Everything You Need to Know About the European Accessibility Act (EAA)

The European Accessibility Act is an EU directive that sets common accessibility requirements for essential products and services, including e-commerce, banking and digital services. Its goal is to make everyday products and services usable for people with disabilities across all EU member states, with websites and mobile apps as a central part.

The EAA applies to businesses that provide covered products or services to consumers in the EU, regardless of where they are based. This includes e-commerce shops, SaaS providers, banks, transport companies and telecoms. Micro-enterprises with fewer than 10 employees and minimal turnover are exempt for services, but voluntary accessibility is still recommended.

The EAA deadline was June 28, 2025. From that date, new products and services covered by the directive had to meet its accessibility requirements, and member states apply supervision and enforcement on their markets. Services contracted before that date can run under transitional arrangements until June 2030.

For websites and apps, the EAA requires that they are perceivable, operable, understandable and robust for people with disabilities. In practice, this means meeting recognized standards such as EN 301 549 and WCAG Level AA: text alternatives, sufficient contrast, keyboard accessibility, clear structure, accessible forms and an accessibility statement with a feedback option.

Start with an automated scan. allyWay checks your website for automatically detectable accessibility issues such as missing alt text, low contrast and incorrect markup, and gives you a prioritized report. Criteria that need human review come with step-by-step guidance. You can run your first scan free of charge and see exactly where your site stands.

allyWay combines everything you need in one tool: an AI-powered accessibility scan against EN 301 549 and WCAG 2.2, automatic fixes for common issues, an accessibility widget for your visitors and continuous monitoring that alerts you when new barriers appear. One workflow to find issues, fix what can be automated and guide you through the rest.

Each EU member state defines its own supervision and penalties, which can include warnings, forced corrections and fines that vary by country. Beyond the legal risk, inaccessible websites lose customers and search visibility. allyWay helps you find and fix barriers continuously so your website keeps meeting the requirements.

The EAA is the law; WCAG and EN 301 549 are the technical standards used to meet it. EN 301 549 is the European standard that references WCAG 2.1 Level AA as the baseline for web content. If your website meets WCAG Level AA, you cover the technical foundation the EAA expects — and allyWay is built to help you get there.