{"head":{"title":"Does the European Accessibility Act Apply to Me? | OceanLab","description":"The EAA applies to listed products and consumer services in the EU from 28 June 2025, such as e-commerce and banking. Who is covered and who is exempt.","canonical":"https://oceanlab.in/questions/does-the-european-accessibility-act-apply-to-me"},"crumbs":[{"name":"Home","path":"/"},{"name":"Questions","path":"/questions"},{"name":"Does the European Accessibility Act apply to me?","path":"/questions/does-the-european-accessibility-act-apply-to-me"}],"question":"Does the European Accessibility Act apply to me?","answer":["It applies if you place certain products on the EU market or provide certain services to consumers in the EU after 28 June 2025, including e-commerce, consumer banking, e-books, electronic communications and parts of passenger transport. Microenterprises providing services, meaning fewer than 10 staff and annual turnover or balance sheet of EUR 2 million or less, are exempt."],"sections":[{"heading":"Check whether your service is on the list","body":[["Article 2(2) of Directive (EU) 2019/882 covers these services when provided to consumers:"]],"bullets":[["E-commerce services: selling products or services online to consumers."],["Consumer banking services."],["E-books and dedicated software."],["Electronic communications services and access to audiovisual media services."],["Websites, mobile apps, e-tickets and travel information for air, bus, rail and waterborne passenger transport."]]},{"heading":"Who is exempt, and the transition rules","body":[["Microenterprises that provide services are exempt from the accessibility requirements. A microenterprise employs fewer than 10 people and has annual turnover or a balance sheet total of no more than EUR 2 million. Microenterprises that sell covered products are not exempt."],["Other companies can claim a disproportionate burden or a fundamental alteration for a specific requirement, but must document the assessment. Service contracts agreed before 28 June 2025 may continue unchanged until they expire, for no longer than five years from that date."],["Where your company is based does not decide it: the rules attach to covered products placed on the EU market and covered services provided to consumers there."]],"bullets":[]},{"heading":"What it means for the software","body":[["The Directive sets functional requirements, and products or services that meet the harmonised standards are presumed to conform. In practice, teams build and test web and mobile interfaces against the success criteria in WCAG, publish accessibility information about the service, and keep it accessible as features change."]],"bullets":[]}],"faqs":[{"question":"Is a B2B SaaS product covered?","answer":"The services list is about services to consumers. A purely B2B tool is usually outside it, but check whether any part of your product is used by consumers, for example a checkout you power for retailers."},{"question":"Does it apply to content published before June 2025?","answer":"Article 2(4) excludes some older website and app content, such as pre-recorded video and office files published before 28 June 2025. New content and the service itself still need to meet the requirements."},{"question":"Who enforces it?","answer":"Each EU country, through its own national law and market surveillance authorities, so penalties and procedures vary by country."}],"terms":[{"href":"/glossary/total-cost-of-ownership","label":"total cost of ownership"},{"href":"/glossary/technical-debt","label":"technical debt"}],"tools":[],"links":[{"href":"/glossary/wcag-2-2","label":"WCAG 2.2","detail":"Glossary"},{"href":"/compliance","label":"Compliance guides","detail":"What each rule means for the software you build."}],"related":[{"href":"/questions/what-is-wcag-2-2-aa","label":"What is WCAG 2.2 AA?","detail":"Question"},{"href":"/questions/does-gdpr-apply-to-us-companies","label":"Does GDPR apply to US companies?","detail":"Question"},{"href":"/questions/when-do-eu-ai-act-rules-apply","label":"When do the EU AI Act rules apply?","detail":"Question"},{"href":"/compare/ai-agent-vs-workflow-automation","label":"AI agent vs workflow automation","detail":"Comparison"},{"href":"/compare/rag-vs-fine-tuning","label":"RAG vs fine-tuning","detail":"Comparison"},{"href":"/glossary","label":"Glossary","detail":"Every term, in plain words."}],"sources":[{"title":"Directive (EU) 2019/882, the European Accessibility Act (Official Journal)","url":"https://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/2019/882/oj","checkedAt":"2026-10-25"},{"title":"W3C, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2","url":"https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG22/","checkedAt":"2026-10-25"}],"legal":true,"updatedAt":"2026-10-25"}