On the 28th June 2025, the European Accessibility Act 2025 (or EAA), came into force in the EU.
This new EU legislation is a huge step forward for digital accessibility and inclusive user experiences, with mandated minimum criteria for businesses to meet.
Even though the EAA is an EU regulation, it still applies to UK-based businesses that sell into the EU.
There’s also a good chance that the UK will introduce their own version of the EAA soon.
To help you understand the European Accessibility Act and improve your site’s accessibility, I’ve sat down with our UX Specialists to create this clear guide that explains what the EAA is, who it applies to, and the steps you need to take to become EAA compliant and create accessible user experiences for all audiences.
Let me start by explaining what the European Accessibility Act (EAA) is…
What is the European Accessibility Act (EAA) 2025?
The EAA 2025, is a new EU law aimed at improving digital and physical accessibility for people with disabilities and impairments.
The EAA came into force on 28th June 2025 and applies to more than just websites and apps. It also applies to physical banking services (ATMs), assistive technology (screen readers), and electronic communication, like emails and texts.
These new laws aim to foster more inclusive experiences for all users, particularly those with disabilities, by enforcing a minimum level of accessibility that businesses of a certain size must follow.
Who does the European Accessibility Act (EAA) apply to?
The EAA 2025 applies to:
- EU-based businesses with at least 10 employees and an annual turnover exceeding €2 million.
- Non-EU businesses that trade within the EU, including UK businesses selling goods and services to EU customers (including customers in Ireland).
So, even if your business is based in the UK, if you sell into the EU and have more than 10 staff and over €2 million (£1.7 million) in annual turnover, you must comply with the EAA requirements.
Failure to do so could open your business up to potential penalties, which can be substantial.
What are the penalties for non-compliance?
If the EAA rules apply to your business and you fail to adhere to them, you could be opening up your business to a load of potential penalties and impacts, including:
- Fines and Legal Action: Regulatory bodies can impose financial penalties, and in some countries, like Ireland, non-compliance could result in criminal convictions and prison sentences
- Procurement Exclusion: Non-compliant businesses may be disqualified from bidding on public and private sector contracts, causing a loss of opportunities and revenue
- Reputational Damage: If your business faces legal action or online scrutiny, that negative publicity could cause a loss of trust from consumers who value accessibility
- Loss of Customers: A less accessible website or service can drive away users, particularly those with disabilities, resulting in fewer sales and less revenue
What are Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)?
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, commonly called WCAG, are internationally recognised standards for web accessibility developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
These guidelines help businesses ensure that their websites and digital content are accessible to users with various disabilities, such as visual and hearing impairments and mobility problems.
What WCAG 2.1 compliance involves
WCAG 2.1 is the minimum standard enforced by the EAA 2025.
It ensures websites, apps, and other digital content is:
- Perceivable: Users must be able to easily perceive information (e.g. text alternatives for images, captions for videos)
- Operable: Websites must be easy to navigable and support navigation via keyboard and support screen readers
- Understandable: Content should be easy to read, and interaction points like buttons or links should be predictable
- Robust: They must be compatible with different devices and assistive technologies, like screen readers
What WCAG 2.2 compliance involves
WCAG 2.2 builds on WCAG 2.1, adding new criteria to improve accessibility for:
- Users with cognitive and learning disabilities
- Users with low vision
- Mobile device users
Although WCAG 2.2 is not yet a legal requirement under the EAA, regulatory bodies encourage businesses to follow more in-depth guidelines to ensure their websites or apps exceed the minimum standards and provide a better experience for all users.
How the WCAG ‘A’ scoring system works
To judge the level of accessibility and compliance of a website or app, WCAG has three levels of compliance:
- A (Basic Accessibility): The website covers essential fixes, but does not eliminate all barriers
- AA (Industry Standard): The recommended level for most businesses, where the website balances accessibility and usability
- AAA (Highest Level): The most comprehensive and most accessible level, but is often impractical for all content and, in some cases, unattainable
Most businesses should aim for WCAG 2.1 AA compliance to meet legal requirements and provide a more inclusive experience for all users.
Why is web accessibility so important?
Now that I’ve covered all the legal bits, I wanted to highlight just how vital web accessibility is and why you should be investing in it.
Web accessibility benefits all users, not just those with disabilities.
Good accessibility improves the overall user experience on your website, broadens your audience’s reach, and can improve your brand’s reputation.
Bad accessibility increases user frustration and disengagement, can damage your reputation, and, as we’ve already covered, can lead to a loss of sales or even penalties.
Below are some examples of what both good and bad accessibility look like.
Examples of good digital accessibility
- Readable fonts and high-contrast colour schemes
- Clear navigation with descriptive links
- Alternative text for images and captions for videos
- Ensuring all interactive elements are keyboard-accessible
Examples of bad digital accessibility
- No alt-text for images, causing screen reader users to miss out on key content
- Poor contrast means users with visual impairments struggle to read text
- Forms without clear labels make it difficult for assistive technology users to interact
- Keyboard traps, which prevent full navigation for users who navigate using only a keyboard
Will the UK government create their own accessibility act?
