This is what the European Accessibility Act (EAA) means for your business

The European Accessibility Act (EAA) requires various products and services to be accessible. This is very important for the millions of people for whom accessibility is a necessity. This European law also ensures that the same accessibility standard will be in force throughout the EU. This will benefit businesses by reducing costs through harmonization and making it easier to import and export. The market for accessible products and services will thus expand significantly, making accessibility truly mainstream.

The EAA may seem far away, but it will come into effect as early as June 28, 2025. That means that products and services coming to market after that date must comply with this law. Products and services from before that date can still be used for 5 years after the effective date. In short, time to dive in.

But what exactly does the EAA mean? Who does the EAA apply to? What is covered by this act and what is not? And what do you need to do as a company to comply with the law? You can read about that here!

Who does the European Accessibility Act apply to?

Zoals we verderop zullen zien heeft de EAA vooral invloed op digitale producten en diensten. Bedrijven en sectoren die zich hiermee bezighouden, krijgen dus het meest met deze wet te maken.

As we will see later, the EAA primarily affects digital products and services. Thus, companies and industries involved in these will be most affected by this law.

There are some important exceptions, however. First, the law does not apply to companies that work only for the B2B (business-to-business) market. Note that if your clients are B2C, they do fall under the law and so do your products and services.

Services from small companies (micro enterprises) with fewer than 10 employees or a turnover of less than EUR 2 million are also exempt. Products of small businesses do fall under the law.

Another exception is if compliance with the law results in a 'disproportionate burden' on businesses or a 'fundamental change' to the product or service. The EAA contains criteria for when you can invoke one of these exceptions.

Specific exceptions apply to websites and apps, namely:

• pre-recorded, time-based media, such as videos and slides published before June 28, 2025;
• office file formats;
• online maps and mapping services, except when essential for navigation
• content and archives not modified after June 28, 2025;
• third-party content.

So, as you can see, there are several exceptions. But even in those cases, it's good to be as accessible as possible. For people with disabilities, accessibility is a dire necessity, even within B2B. Moreover, this way you are well prepared for the future. For example, for when you are no longer a microenterprise or when you want to serve the consumer market as well.

These products and services are covered by the European Accessibility Act (EAA)

A number of fairly broad groups of services and products are covered by the EAA. Let's look at the products first. These products are covered by the EAA:

• computers and operating systems;
• ATMs, ticket and check-in machines;
• smartphones and e-readers;
• TV equipment for digital television services.

The services covered by the EAA are very much an extension of the above products. These services are covered by the EAA:

telephone services;
audiovisual media services such as television broadcasting;
air, bus, rail and water passenger transport services;
banking services;
e-books;
e-commerce.

The above shows that there is a good chance that your organization deals with one or more of these services and products. If so, it is important to know how to comply with the EAA law.

How do you comply with the European EAA Accessibility Act?

The EAA does not explicitly state when your product or service is accessible. Fortunately, there are other guides. For the Web Accessibility Directive (WAD), the European law that states that governments must be digitally accessible, two standards are referenced:

• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA
  • (WCAG 2.2 may also be used, but is not yet mandatory)
• EN 301 549 - European standard for accessibility.

The WCAG addresses the accessibility of digital content based on four principles:

• Perceivable: everyone should be able to perceive all content on your website or app.
• Operable: everyone should be able to operate your website or app.
• Understandable: everyone should be able to understand the information and operation of your website or app
• Robust: everyone should be able to use your website or app even as technologies evolve.

EN 301 549 is based on and builds upon the WCAG guidelines. In fact, not all the conditions in EN 301 549 are in WCAG. In EN 301 549 you will also find information about making physical products accessible. So these two standards provide the frameworks you need to meet. MKB Toegankelijk shows what this means for the products and services mentioned above.

Chain responsibility within the EAA

An important element within the EAA is chain responsibility. This means that within the entire chain, accessibility is mandatory. Think of manufacturers, importers, distributors and service providers.

