Deadline3 sections · 2 min readBy Dezső Mező · Published October 4, 2026.mdAccessibilityWCAGEU lawE-commerce
The EAA turned accessibility from a guideline into law for consumer-facing digital services sold in the EU — and it follows the customer, not the company: a Hungarian or non-EU shop selling to EU customers is in scope. Microenterprises under ten staff and €2M turnover are exempt for services (not products); everyone else needed to comply by the June 2025 deadline that has now passed, with a transition for content published before it.
The standard courts and regulators will actually apply is WCAG 2.1 Level AA — the same four-principle framework (perceivable, operable, understandable, robust) the web has had for years: keyboard operability, contrast ratios, alt text, form labels, no content flashing into seizures. What changed is consequence: it went from 'best practice' to 'law with enforcement', in the same week a third of e-commerce sites still failed a keyboard test.
01Who is actually in scope
E-commerce, consumer banking, e-books, ticketing, telecom and computer hardware/software sold to EU consumers. A brochure site for a B2B workshop is mostly outside — but the checkout, booking flow and customer portal of the same business are inside. When in doubt, the safe reading is: anything a consumer buys or books through is covered.
02What compliance looks like in practice
Not a certificate — the law asks for the outcome: the service usable by people with disabilities. The practical bar is WCAG 2.1 AA audited, an accessibility statement published on the site (required in most member states' implementations), and feedback channels for users who hit barriers. National law transposes it; Hungary, Germany and others each have their own enforcement path.
03The retroactive trap
Existing services got a transition period for content published before the deadline — but new content, new features and redesigns after June 2025 must comply immediately, and 'the site was old' stops being a defence the moment a redesign ships. Every post-deadline deploy is a new publication date for what it changes.
What to take away
- EAA applies since June 2025 to consumer digital services sold in the EU — including non-EU sellers to EU buyers.
- WCAG 2.1 AA is the practical bar, plus a published accessibility statement.
- Microenterprises are exempt for services only — products still count.
- Post-deadline redesigns must comply immediately; 'it was already old' expired.
More from the lab
Browse all entries
The AI-search visibility checklist we run on this site
Core Web Vitals on a real Next.js site
Structured data an answer engine can use
The local SEO checklist we run for ourselves
Want this looked at on your own system?Start a conversation
