The European Accessibility Act (EAA) becomes law in June 2025, and it will have a big impact on eCommerce stores that wish to trade in the EU, wherever they’re based.
So, if you’re doing business in the EU, it’s time to get up to speed with this act.
As we’ve seen in the US, thousands of lawsuits have been filed against eCommerce businesses that failed to comply with similar regulations that were introduced in 2023.
Therefore, it’s not unreasonable to expect the same to happen after the EAA comes into force.
However, as we’ll see in this article, complying with the EAA isn’t only about avoiding fines. Doing so also makes good business sense. Accessible sites perform better than non-accessible ones across a range of important metrics.
Making an effort to improve accessibility at your store gives you a chance to stand out from slower-to-act businesses, giving you a competitive advantage over them.
Therefore, it’s worth seeing making your site compliant as an opportunity to grow your business rather than simply a way to avoid punishment from the authorities.
It’s worth pointing out that the EAA has limited exemptions regarding compliance. One is that micro-enterprises with a small number of employees (less than 10) and an annual turnover below €2 million do not need to comply with the EAA.
As we’ll see, there are benefits to making your site accessible by complying with the EAA that go beyond avoiding fines.