European Accessibility Act: What US Businesses Need to Know

The European Accessibility Act (EAA) took effect on June 28, 2025. If your business sells products or services to customers in the European Union — regardless of where your company is headquartered — this law applies to you.

For US businesses with EU customers, the EAA represents a significant shift: web accessibility is no longer just a best practice or a lawsuit risk. In Europe, it's now a regulatory requirement with real enforcement mechanisms.

What Is the European Accessibility Act?

The EAA (Directive 2019/882) is an EU directive that requires products and services to be accessible to people with disabilities. Unlike the ADA, which relies on private lawsuits for enforcement, the EAA is enforced by government regulators in each EU member state.

The directive covers:

• E-commerce websites and mobile apps
• Banking and financial services
• Telecommunication services
• Transport services (air, bus, rail, waterborne)
• E-books and e-readers
• Audiovisual media services

If your digital product or service falls into any of these categories and is available to EU consumers, you must comply.

The Technical Standard: EN 301 549

The EAA references the European standard EN 301 549 as the technical benchmark for digital accessibility. This standard maps closely to WCAG 2.2 Level AA — the same standard used in ADA compliance.

Key requirements include:

• Perceivable: All content must be presentable in ways that users can perceive — text alternatives for images, captions for video, sufficient color contrast
• Operable: All functionality must be available via keyboard, with enough time to interact, and without causing seizures
• Understandable: Content must be readable and predictable, with input assistance for forms
• Robust: Content must work with current and future assistive technologies

If you're already working toward WCAG 2.2 Level AA compliance for ADA purposes, you're largely covered for the EAA as well. The standards overlap significantly.

How US Companies Are Affected

The EAA applies based on where your customers are, not where your company is based. This means:

• A US e-commerce store that ships to EU countries must have an accessible website
• A US SaaS company with EU subscribers must provide accessible interfaces
• A US financial service with EU clients must ensure accessible digital banking

There's no revenue threshold or company size minimum in the directive itself, though individual member states may apply microenterprise exemptions (generally fewer than 10 employees and under €2 million turnover).

If you accept payments from EU customers, display prices in euros, or actively market to EU audiences, regulators can consider your service as targeting EU consumers.

Penalties for Non-Compliance

Unlike the ADA, where enforcement comes through private lawsuits, the EAA is enforced by designated market surveillance authorities in each EU member state. Penalties vary by country but can include:

• Fines proportionate to the severity and duration of non-compliance
• Product bans — your product or service can be prohibited from the EU market
• Public notices — your non-compliance can be publicly disclosed
• Corrective orders requiring remediation within a specified timeframe

Some member states have set specific fine amounts. For example, Germany's implementation allows fines up to €100,000 for certain violations. Other countries tie penalties to annual revenue.

Practical Steps for US Businesses

1. Determine if the EAA applies to you

Ask these questions:

• Do you have customers in EU member states?
• Do you offer products or services in categories covered by the EAA?
• Do you market to EU audiences (EU-specific pricing, languages, or shipping)?

If the answer to any of these is yes, the EAA likely applies.

2. Audit your current compliance

Run an automated scan against WCAG 2.2 Level AA criteria. Tools like WebAccessibility.co can scan your entire site and report violations ranked by severity. Focus on your primary user paths: registration, product browsing, checkout, and account management.

3. Remediate existing violations

Prioritize critical and serious issues first. AI-powered fix guides can generate code-level remediation for each violation, significantly reducing the time and cost of fixing issues. Common quick wins include:

• Adding alt text to all images
• Labeling all form inputs
• Fixing color contrast ratios
• Ensuring keyboard navigability

4. Set up continuous monitoring

Compliance isn't a one-time event. New content, design changes, and third-party integrations can introduce regressions. Automated monitoring scans your site on a schedule and alerts you when new issues appear.

5. Document your compliance efforts

The EAA requires businesses to provide an accessibility statement describing:

• The accessibility measures taken
• Known limitations and alternatives
• How users can report accessibility barriers
• Contact information for accessibility inquiries

An accessibility statement generator can help you create and maintain this documentation.

What Makes EAA Compliance Different from ADA

Aspect	ADA	EAA
Enforcement	Private lawsuits	Government regulators
Standard	WCAG 2.2 AA (judicial consensus)	EN 301 549 / WCAG 2.2 AA (statutory)
Scope	US commercial websites	EU-targeted products and services
Documentation	No formal requirement	Accessibility statement required
Penalties	Settlements ($5K–$25K+)	Fines, product bans, public notices
Exemptions	None	Microenterprise exemptions possible

Action Plan for SMEs

Here's a 90-day action plan for US businesses that need to comply:

Days 1–7: Assessment

• Run automated accessibility scans on your primary pages
• Document which products/services target EU customers
• Identify your highest-traffic EU user paths

Days 8–30: Critical fixes

• Address all critical and serious WCAG violations
• Focus on forms, checkout, and navigation first
• Use AI fix guides to generate code changes efficiently

Days 31–60: Comprehensive remediation

• Extend scanning to all pages
• Fix remaining moderate and minor violations
• Deploy an accessibility widget for immediate user-facing improvements

Days 61–90: Sustainability

• Set up continuous monitoring with automated alerts
• Create and publish your accessibility statement
• Train content creators on accessibility basics
• Establish a process for handling user-reported issues

The EAA is real, it's enforceable, and it's here. But compliance is achievable — especially with the right tools. The businesses that act now will have a competitive advantage in the EU market, while those that wait risk fines, market restrictions, and lost customer trust.