We could eventually see a UK version of European Accessibility Act
Although the UK has not officially announced a law equivalent to the EAA, it is highly likely.
In the past, the UK has adopted EU legislation that strengthened data laws, like GDPR, back in 2018.
Given that the European Accessibility Act is a big step forward in creating inclusive online experiences, a UK version of the legislation could be introduced over the next few years.
This is why it’s important to get a head start on improving your digital accessibility now, as it will save you time and money later.
UK public services bodies must be WCAG 2.2 AA compliant
Currently, only UK public service bodies, like councils, ombudsmen, and HMRC, are legally required to meet a minimum standard for accessibility.
As part of an update to the Equality Act in October 2023, all UK public service websites must meet WCAG 2.2 AA standards.
While private businesses aren’t yet legally required to meet these standards, we highly encourage all businesses to follow at least WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines.
EAA reminder to UK businesses trading in the EU
Remember, while the EAA is an EU regulation, private businesses based in the UK are legally required to adhere to these new laws if they trade in any EU country, including Ireland.
Even though the UK does not yet enforce similar accessibility laws, you must follow the laws if you have EU-based website users or customers, or you could face lawsuits and penalties.
Tips for becoming WCAG 2.1 AA compliant
If you want to get ahead of the curve and improve your website’s accessibility and user experiences, our UX Specialists recommend aiming for WCAG 2.1 AA compliance.
This covers all the necessary basics of website accessibility, will help you stay compliant if you trade in EU countries, and creates a good foundation that you can build on to reach WCAG 2.2 compliance.
Here are some tips from our UX Specialists on becoming WCAG 2.1 AA compliant.
Use descriptive alt-text
Alt text is crucial for visually impaired users who rely on screen readers to understand images.
But just including alt text isn’t enough. You need to ensure it’s clear, accurate, and descriptive.
For this image, rather than using generic phrases like “image of a dog”, you need to describe the image’s purpose and the key details.
For example, “A golden retriever running through a city-centre park in autumn.”
A good tip is to write image alt text like you’re describing the image to someone who can’t see it, giving as much detail as you can.
If you have any decorative images that won’t add value to visually impaired readers, leave the alt attributes empty. This tells screen readers to skip the images, reducing unnecessary or confusing noise for users.
Improve colour contrasts
Low-contrast text can be difficult to read, especially for users with visual impairments.
Standard text contrast ratios like 3:1 meet the basic accessibility criteria for larger text but not for standard-size text. The recommended contrast ratio for regular body text is 4.5:1 for AA compliance and 7:1 for AAA compliance.
Here’s an example of what these all look like and their WCAG compliance for different types of text:
You can check if your colour contrasts are compliant with our WCAG Checker Tool.
To enhance readability, avoid light grey or yellow text on a white background and use high-contrast combinations like black or dark blue text on a light background.
For example, text like this is great, but text like this, not so much. ❌
Allow full keyword navigation
Some users with mobility issues rely entirely on a keyboard rather than a mouse to navigate.
So, making your website fully accessible and easy to navigate with just a keyboard is vital for providing an inclusive user experience and meeting accessibility guidelines.
To improve keyboard navigation, you need to ensure that all interactive elements can be accessed and engaged using the Tab, Enter, and Arrow keys. Interactive elements are things like:
- Menus – including all sub-menu options
- Forms and calendar booking systems
- Buttons and drop-down selectors
- Links – both text and image links
- Video controls
Users should be able to move through the page and interact with these dropdowns in a logical order.
One common accessibility issue is the keyboard trap, where users get stuck on a particular element (like a pop-up or embedded video player) and can’t navigate away. Always test modal windows, expandable sections, and dropdowns to ensure users can exit them using the Esc key or a visible close button.
If users get stuck in a ‘keyboard trap’, they won’t be able to navigate further, so testing each page to prevent usability issues is essential. You can test your website by using only the Tab key to move between elements to ensure all interactive elements are accessible via keyboard.
Also, adding clear focus indicators (like visible outlines of focused elements) will help users track where they are on the page and what they’re about to interact with.
For example, a button should change colour or display a border when focused. Many websites remove focus outlines for design reasons, making navigation harder for keyboard users.
Adding a CSS style like :focus { outline: 2px solid #000; } ensures that users always have a visible indicator of where they are on the page, making navigation much easier.
Provide video captions and transcripts
For video and audio content, you should always aim to include captions and transcripts to make them accessible to deaf or hard-of-hearing users.
But accessibility is not just about users with disabilities. Some users might not be somewhere they can play audio out loud. Or they might prefer reading over watching video content.
Providing accurate captions or full transcripts for videos on your website or app allows people to consume that content in a way that suits them.
If you have a lot of video content on your website, manually adding captions to all of them can be a lot of work.
But thankfully, automated captioning tools, like Veed.io, can speed up the process. Just remember to manually review the captions and fix any mistakes to ensure accuracy.
Use clear headings & content structures
Across your website, you should use clear headings and ensure your content follows a logical structure.
For your headings, make sure you’re using heading tags (<h1>, <h2>, <h3>) in the correct order and not skipping levels (e.g., jumping from <h1> to <h3>).
