If you've received a letter about accessibility compliance, or seen the term "EAA" appearing more frequently in conversations about your website, this article is for you.
The European Accessibility Act (EAA) — officially Directive (EU) 2019/882 — came into force across EU member states on 28 June 2025. It requires that a broad range of digital products and services be accessible to people with disabilities. In Ireland, it has been transposed into national law.
This article explains what the EAA requires, which businesses it applies to, what "accessible" actually means in practice, and what you can do right now to get ahead of it.
What does the EAA actually require?
The EAA requires that digital services — including websites, mobile apps, e-commerce platforms, and digital documents — meet accessibility standards so they can be used by people with a wide range of disabilities, including visual, hearing, motor, and cognitive impairments.
The technical standard underpinning the EAA is EN 301 549, which references WCAG 2.2 Level AA as the web accessibility baseline. In practical terms: if your website meets WCAG 2.2 AA, you are well on your way to EAA compliance.
WCAG stands for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Level AA is the middle tier — not basic minimum, not exhaustive best practice. It covers the issues that most significantly affect real users: missing image descriptions, poor colour contrast, forms without labels, pages that can't be navigated by keyboard, and similar.
Who does it apply to?
The EAA applies to businesses that provide products or services in EU member states, including Ireland. There is a size threshold: micro-enterprises (fewer than 10 employees and annual turnover under €2 million) providing services are currently exempt from most requirements. However, if you supply products — hardware, software, devices — the exemption is narrower.
In practice, the EAA applies to: e-commerce websites selling to customers in the EU, banking and financial services, transport services and booking platforms, streaming and media services, and software and app providers.
If your business has a public-facing website that sells goods or services to customers in Ireland or elsewhere in the EU, you should treat the EAA as applicable to you.
If your business has a public-facing website that sells goods or services to customers in Ireland or the EU, you should treat the EAA as applicable.
What happens if you don't comply?
Member states are responsible for enforcement. In Ireland, enforcement mechanisms are being established through the relevant national authorities. Users can file complaints, and regulators can investigate and issue orders to bring products and services into compliance.
More immediately practical: the reputational and commercial risk. As accessibility becomes better understood by consumers and businesses, a website that actively excludes users with disabilities is increasingly a liability — legally, commercially, and in terms of customer trust.
Accessibility complaints and legal challenges under ADA in the US have been rising sharply for a decade. The EAA creates a similar legal framework across the EU.
What is an accessibility statement, and do you need one?
Yes. The EAA and related public sector regulations require organisations to publish an accessibility statement — a public declaration of how accessible your website is, what known issues remain, and how users can contact you if they encounter barriers.
The statement should be published at a permanent URL (typically /accessibility-statement) and linked from your site footer. It should be reviewed and updated at least annually.
An accessibility statement doesn't require your site to be perfect. It requires you to be honest about where you are, what you're doing about it, and how users can get help if they need it.
What should you actually do right now?
First, scan your website. A free accessibility scan will give you a clear picture of where you stand — no technical knowledge required. A11YO scans any URL and produces a plain English report that lists every issue, explains what it means for real users, and tells your developer exactly what to fix.
Second, prioritise the critical issues. Not everything on an accessibility audit needs to be fixed immediately. Start with anything that actively blocks users: missing form labels, images with no descriptions, pages that break when using a keyboard. These are the issues most likely to affect the most people and carry the most legal weight.
Third, publish an accessibility statement. Even a partially accessible website with an honest accessibility statement is in a better position than a website with no statement at all. Use A11YO's free accessibility statement generator to produce a compliant statement in under two minutes.
Compliance with the EAA is not a one-time project. It's an ongoing commitment — the same way GDPR compliance isn't a form you fill in once. The businesses that treat it as a continuous process, rather than a deadline to meet and forget, are the ones that will stay ahead of enforcement.
The bottom line
The EAA is in force. It applies to most Irish businesses with a public-facing digital presence. The standard you need to meet is WCAG 2.2 AA. The first step is knowing where you stand.
Scan your website for free at A11YO. You'll have a plain English report in under a minute — something you can read without Googling a single acronym, and hand straight to your developer.