The European Accessibility Act, explained by people who build a scanner
Directive (EU) 2019/882 covers a defined list of products and services, works through national law in each member state, and has applied to products and services placed on the market since 28 June 2025.
Not legal advice · scan a public URL free
- The requirements apply to products and services placed on the market after this date
- 28 June 2025
- By when member states had to incorporate the Act into their national law
- June 2022
- End of the transitional period for services provided using products lawfully in use beforehand
- 28 June 2030
- How long self-service terminals already in use may continue in service
- 20 years
Read on the European Commission's European Accessibility Act page and the Commission's Your Europe business guidance, 11 September 2026. Contracts agreed before 28 June 2025 may also run to expiry, capped at five years. The Act is a directive, so the text that binds you is your member state's implementation.
What the Act actually covers
It is a list, not a principle — which is the single most useful thing to understand about the Act.
| Item | What sits in scope |
|---|---|
| Products | Computers and operating systems, smartphones, TV equipment for digital television, self-service terminals (ATMs, ticketing and check-in machines, payment terminals), and e-readers. |
| Services | E-commerce, consumer banking, telephony and electronic communications, audiovisual media, e-books, and passenger transport across air, bus, rail and water. |
| The technical route | The Act sets functional requirements and never names WCAG; the harmonised standard EN 301 549 carries WCAG into its web and software clauses. |
| What it is not | Not a rule that every website in Europe must meet WCAG. Public sector sites and apps are governed by a separate instrument, the Web Accessibility Directive. |
What a scan honestly contributes, and what it does not
Three real contributions and one hard limit.
| Item | What it is | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Evidence of diligence | A dated series of runs, useful in an accessibility statement or a supplier questionnaire. Not proof of conformity. | Provided |
| The machine-checkable subset, cleared | Automated rules reach 23 of the 55 WCAG 2.2 AA criteria on the engine we run. | Provided |
| An explicit not-checked list | Every criterion no rule can evaluate is reported as not checked, never as passed. | Named, never claimed |
| Not a conformance claim | No certificate, no signed conformance report, no overlay. A scan is an input, not a verdict. | Not offered |
What this does not do
- It is not legal advice.
- We build testing tools. Whether the Act applies to you, and under which national law, is a question for a qualified adviser.
- We do not certify or issue reports.
- No conformance certificate, no signed audit, no completed conformance report. If a supplier questionnaire asks for one, it is asking for something we do not produce.
- A clean scan is not conformance.
- Automated rules reach 23 of the 55 WCAG 2.2 AA criteria on our engine. The rest are reported as not checked, and they stay unknown until a person checks them.
- National law governs, not this summary.
- The Act is a directive, so the binding text is your member state's implementation, and penalties and enforcement bodies differ between them.
Frequently asked questions
That is a question for somebody qualified rather than for a testing vendor. The Act is not a general website law: it covers a specific list that includes e-commerce, consumer banking, e-books, electronic communications and passenger transport, alongside physical products such as computers, smartphones, payment terminals and ticketing machines.
There is a microenterprise exemption, narrower than people assume: the Commission's Your Europe guidance describes it as a service business with fewer than 10 employees and under EUR 2 million in turnover — the word service matters, as it is about services, not products. Separately, any business can argue a specific requirement is a disproportionate burden, but that is a documented, evidenced argument reviewed every five years, not a box to tick.
The Act sets functional requirements rather than naming WCAG directly. The practical route to demonstrating conformity in the EU is the harmonised standard EN 301 549, which carries WCAG into its web, document and software clauses, which is why almost every EAA programme ends up working to a WCAG AA target.
No — no tool can. A scan clears the machine-checkable subset of WCAG, which is 23 of the 55 criteria at 2.2 AA on the engine we run, and leaves a dated record; it is not a conformance claim, it is not a certification, and we do not issue one.
Related
- ADA ComplianceHow the ADA is applied to websites and apps
- Section 508The US federal procurement standard
- EN 301 549The European standard behind public-sector procurement
- All of AccessibilityAutomated WCAG scanning, workflow audits, and reports
- PricingPer-seat test management and per-thread device testing, priced on the page
Get a dated baseline on the journeys that matter
Scan the checkout, the account area and the pages behind your login, and get back a report that separates what was found from what was never checked.