The European Accessibility Act, without the panic
The European Accessibility Act has applied since 28 June 2025 to businesses selling covered services to EU consumers, and UK companies selling into the EU are not exempt. Plenty of firms are out of scope too, and the scare marketing rarely says so. Here is who the EAA actually catches, what compliance requires, and a fixed £949 route to getting it done.
Who the European Accessibility Act catches, and who it does not
Sell to EU consumers? The EAA applies to you
In scope: covered services sold to EU consumers
The EAA (Directive 2019/882) covers consumer-facing services including ecommerce, consumer banking and payments, electronic communications, air, bus, rail and waterborne transport services, ebooks and ereading software, plus products like payment terminals and ticketing machines. Where you are based is irrelevant; where your customers are is everything. A UK retailer shipping to EU consumers, a UK SaaS selling consumer subscriptions in Ireland, a publisher selling ebooks into France: all in scope.
- Ecommerce is the broadest category: selling goods or services online to EU consumers counts
- UK businesses trading into the EU are covered exactly like EU-based ones
- B2B-only services are generally outside the Act: it protects consumers
Under 10 staff and under €2m? Services are exempt
Out of scope: microenterprises and UK-only traders
Two honest exclusions before you spend anything. Service-provider microenterprises, meaning fewer than 10 staff and turnover or balance sheet under 2 million euros, are exempt from the EAA's service rules. And if you genuinely do not sell to EU consumers, the Act does not reach you at all. Neither exclusion makes accessibility optional: the Equality Act 2010 still applies to every UK website, and an inaccessible checkout loses money in any jurisdiction. But it does change the urgency and the budget conversation, and you deserve a straight answer about that.
- Microenterprise test: both conditions must hold, and it covers services, not products
- Grow past 10 staff or 2 million euros and the exemption disappears
- UK-only traders answer to the Equality Act instead, not to Brussels
What 2026 looks like for the EAA
EAA compliance in practice: three deliverables
A service that meets WCAG 2.2 AA
The Act asks for perceivable, operable, understandable, robust services. For websites and apps, conformance with WCAG 2.2 AA is how that is demonstrated, which starts with a proper accessibility audit and code-level fixes.
A published accessibility statement
You must document how your service meets the requirements, in your terms or an equivalent public statement, and give users a way to report barriers. Our statement service writes and publishes this from a real scan.
Evidence you can show an authority
Market surveillance authorities can ask you to demonstrate conformance. An audit report, remediation log and monitoring records answer that letter in a day rather than a panicked month.
The EAA package, or the pieces separately
The £949 package is the audit, remediation of critical and serious issues, the statement, an evidence pack and three months of monitoring. Prefer to start smaller? Take the audit alone. Prices exclude VAT.
EAA Compliance Package
Everything you need to comply with the European Accessibility Act.
£949 one-off
- Full WCAG 2.2 AA audit
- Remediation of all critical and serious issues
- Accessibility statement written and published
- Staff briefing document
- Compliance evidence pack
- 3 months of monitoring included
Accessibility Audit
Full WCAG 2.2 AA audit of your website with a prioritised fix plan.
£449 one-off
- Automated scan of your whole site
- Manual keyboard and screen reader testing
- Every issue mapped to WCAG 2.2 criteria
- Prioritised, costed fix plan
- Written report you can share with stakeholders
- Free 30-minute results call
Accessibility Monitoring
Monthly automated and human checks so new content never breaks compliance.
£69 /month
£690 /year
- Monthly WCAG 2.2 AA scans of key pages
- Human review of flagged issues
- Fixes for issues under 30 minutes included
- Quarterly compliance certificate
- Accessibility statement kept current
- Priority EAA regulation alerts
All prices exclude VAT. Cancel monthly plans any time. Secure card and Direct Debit payments powered by Stripe.
How accessible is your website right now?
Run our free checker. It scans any page against WCAG 2.2 in about 30 seconds and shows exactly what to fix.
Frequently asked questions
Does the European Accessibility Act apply to UK businesses?
Yes, if you sell covered products or services to consumers in the EU. Brexit removed the UK from the law-making, not UK sellers from its reach: an online shop in Manchester taking orders from Dublin or Berlin is in scope exactly as a French one is. If you sell only to UK customers, the EAA does not apply to you, though the Equality Act 2010 still does.
What is the deadline for the European Accessibility Act?
The main deadline has passed: the EAA has applied to new products and services since 28 June 2025. Some member states allow transition time for pre-existing service contracts, running as late as 2030 in places, but anything you sell or substantially update now must comply. Enforcement activity by national authorities is building through 2026.
What are the penalties for not complying with the EAA?
Each EU member state sets its own penalties and enforces the Act through its market surveillance authorities, so there is no single figure. Sanctions range from orders to fix or withdraw the service up to fines that reach six figures in euros in some countries. The more routine risks are enforcement notices, complaints escalated by consumer bodies, and being blocked from tenders that now demand EAA conformance.
Who is exempt from the European Accessibility Act?
Microenterprises providing services are exempt: fewer than 10 staff and annual turnover or balance sheet under 2 million euros. Both parts of the test must be met, and the exemption covers services only, not manufactured products. Businesses that do not sell to EU consumers at all are simply out of scope. Note that growing past either threshold means the exemption falls away.
What does EAA compliance actually require for a website?
The Act requires services to be perceivable, operable, understandable and robust, the same four principles behind WCAG. In practice, conformance with WCAG 2.2 AA is how websites demonstrate this, alongside a published accessibility statement describing how your service meets the requirements and a way for users to report problems. Our £949 package covers the audit, the fixes, the statement and three months of monitoring.
Does the EAA only cover websites?
No. It covers products such as payment terminals, ticketing machines and ereaders, and services including ecommerce, consumer banking, electronic communications, transport booking and ebooks. For most UK businesses the exposed surface is the website and any customer apps, which is why EAA work in practice is mostly web accessibility work.