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The European Accessibility Act for web agencies: what to tell your clients

Which client sites the European Accessibility Act covers, the microenterprise exemption, EN 301 549, the information duty, and how to scope the work.

By Perceivly team · Published · 10 min read

Since June 28, 2025, the European Accessibility Act (EAA) has applied across the EU. If you build or maintain websites for businesses that sell to consumers, your clients are asking whether it applies to them, what they have to do, and whether you can do it. This guide gives you the answers in the order clients usually ask, with the article numbers so you can check them in the directive itself. For the full overview, see our EAA explainer.

This is general information, not legal advice. Whether the law applies to a specific business depends on the national law of the country where it operates, and on facts only that business knows.

The short version for clients

  • The EAA is an EU directive. Each country has its own law that puts it into effect, with its own authority and penalties.
  • For websites, it covers businesses that offer certain services to consumers, most widely e-commerce: selling products or services to consumers online.
  • Microenterprises that provide services are exempt: fewer than 10 people and no more than €2 million in annual turnover or balance sheet total.
  • The practical target for a website is WCAG Level AA, through the European standard EN 301 549.
  • Covered businesses must also publish information on how their service meets the requirements, and keep it up to date.

Key dates

DateWhat it means for a website
April 17, 2019Directive (EU) 2019/882 adopted.
June 28, 2022Deadline for EU countries to adopt their national laws (Article 31).
June 28, 2025The rules apply to services provided to consumers from this date (Article 31). New sites and existing sites alike.
June 28, 2030End of the transition period for service contracts agreed before June 28, 2025, and for products a service provider already used lawfully before that date (Article 32). This is about contracts and products, not a grace period for websites.

A common misunderstanding is that existing websites have until 2030. The transition period in Article 32 covers products already in use and contracts already agreed, not a website that keeps serving consumers. Some content published before June 28, 2025 is excluded, see below.

Is my client covered?

Work through these four questions with each client.

1. Do they provide a covered service?

For websites and apps, the services in Article 2(2) are:

  • e-commerce services
  • consumer banking services
  • electronic communications services, such as phone and messaging services
  • services giving access to audiovisual media, such as streaming
  • e-books and dedicated software
  • elements of air, bus, rail and waterborne passenger transport, including websites, apps, e-tickets and travel information (for urban, suburban and regional transport, only some elements are covered)

E-commerce is the one that matters for most agencies. The directive defines e-commerce services as “services provided at a distance, through websites and mobile device-based services by electronic means and at the individual request of a consumer with a view to concluding a consumer contract” (Article 3(30)). An online shop qualifies. So, in many readings, does a site where consumers book and pay for a hotel room, a class or a repair. A brochure site with a contact form and no way to conclude a contract online is less clearly covered; national guidance differs at the edges, so this is where the client’s lawyer comes in.

2. Do they sell to consumers?

The directive is about services to consumers: natural persons acting “for purposes which are outside his trade, business, craft or profession” (Article 3(22)). A shop that sells only to businesses, behind a trade account, is in a different position from one that sells to anyone. Many B2B shops also take orders from private buyers; then they sell to consumers.

3. Do they offer the service in the EU?

A service provider is anyone who provides a service on the EU market “or makes offers to provide such a service to consumers in the Union” (Article 3(4)). A shop based in the US, the UK or Switzerland that ships to EU consumers can be covered. Being based in the EU and selling only outside it is the unusual case.

4. Are they a microenterprise?

“Microenterprises providing services shall be exempt from complying with the accessibility requirements” and the obligations that go with them (Article 4(5)). A microenterprise is an enterprise that “employs fewer than 10 persons and which has an annual turnover not exceeding EUR 2 million or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding EUR 2 million” (Article 3(23)).

Points to get right when you explain this:

  • Both parts count: fewer than 10 people and at most €2 million in turnover or balance sheet total.
  • The exemption covers services only. A microenterprise that manufactures, imports or distributes covered products still has product duties, with lighter paperwork.
  • National laws restate the definition in their own words and may say how to count staff (Germany’s BFSG, for example). Check the client’s national law, not just the directive.
  • A client that grows past the thresholds is covered from then on. Building accessibly now costs less than rebuilding later.
  • Exempt from the EAA doesn’t mean exempt from everything. A client selling to US customers may face claims under the ADA, and public sector bodies have their own EU rules under the Web Accessibility Directive (EU) 2016/2102.

What’s excluded even for covered clients

Article 2(4) leaves some website content out of scope:

  • prerecorded audio and video published before June 28, 2025
  • office file formats, such as PDFs, published before June 28, 2025
  • online maps, if the key information for navigation is also provided accessibly
  • third-party content that the business neither funds, develops nor controls
  • archived content that is not updated or edited after June 28, 2025

Note what the list doesn’t include: third-party components the client chose and pays for, such as a payment form, a booking widget, a cookie banner or a chat tool. Those are part of the service.

