The European accessibility act - Directive (EU) 2019/882

Accessibility is no longer a nice to have in the European Union. With Directive (EU) 2019/882, better known as the European Accessibility Act (EAA), accessibility has become a common legal requirement for many products and services across the EU market. This act shall be without prejudice to directive (EU) 2017/1564 and regulation (EU) 2017/1563. But what exactly does this directive cover, who must comply, and what are the requirements?

Scope

Before the EAA, accessibility rules varied significantly between countries. This created barriers not only for users, but also for businesses operating across borders. The European Accessibility Act (EAA) harmonizes the internal market removing barriers caused by diverging national rules. It also ensures that people with disabilities can participate fully and equally in society.
This act applies to:

Manufacturers
Importers
Distributors
Service providers
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)

And excludes:

Microenterprises (fewer than 10 employees and low turnover) may be exempted from some service-related obligations.

Products and services involved

Accessibility must be built in by design for products:

Computers hardware and operating systems
Smartphones and tablets
E-readers
Payment terminals
ATMs
Ticketing machines
Check-in machines
Interactive self-service terminals providing information with some exclusions
Intercative terminals with computing capability for
- communication services
- accessing audiovisual media services

and services:

E-commerce websites and apps
Banking services
Electronic communications (telephony, messaging)
Access to audiovisual media services
Transport-related digital services (website, mobile apps, e-ticketing, check-in)
e-books and dedicated software
communications to the single European emergency number 112

Products and services excluded

Interactive self-service terminals and services providing information installed as integrated parts of vehicles, aircrafts, ships or rolling stock
E-commerce for machine-to-machine services
All website and mobile apps pre-recorded media before 2026-06-28
Office file formats before 2026-06-28
Online maps and their services
Third-party content not related in any means to the economic operator (not funded, developed or under control)
Archives of websites and mobile apps not updated or edited after 2026-06-28

Main requirements

The directive does not prescribe exact technical solutions. Instead, it defines functional accessibility requirements, with the fundamental concepts as:

Information must be perceivable (e.g. compatible with screen readers)
User interfaces must be operable (e.g. usable without a mouse)
Content must be understandable and predictable
Products and services must be robust enough to work with assistive technologies

The detailed requirements individualized for each product type and services are mentioned in diferrent sections of Annex I of directive (EU) 2019/882 and need to be taken into consideration.

Harmonized guidlines

EN 301549
WCAG series with WCAG 2.2 as the last published one