing services using products they were already lawfully using, until 28 June 2030, and lets service contracts agreed before 28 June 2025 continue unchanged until they expire, for at most five years. The transition is worded around products used to deliver a service and around existing contracts. It does not say a service itself may stay non-compliant until 2030.

What is the difference between the EAA and WCAG?

The EAA is a legal requirement; WCAG is a technical standard. The EAA relies on the harmonised European standard EN 301 549 to define what accessible means technically. The version currently cited as the legal reference, EN 301 549 v3.2.1, is based on WCAG 2.1 Level AA; v4.1.1, published in September 2026, moves to WCAG 2.2 but is not yet the legal reference.

Who enforces the European Accessibility Act?

Each member state. The Directive sets the requirements; every member state designates its own market surveillance authority and sets its own penalties in national law. There is no single EU enforcer and no single EU-wide fine. Our country pages list the authority, the national law and the maximum penalty for each of the 27 member states.

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Directive (EU) 2019/882

European Accessibility Act: Complete Guide

The European Accessibility Act (EAA) is an EU directive requiring a defined list of products and services to meet common accessibility requirements. It has applied since 28 June 2025. This page covers what applies across the EU, quoting the Directive where it matters. For penalties and enforcement authorities in a specific member state, see the country pages: every figure there comes from an official text.

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What the EAA covers

The Directive does not apply to the internet in general. Article 2 lists specific products and specific services, and only those.

Products placed on the market after 28 June 2025

Consumer general-purpose computer hardware and their operating systems
Self-service terminals: payment terminals, ATMs, ticketing machines, check-in machines, and interactive terminals providing information (excluding those built into vehicles, aircraft, ships or rolling stock)
Consumer terminal equipment used for electronic communications services
Consumer terminal equipment used to access audiovisual media services
E-readers

Services provided to consumers after 28 June 2025

Electronic communications services (except machine-to-machine transmission)
Services providing access to audiovisual media services
Elements of air, bus, rail and waterborne passenger transport: websites, mobile apps, e-tickets, travel information including real-time information, and interactive terminals in the EU. Urban, suburban and regional transport is covered only for those terminals.
Consumer banking services
E-books and dedicated software
E-commerce services

If your business is in none of these categories, the EAA's obligations may not reach you directly, although national law in some member states sets a broader baseline. That is not a substitute for a legal read of your own situation.

Source: Directive (EU) 2019/882, Article 2.

Who it applies to, including businesses outside the EU

The Directive places obligations on economic operators, which Article 3 defines as the manufacturer, the authorised representative, the importer, the distributor or the service provider. For most online businesses the relevant role is the last one, and its definition is the most important sentence in the Directive for anyone established outside the EU:

"'service provider' means any natural or legal person who provides a service on the Union market or makes offers to provide such a service to consumers in the Union"

Where the provider is incorporated is not part of that test. A US, UK or Swiss online store that sells to consumers in the EU is offering a covered service to consumers in the Union. That is why EAA compliance questions arrive from far outside Europe.

Source: Directive (EU) 2019/882, Article 3.

Does the EAA apply to B2B?

The services list covers services provided to consumers, and Article 3 is specific about who counts: a consumer is a natural person who buys a product or receives a service "for purposes which are outside his trade, business, craft or profession".

A service sold only to businesses therefore falls outside the services list as written. The practical difficulty is that the test turns on the buyer's purpose, not on how a business describes itself. A "B2B" software tool that sole traders also buy for personal use, or a wholesale site that accepts orders from individuals, is not purely business-to-business in the sense the definition uses. Look at who actually buys before concluding you are out of scope.

Key dates

17 April 2019: Directive (EU) 2019/882 adopted.
28 June 2022: Deadline for member states to transpose the Directive into national law.
28 June 2025: Obligations apply. This is the date most guides mean by "the EAA deadline".
28 June 2030: End of the transition period in Article 32(1), which every member state must provide. Read what it actually covers before relying on it: it is narrower than it is usually described.

The 2030 transition period, read precisely

The most misquoted part of the Directive. It is often summarised as "existing websites have until 2030", and that is not what it says. Article 32 has three parts:

Products already in use. Member states shall provide a transition period ending on 28 June 2030 "during which service providers may continue to provide their services using products which were lawfully used by them to provide similar services before that date". This is mandatory for every member state, not an option some choose.
Existing contracts. Service contracts agreed before 28 June 2025 "may continue without alteration until they expire, but no longer than five years from that date".
Self-service terminals. Member states may allow terminals lawfully used before 28 June 2025 to continue until the end of their economically useful life, "but no longer than 20 years after their entry into use". This one is optional; severalcountry pages note where it was adopted.

Notice what the relief attaches to: products used to deliver a service, pre-existing contracts, and physical terminals. None of the three says that a service itself, such as an online shop or a banking app, may remain non-compliant until 2030. Planning an e-commerce site's compliance around 2030 on the strength of Article 32 is building on a sentence the Directive does not contain.

Source: Directive (EU) 2019/882, Article 32.

Who is exempt

Two routes exist, and they work very differently.