This helps screen readers and other assistive technologies easily understand content hierarchies and how to deliver that information to the user.
Structuring your content properly benefits all users by making information easy to digest, allowing them to scan headings and quickly understand what the page is about.
Using correctly structured headings and titles for your content also helps search engines like Google better understand it, which can improve your SEO performance.
Ensure all forms are accessible
Forms should have clear labels, instructions, and input validations or error messages.
Every form field should have a clear label above or next to it rather than just placeholder text. For users with screen readers, you should use the HTML tag <label> to ensure that labels are associated with the correct form fields.
Adding clear form instructions will help users with cognitive disabilities understand what information they need to provide and whether a particular format or structure is required.
You should also ensure error messages are specific and genuinely helpful.
Instead of saying “Invalid”, provide detailed instructions like “Your password must be at least 8 characters and include a special character.” This will help all users understand the error and how to fix it, reducing user frustration.
You can also use tools and additional coding to allow assistive tools, like speech-to-text, to complete fields for users with motor impairments.
Make interactive elements easily clickable
Many users struggle with clicking on small or closely packed buttons, links, or form fields, especially on mobile devices.
For example, instead of having multiple tiny social media icons all bunched up next to each other, you should increase the button size and spacing between them to improve usability.
The same goes for making form fields and submit buttons large and clearly defined, making it easier for all users to interact with them.
The minimum touch target size should be 44×44 pixels to ensure these elements are interactive. This improves accessibility for users with motor impairments and makes things easier for mobile users.
Plus, adding enough spacing between clickable elements helps prevent accidental clicks, which can be a massive source of user frustration and site abandonment.
Avoid sudden content changes
Some unexpected content changes, like auto-scrolling carousels, pop-ups, or sudden redirects, can disorient and frustrate users, especially those with cognitive disabilities.
If your website has content that automatically updates, like live news feeds or form timeouts, it’s good to provide a timer that indicates the changes about to happen or even a pause function in some cases. That way, the change isn’t unexpected and won’t cause sudden frustration.
Another big cause of user frustration is autoplaying videos. It’s better to let users play the videos manually or to start auto-play videos on mute so they aren’t as disruptive or overwhelming.
FAQs about EAA and WCAG Compliance
Is the EAA 2025 enforceable in the UK after Brexit?
No, the EAA doesn’t apply directly to businesses in the UK following Brexit, but that’s only if they only operate domestically.
UK-based businesses that sell digital products or services in the EU or have active website users in any EU member country (including Ireland) must comply with the EAA.
That includes eCommerce websites, apps, software, and self-service terminals.
If your site or product isn’t accessible, you could face enforcement action from regulators in each EU member state where your service is available.
So even though the UK has left the EU, the EAA still matters for UK businesses that meet the size criteria and trading internationally.
What happens if my website isn’t EAA compliant?
Non-compliance wth the EAA can result in penalties, including fines or removal of products from the EU market.
Each EU member state is responsible for setting its own enforcement rules, but these typically involve:
- Investigations triggered by complaints
- Regular audits or market surveillance
- Deadlines for correcting issues before fines are imposed
In some cases, non-compliant businesses may also face reputational damage or lose out on procurement opportunities with public sector organisations.
How does WCAG 2.2 relate to the EAA?
The European Accessibility Act doesn’t legally require WCAG 2.2, but it’s the most widely accepted standard for demonstrating digital accessibility. Most EU countries use WCAG as the benchmark for accessibility compliance.
Currently, WCAG 2.1 AA is considered the minimum level needed to meet EAA obligations. However, as WCAG 2.2 becomes more established, it’s a good idea to align your website with the latest version.
WCAG 2.2 includes new success criteria focused on mobile usability and cognitive impairments, which directly improve user experience.
Do all businesses need to comply with the EAA?
No, the EAA only applies to businesses that:
- Have an annual turnover over €2 million (£1.7 million)
- Have at 10 or more employees
That said, even small businesses should aim to follow accessibility standards voluntarily to reach more users and future-proof their websites or apps.
The benefits of digital accessibility often outweigh the effort, especially for eCommerce platforms or SaaS products, where a providing a great User Experience can massively impact customer satisfaction.
Is accessibility just about people with visual impairments?
No, digital accessibility covers a broad range of users and disabilities.
The EAA and WCAG both aim to support people with:
- Hearing impairments
- Mobility limitations
- Cognitive and learning difficulties
- Seizure disorders
- Speech disabilities
It also improves usability for people using older devices, slow internet, or alternative input methods.
By improving your website’s accessibility, you’re improving the experience for everyone who visits your site, not just those with disabilities.
Do I need a full accessibility audit to comply with the EAA?
A full audit isn’t legally required, but it’s the most reliable way to check whether your website or app meets accessibility standards.
Automated tools like Silktide or WAVE are great at helping you catch common UX issues, but they miss up to 70% of accessibility problems.
Manual testing, especially with assistive technologies like screen readers or keyboard navigation, is vital for finding and fixing real-world barriers and becoming EAA and WCAG compliant.
Manual testing can be very complex and time-consuming, so if you need help, get in touch to book a detailed WCAG Audit.
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