The European Accessibility Act 2025: What It Means for Your Business

Accessibility Is No Longer Optional

By June 2025, the European Accessibility Act (EAA) will take full effect, transforming digital accessibility from a “nice-to-have” into a legal and business-critical requirement across the EU.

If you operate in the European market and offer digital products or services—whether you’re selling online, providing financial tools, running a ticketing platform, or something in between—this regulation will impact you.

But more importantly, accessibility isn’t just about compliance. It’s about building better experiences for more people. It’s about relevance, usability, and long-term value.

And yet, navigating the EAA can feel daunting. What needs to change? How do you get it right without starting over? And how can you make sure your updates are genuinely usable—not just legally compliant?

This guide breaks it all down in plain language—what the EAA means, who it applies to, what compliance looks like in the real world, and what support your business might need in preparing for the transition.

What Is the European Accessibility Act?

The EAA is an EU directive created to ensure that key products and services are accessible to people with disabilities across the Union. It draws from the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1) and is part of a broader move to harmonise accessibility standards across EU member states.

Who Needs to Comply?

The EAA applies to most companies that offer digital products or services in the EU. This includes:

• E-commerce businesses
• Banks and fintech services
• Public transport and ticketing providers
• Publishers of eBooks
• Telecommunication and messaging platforms
• Companies offering self-service terminals (e.g. ATMs, payment kiosks)

While microenterprises (fewer than 10 employees and less than €2 million in turnover) are currently exempt, the direction of travel is clear. Even exempt businesses may face pressure from partners, customers, or procurement processes to comply.

Why This Matters for Your Business

More than 100 million Europeans live with some form of disability. That’s 1 in 4 people. And the number is only growing as the population ages.

Accessibility isn’t a box to tick. It’s about ensuring people can use your product without barriers. And when done right, it’s good business:

• Inclusive products = broader reach
• Accessible interfaces = better UX for everyone
• Compliance = reduced legal and reputational risk

Inaccessible services lead to exclusion—and increasingly, to lost market share and fines.
“Accessibility isn’t an add-on. It’s a design principle, a business advantage, and in 2025—a legal necessity.”

What Does EAA Compliance Actually Involve?

Depending on your product or service, meeting the EAA requirements may include:

• Ensuring websites and apps are compatible with screen readers and assistive technologies
• Making interfaces fully navigable with a keyboard
• Providing clear alternative text for images and non-text elements
• Offering transcripts or captions for multimedia content
• Meeting contrast and legibility standards in colour and typography
• Writing semantic HTML for easier navigation and clarity
• Ensuring forms, checkouts, and logins work without a mouse

Real-world example:
Think of a fintech app that uses custom dropdowns users can’t access without a mouse—or a travel booking platform that doesn’t label input fields correctly for screen readers. These issues aren’t just usability bugs—they’re barriers, and under the EAA, they’ll count as non-compliance.

These changes not only support users with disabilities—they also improve usability for mobile users, older adults, and anyone dealing with temporary limitations (like a broken arm or bright sunlight).

Common Challenges Companies Face

Many organisations face some of the following challenges:

• Lack of internal clarity: What does the law really require technically?
• Legacy code: Systems that weren’t built with accessibility in mind
• Resource gaps: Teams lack in-house expertise in accessible design, frontend, or QA
• Over-reliance on automation: Tools can only catch part of the problem
• Tension between design and compliance: The fear of “ugly” accessible interfaces

Sounds familiar?
The good news: these are solvable with the right guidance, testing, and development support.

Your EAA Compliance Starter Checklist:

Ask yourself:

• Can a blind or visually impaired user navigate and complete key tasks?
• Can users operate your interface without a mouse?
• Are your forms, errors, and messages clear and accessible?
• Do your videos or audio elements include transcripts or captions?
• Have you tested your product with assistive technology or actual users with disabilities?

Bonus tip:
A well-documented accessibility audit is not only helpful for your team—it also serves as evidence of due diligence should your business ever face scrutiny under the EAA.

A Final Thought

The European Accessibility Act is a wake-up call—not just to meet a deadline, but to build digital experiences that actually work for more people. It’s not about perfection or ticking boxes. It’s about making meaningful progress, step by step.
Whether you’re updating a single flow or rethinking a full product, the sooner you start, the better your outcome will be.

And if you need a tech partner to help turn accessibility goals into working code, we’re here.

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