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“Since 2025, every website must be accessible.” The sentence gets repeated, and it is wrong both ways: the European obligation does not cover every website, but it does cover far more businesses than people think among those selling online. This article sticks to the text of the directive, quotes what it says, and separates what is mandatory from what is simply useful. It does not replace a lawyer’s view on your case; it tells you which question to ask them.
In short
Directive (EU) 2019/882, known as the European Accessibility Act, has applied since 28 June 2025.
For the web, it covers services provided to consumers: e-commerce, banking, passenger transport, electronic communications, audiovisual media, e-books.
Microenterprises providing services (fewer than 10 people and no more than 2 million euros in turnover or balance sheet) are exempt.
A business website that sells nothing online to consumers is not covered by this text; accessibility still benefits all its visitors.
What the text says, and since when
Directive (EU) 2019/882 sets accessibility requirements for a list of products and services deemed essential. Like any directive, it has been transposed in each country; in France, for example, it went into the consumer code through a decree of 9 October 2023.
- 17 April 2019
The directive is adopted.
- 28 June 2022
Deadline for transposition into each Member State’s law.
- 28 June 2025
The rules apply to products placed on the market and services provided from that date.
- 28 June 2030
End of the transitional period for products already used to provide a service, and the latest end date for service contracts signed before June 2025.
The transitional period is often misread. It allows products already used to provide the service (a terminal, for example) to keep being used, and lets service contracts concluded before 28 June 2025 run on, for five years at most. It does not say that an online store has until 2030 to become accessible: do not build a schedule on that reading without having it validated.
Who is covered, who is not
Article 2 of the directive covers services provided to consumers, meaning natural persons acting outside their trade or profession. E-commerce is defined as a service provided at a distance, through a website or an app, at the individual request of a consumer with a view to concluding a contract with them.
Covered by the text
An online store selling to consumers
A website or app for booking passenger transport
Banking services to consumers, online included
E-books and their reading software
Not covered by this text
A microenterprise providing services: fewer than 10 people, and no more than 2 million euros in turnover or balance sheet
A business website that presents an offer without selling anything online to consumers
A store reserved for business customers
Archives not updated since 28 June 2025, and third-party content the business neither funds nor controls
Two practical consequences. First, the exemption depends on size, not sector: a fifteen-person online store that sells to consumers is covered, however modest. The companies of 20 to 500 people we work with are not microenterprises: if they sell online to consumers, the text applies to them. Second, a B2B business that one day adds online payment open to consumers changes category with that single button.
Other rules exist alongside, notably for the public sector. They are not the subject of this article.
What “accessible” means for a website
The directive does not list technical criteria; in its Annex I, it requires websites and apps to be made accessible in a consistent and adequate way by making them perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. It also names concrete points: text of adequate size and contrast, and an alternative for any content that is not text.
In practice, the technical reference is the European standard EN 301 549, which closely follows the international WCAG guidelines. The European Commission’s web guide sets WCAG 2.1 level AA for its own sites. For a business leader, those four words translate into simple questions:
- Perceivable: does an image have text describing it? Does a video have subtitles? Can the text be read against its background?
- Operable: can everything be done with a keyboard, without a mouse? A menu, a gallery, a form?
- Understandable: does a form field say what it expects, and does an error say how to fix it?
- Robust: does a screen reader announce every button and every heading correctly?
The text adds a duty to inform: the business explains, in its general terms and conditions or an equivalent document, how its service meets the requirements, in a form that is itself accessible. And when a service does not comply, it corrects it and informs the authorities of the country concerned.
From the field
A form that could not be filled in with a keyboard
A client learned it the hard way: on Palmora Property, a real estate listings portal, the photo gallery captured the keyboard arrows, and the contact form could not be filled in with a keyboard on the listing pages. Bringing it into compliance took two rounds, with screen reader and zoom tests.
Why do it even when you are not bound to
Accessibility does not only serve people with disabilities. A well-labelled form is quicker to fill in on a phone, well-contrasted text can be read in full sunlight, a page that does not move under the finger avoids missed taps. Several of these criteria overlap with speed (see Core Web Vitals explained for business leaders). And a page structured with real headings, described images and named buttons is also easier to read for the programs that crawl the web.
The cheapest time to get started is the build or the redesign: every template fixed fixes every page that uses it. It is one of the items to put in a quote (see what a business website costs), and one of the checks in sorting pages before a redesign.
What a static site changes, and what it does not
A static site does not make a site accessible by magic: a button without a name stays a button without a name. But it helps in three ways, as our guide to migrating to Astro explains. The HTML comes from components you fix once for the whole site. Automated checks can reject an image without alternative text or a page without a title before it goes live. And the site no longer depends on plugins that each add their own markup, as on a WordPress you have to keep watching.
Interactive elements need the same care as anywhere else: forms and search get tested with a keyboard and a screen reader, and the editor of a headless site with Sanity can make alternative text mandatory at input. Hosting, for its part, changes nothing about accessibility (see our hosting comparison). If your alternative texts or subtitles are produced by AI, they get reviewed like everything else, and whether to disclose it comes up too.
A business website or a migration to a static site is the right moment to lay these foundations, template by template.
Frequently asked questions
Is my B2B business website covered by the European Accessibility Act?
If it presents your offers without selling anything online to consumers, this text does not cover it: it applies to services provided to consumers, such as e-commerce. Still check your sector (banking, transport) and any other rules that might apply, and make the site accessible anyway: all your visitors benefit.
Is a small online store exempt?
Only if it is a microenterprise: fewer than 10 people and no more than 2 million euros in annual turnover or balance sheet total. Beyond that, a store selling to consumers has been covered since 28 June 2025, whatever its size. The directive also provides an exception for disproportionate burden, which has to be assessed and documented.
Do existing websites have until 2030?
The transitional period to 2030 covers products already used to provide a service and contracts signed before June 2025. It grants no general extension to online stores. If your schedule relies on that date, have the reading validated by a lawyer before postponing the work.
Is an accessibility plugin added to the site enough?
The text requires the service itself to be perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. A module added on top does not fix a form without labels or a gallery that traps the keyboard. The only proof that counts is a test of the real site, with a keyboard, a screen reader and zoom.
Sources
- EUR-Lex, Directive (EU) 2019/882 on accessibility requirements for products and services (new tab)eur-lex.europa.eu
- European Commission, Europa Web Guide, accessibility (new tab)commission.europa.eu
EUR-Lex, Directive (EU) 2019/882 on accessibility requirements for products and services
Read on eur-lex.europa.eu(new tab)Jim · founder of Brain Plus AI
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