EA Digital Solutions

Accessibility (European Accessibility Act)

Accessible websites: required since 28 June 2025. We audit and fix.

If you sell to consumers online or accept bookings or contracts through your website or app, it has had to be accessible since 28 June 2025: in Austria under the Barrierefreiheitsgesetz, in Germany under the Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz. We check with you whether your website is in scope, test it automatically and by hand, and fix the issues in your existing site or as part of a relaunch.

  • Austria and Germany
  • Tested with keyboard and screen reader
  • Reply within 24 hours
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In short

Austria’s Barrierefreiheitsgesetz (BaFG) and Germany’s Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz (BFSG) implement the European Accessibility Act and have applied since 28 June 2025. They mainly cover online shops and websites through which consumers conclude contracts online, such as bookings, as well as banking services, e-books and passenger transport. Microenterprises with fewer than 10 employees and no more than EUR 2 million turnover or balance sheet are exempt for services. In practice the benchmark is the standard EN 301 549, which refers to WCAG 2.1 level AA.

Key facts

Applies since 28 June 2025
The BaFG in Austria, the BFSG in Germany. Both implement Directive (EU) 2019/882, the European Accessibility Act.
Online sales to consumers
Covered are e-commerce services: websites and apps through which consumers conclude contracts. Also banking services, e-books, telephony and parts of passenger transport, such as tickets and travel information.
Microenterprise exemption
Service providers with fewer than 10 employees and no more than EUR 2 million annual turnover or balance sheet are exempt. The threshold applies to the whole company, not the individual shop. Products are not exempt.
Benchmark: EN 301 549 and WCAG 2.1 AA
The harmonised standard EN 301 549 refers to the WCAG 2.1 success criteria at level AA for websites: keyboard operation, contrast, text alternatives, forms, structure.
Austria: Sozialministeriumservice
The Sozialministeriumservice carries out market surveillance and can order defects to be fixed; violations are administrative offences. The disability council, the consumer association VKI, the Chamber of Labour and the Chamber of Commerce, among others, can report violations to the authority.
Germany: central authority in Magdeburg
The joint market surveillance authority of the federal states (MLBF) investigates on complaint and on its own initiative. Consumers and recognised associations can file applications; warning letters under competition law have also been reported.

As of 26 October 2026 · General information, not legal advice.

Who is in scope

  • Online shops and marketplaces selling to consumers.
  • Websites and apps with online booking or online contract conclusion, such as appointments confirmed instantly, hotel bookings, tickets, subscriptions and courses.
  • Banks, e-book providers and transport companies for their digital channels.
  • According to the Austrian Chamber of Commerce (WKO), pure company presentation sites without online contract conclusion and offers exclusively for businesses (B2B) are not covered. An online enquiry that you still have to accept separately is not an online contract conclusion.

For contact forms there is a stricter view, and the WKO points out that a site ultimately aimed at selling to consumers may still be covered in individual cases. We go through your website with you in the first call; if in doubt, a lawyer confirms the legal classification.

What we do for you

  1. 1

    Clarify scope

    Free first call: what you sell, to whom, and where the contract is concluded. Afterwards you know whether, and for which parts of your website, the law applies.

  2. 2

    Audit against WCAG 2.1 AA

    Automated scan of the main page types, then the manual test: keyboard-only operation, screen reader test, contrast, forms, error messages, the order or booking flow through to completion.

  3. 3

    Prioritised fix list

    Every issue with its location, the WCAG criterion concerned and the effort. First the issues that stop people from buying or booking.

  4. 4

    Implementation

    We fix the issues in your existing website or build the relaunch accessible from the start, including templates for your editors.

  5. 5

    Statement and ongoing checks

    We write the accessibility information (accessibility statement) and re-check new content and features regularly so the level holds.

Automated tests find only part of the barriers. Only a manual test shows whether a flow really works with keyboard and screen reader. We do not issue certifications.

Check for free first

Free checklist

Accessibility checklist: 15 points for website and online shop

Accessibility checklist: 15 points for website and online shop

Check your key pages with keyboard and screen: home, product, cart, checkout, booking, contact. Whatever stays open goes on the list for implementation.

From contrast to the accessibility statement: the 15 points to check for the European Accessibility Act, as a printable PDF.

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Frequently asked questions

Does my website have to be accessible?

If consumers can conclude contracts through your website or app, for example in an online shop or through online booking, and your company is not a microenterprise: yes, since 28 June 2025. Pure company presentation sites and pure B2B offers are not covered.

We only have a contact form. Are we in scope?

According to the WKO, an enquiry that you still have to accept separately is not an online contract conclusion. There is a stricter view, though. If the form states clearly that it only takes enquiries and no binding orders, that strengthens your position.

What counts as a microenterprise?

Fewer than 10 employees and no more than EUR 2 million annual turnover or balance sheet. The exemption only covers services such as an online shop, not products, and it refers to the whole company.

Is an accessibility plugin or an automated test enough?

No. Automated tests detect only part of the barriers, such as missing text alternatives or weak contrast. Whether navigation, forms and the checkout work with keyboard and screen reader is something we test by hand.

Do you give legal advice?

No. We audit and fix the technical issues and write the accessibility statement. For the legal classification we recommend a lawyer if in doubt.

Sources

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