Microenterprises providing services

Article 4(5) exempts microenterprises providing services from the accessibility requirements and the obligations that go with them. The definition in Article 3 is an enterprise employingfewer than 10 persons with an annual turnover not exceeding€2 million or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding€2 million. The exemption covers services only: a microenterprise placing a covered product on the market still has to make that product accessible.

Fundamental alteration and disproportionate burden

Article 14 applies the requirements only to the extent that compliance does not fundamentally alter the basic nature of the product or service and does not impose a disproportionate burden. It is not a status a business declares. The economic operator has to carry out an assessment against the criteria in Annex VI, document it, and keep the results for five years after the product was last made available or the service last provided. A business relying on it must inform the relevant authority in each member state concerned, and hand over a copy of the assessment on request. Article 14(8) exempts microenterprises from the notification step.

Full breakdown, and what each route does not cover: EAA exemptions.

Source: Directive (EU) 2019/882, Articles 3, 4(5) and 14.

What you have to publish

Service providers must prepare the information set out in Annex V, explain how the service meets the accessibility requirements, make that information available to the public in written and oral format, and keep it for as long as the service operates (Article 13). Annex V places it in the general terms and conditions or an equivalent document. Ourstatement generator explains the requirement in full and fills in the national authority and complaint route for your country.

How enforcement works

The EAA sets the requirement; each member state writes its own enforcement law, names its own market surveillance authority and sets its own penalty range. That is why "what is the fine for non-compliance" has no single EU-wide answer: Spain's statutory maximum is €1,000,000, Germany's is €100,000, and several member states have published no single fixed figure at all. See the maximum fine in every member state and the country pages for the figure, the authority and the law it comes from, and the enforcement tracker for what has actually happened in court and with regulators, as opposed to what is possible on paper.

EAA vs WCAG

The EAA is a legal requirement; WCAG is a technical standard. They connect through EN 301 549, the harmonised European standard used for what accessible means in practice, and the version of EN 301 549 currently cited as the legal reference, v3.2.1, is based on WCAG 2.1 Level AA. A new version, v4.1.1, published in September 2026, moves to WCAG 2.2 but is not yet the legal reference. Build to WCAG 2.2; it covers the 2.1 criteria still in force. Full comparison: EAA vs WCAG.

European Accessibility Act: common questions

When does the European Accessibility Act apply from?: The Directive was adopted on 17 April 2019. Member states had until 28 June 2022 to transpose it into national law, and the obligations apply to products placed on the market and services provided to consumers after 28 June 2025.
Does the EAA apply to companies outside the EU?: Where they serve the EU market, yes. The Directive defines a service provider as any natural or legal person who provides a service on the Union market or makes offers to provide such a service to consumers in the Union. Where the provider is established is not part of that definition; offering the service to consumers in the EU is.
Does the EAA apply to B2B businesses?: The services list in Article 2(2) covers services provided to consumers, and the Directive defines a consumer as a natural person acting for purposes outside their trade, business, craft or profession. A service offered only to businesses sits outside that list as written. Many services described as B2B are also bought by sole traders or individuals for personal use, so the answer depends on who actually buys, not on how the business describes itself.
Do existing websites have until 2030 to comply?: Not as Article 32 is written. It requires member states to allow service providers to keep providing services using products they were already lawfully using, until 28 June 2030, and lets service contracts agreed before 28 June 2025 continue unchanged until they expire, for at most five years. The transition is worded around products used to deliver a service and around existing contracts. It does not say a service itself may stay non-compliant until 2030.
Is my business exempt from the EAA?: Microenterprises providing services are exempt from the accessibility requirements for those services. The Directive defines a microenterprise as one employing fewer than 10 persons with annual turnover not exceeding €2 million or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding €2 million. Separately, any business can rely on the disproportionate burden or fundamental alteration grounds in Article 14 for a specific requirement, but only after carrying out and documenting an assessment.
What is the difference between the EAA and WCAG?: The EAA is a legal requirement; WCAG is a technical standard. The EAA relies on the harmonised European standard EN 301 549 to define what accessible means technically. The version currently cited as the legal reference, EN 301 549 v3.2.1, is based on WCAG 2.1 Level AA; v4.1.1, published in September 2026, moves to WCAG 2.2 but is not yet the legal reference.
Who enforces the European Accessibility Act?: Each member state. The Directive sets the requirements; every member state designates its own market surveillance authority and sets its own penalties in national law. There is no single EU enforcer and no single EU-wide fine. Our country pages list the authority, the national law and the maximum penalty for each of the 27 member states.

Where to go next

EAA for e-commerce: checkout, product pages, and what online stores need to check.
Shopify, WooCommerce, WordPress or PrestaShop: what each platform covers and where it stops.
EAA exemptions: who is exempt and who is not.
Enforcement tracker: real court cases and regulator actions, sourced and dated.
Accessibility statement generator: what Article 13 requires, with your country's authority filled in.
Full AI-assisted scan: automated audit with an assistant to explain the results.

Sources: Directive (EU) 2019/882 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on the accessibility requirements for products and services, Articles 2, 3, 4, 13, 14 and 32 and Annex V. Quotations are from the English text published in the Official Journal. Checked 13 September 2026.

This page summarises the Directive at EU level and is not legal advice. National transposition can add detail; see the relevant country page, each sourced and dated.