What the law asks of a website

The accessibility requirements

Annex I (Section III) asks that websites and apps be made accessible “in a consistent and adequate way by making them perceivable, operable, understandable and robust”: the four principles of WCAG. The directive doesn’t name WCAG itself. The link runs through harmonized standards: a service that meets a harmonized standard whose reference is published in the Official Journal is presumed to meet the requirements it covers (Article 15).

That standard is EN 301 549. Its clause 9 covers web content and matches WCAG Level A and AA: WCAG 2.1 in V3.2.1, the version cited by Implementing Decision (EU) 2021/1339, and WCAG 2.2 in V4.1.1, published in September 2026 and written for the EAA. Check the Official Journal for which version is cited when you quote this to a client. For new work, aim for WCAG 2.2 AA: it includes every WCAG 2.1 A and AA criterion except 4.1.1 Parsing, which the W3C now says should be treated as always met for HTML content, so one target covers both versions.

The accessibility information

Service providers must explain how their service meets the requirements, in their general terms and conditions or an equivalent document, in written and oral format, accessible to people with disabilities, and keep it for as long as the service runs (Article 13(2) and Annex V). In practice, most businesses publish an accessibility statement and link it from their terms. Annex V asks for a description of the service, the information needed to understand how it works, and how it meets the requirements. National laws can add items, such as the authority that handles complaints.

Providers must also have procedures that keep the service accessible as it changes (Article 13(3)). When a service doesn’t comply, they must bring it into conformity and immediately inform the authorities in the countries where they provide it (Article 13(4)). That turns accessibility into ongoing work, which is useful for you to point out.

Fundamental alteration and disproportionate burden

Clients sometimes hope to rely on Article 14: the requirements apply only as far as they don’t fundamentally alter the service or impose a disproportionate burden. Explain the catch. The business has to make and document its own assessment using the criteria in Annex VI, keep it for five years, renew it for services at least every five years, and give it to the authority on request. A business relying on the exception must also notify the authorities in each country where it provides the service (Article 14(8); microenterprises are excepted). It is not a way to skip the work quietly.

Enforcement: what clients really want to know

Penalties are set nationally; the directive only requires them to be “effective, proportionate and dissuasive” (Article 30). Each country must have procedures to check services, follow up complaints and verify that problems get fixed (Article 23), and consumers and organizations with a legitimate interest must be able to take action before courts or authorities (Article 29). In Germany, for example, offering a service that doesn’t meet the requirements can lead to a fine of up to €100,000 under the BFSG (see our BFSG page). Other countries set different amounts and processes.

Avoid scare tactics. The honest pitch is that the requirement is real, it applies now, it is checked through complaints and authority reviews, and the work also improves the site for every customer.

What to recommend: a plan you can sell

  1. Scope. Go through the four questions above and write down the answer. If the client isn’t sure, they should ask their lawyer; you can provide the facts about the site.
  2. Baseline. Run an automated check of the whole site and a manual review of the key templates and the main journeys: search, product page, cart, checkout, account, contact. Automated tests catch only part of WCAG issues, so both are needed.
  3. Fix plan. Prioritize by impact: what blocks a purchase first, then templates that affect every page, then content. Our WCAG 2.2 AA checklist gives a workable order.
  4. Third parties. List every embedded component and ask each vendor for its accessibility conformance report. Replace the ones that block keyboard or screen reader users in the checkout.
  5. Statement. Publish the accessibility information: what was tested, against which standard, what is known not to work yet and when it will be fixed, and a contact.
  6. Content training. Editors add images, headings and links every week. An hour on alt text (see how to write good alt text), headings and link text prevents most regressions.
  7. Monitoring. Check the site on a schedule and keep a record of issues found and fixed. The directive expects the service to stay accessible, and a record shows the work.

Don’t offer an overlay widget as a shortcut. The European Disability Forum and the IAAP have said overlays don’t make a website compliant with European accessibility legislation; see why overlays don’t make a site accessible.

Protect your agency in the contract

The legal duty sits with the service provider, your client. Your risk is a client who believes you promised something you didn’t. Write the scope down:

  • Name the standard and the scope: for example, “templates and components delivered under this contract are designed and tested to meet WCAG 2.2 Level AA”, listing the templates and journeys covered.
  • Say how you test: automated checks plus a manual review with keyboard and screen reader, on named browsers and devices.
  • Separate what you don’t control: content the client adds later, third-party services, and documents.
  • Avoid the word “compliant” as a promise. Conformance to a defined standard, tested in a defined way, is something you can show; “legal compliance” depends on law and facts outside your work.
  • Offer maintenance: a retainer for monitoring, fixes and statement updates turns a one-off project into ongoing work that matches what the law expects.

Have your own lawyer review the wording before you use it.

How Perceivly helps agencies

Perceivly helps you find and track accessibility issues across all your client sites. On the agency plans you get client workspaces, daily checks against WCAG 2.2 A and AA, an EAA report that maps automated results to EN 301 549 clause 9 and lists what needs a manual review, white-label PDF reports, a read-only client portal and an evidence log of every issue found and fixed. The statement generator helps clients publish their accessibility information. None of this certifies a site or replaces the manual review.

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