What does this mean? For manufacturers, it means that they must offer accessible products with technical documentation on accessibility. The product must have understandable instructions and safety information. There must be a procedure and declaration of conformity. Finally, manufacturers must share contact information.

Importers and distributors must check the manufacturer's documents. They must also check the CE marking. This is already the rule, but accessibility will soon be part of these checks because of the EAA.

For service providers, chain responsibility means they must have their websites, apps and any products made accessible for services. They must also clearly explain how the service works and any associated products. This should include information about accessibility, such as what assistive devices the service works with.
This is how to offer your products accessible

To present your products in an accessible way, information about them must be shared in understandable language. You should also share that in more than one format, such as a website, application, audio-visual material, etc. This also applies to information about accessibility facilities from passenger transport providers.

Information on the product itself and accompanying instructions for use should include these elements:

• Purpose of the product, how to activate and use it;
• Which assistive devices it works with;
• Included accessibility features and how to use them.

This is how you offer your services in an accessible way

It is important for service providers that information they share is understandable and available via two senses. It should be available in text format and for non-textual information you should provide an alternative. Text should have sufficient contrast and be large enough. Font, line and paragraph spacing should be customizable. Finally, information must be perceptible to all users (consider subtitles and audio descriptors).

Support services, such as help desks and call centers, should include information about accessibility and assistive devices it works with. You must offer at least two contact options and train staff members.

Finally, you must publish an accessibility statement, describing your service and how it works. In it, you detail how you meet accessibility requirements and how you ensure it. It is important that you have procedures in place to ensure that your service remains accessible.

Note that there are additional accessibility requirements for specific services. These services are:

• electronic communication services;
• services providing access to audiovisual media services;
• services for passenger transport by air, bus, rail and water, excluding urban, suburban and regional transport services;
• consumer banking services;
• e-books;
• e-commerce services.

Do you offer such services? Then look at the specific requirements for them. You can find these in Annex 1, Section IV of the EAA legal text. For example, for banking services, information must be comprehensible, with a maximum language level of B2.

What happens if you don't comply with the EAA Act?

In the Netherlands, the EAA will not be incorporated into a separate, new law, but existing legislation will be adapted to it. This means that different organizations will have oversight: “Each existing law has a specific regulator, which means that in the Netherlands there will soon be as many as seven different regulators who will be working on it from June 28, 2025. Those regulators are setting that up now and it is not yet known how they are going to do that,” says Eric Velleman for MKB Toegankelijk.

EAA regulators

There are several regulators in the Netherlands for services covered by the EAA. Here is an overview of the EAA regulators by service.

• Banking services and financial e-commerce services are supervised by the Financial Markets Authority (AFM).
• Passenger transport by air, bus, train and water is supervised by the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT).
• E-commerce services are supervised by the Consumer and Market Authority (ACM)
• Electronic communication services and products (including e-readers) are supervised by the National Digital Infrastructure Inspectorate (RDI)
• Services for audiovisual media services and e-books are supervised by the Dutch Media Authority (CvdM)
• The accessibility of the 112 emergency number is supervised by the Justice and Safety Inspectorate (Inspectie Justitie en Veiligheid (Inspectie JenV))

For now, only the AFM and ACM have information about EAA enforcement on their websites. So what regulation and enforcement will look like is not yet entirely clear.

Benefits and opportunities of the EAA

Meeting the law (compliance) is, of course, a reason to become accessible. But accessibility is a no brainer anyway. You don't exclude anyone, so everyone can use your products and services. Thus increasing your potential sales! Accessibility also provides a better user experience (UX) and is good for SEO. So you rank better in Google. Moreover, it is a good way to show that you as a company take your social responsibility. Couple these benefits with the fact that the same rules will apply throughout the EU and you can see that this offers great growth opportunities for entrepreneurs.

Need help completing your obligations for the European Accessibility Act? We'd be happy to help. How do we do that? Our consultants help you draw up an action plan and provide tailored advice. Through accessibility research we provide insight into where you are now and what you still need to do. Through training we ensure sufficient internal knowledge and awareness. In this way, we offer everything you need to become accessible and comply with the EAA!