European Accessibility Act

Ready for the European Accessibility Act?

The lowdown

European consumer products need to be made accessible by law before June 2025.
If you have a consumer website or digital product you need to make it accessible now.

Just like there was a surge in data and privacy related activity in 2017 due to GDPR, expect a surge in accessibility-related work and discussions due to legislation in 2025.

Why?

✓ Provide an accessible product that everyone can access

✓ Improve your product to be accessible by 20-25% of users with disabilities in the EU, unlocking usage by a new audience

✓ Accessibility is now required by law for consumer products in the EU. Get ahead of fines and penalties.

Who needs to comply?

Companies with a revenue over €2 million and more than 10 employees.

What can I do for my website?

Make it WCAG 2.1 AA compliant. Get an expert to audit your website and get to work to fix the issues as a team.

What can my organisation do?

Educate yourself about accessibility, get ahead of fines and penalties, and do the right thing for users.

Is this just about websites?

No, it’s about much more than websites: ATMs, ticketing machines, self-service machines for travel, mobile apps etc.

Can I be fined? What’s the worst that could happen?

It’s up to member states to transform a EU directive into member state law and define the penalties. It’s currently unknown what fines would be given for not complying to the law. But one of the worst things that could happen is that your product could be taken off market due to it being inaccessible. It is unlikely to come that far, but you never know.

How can Obra Studio help?

With our design perspective, we can work directly with designers to avoid accessibility issues in new products.

With our developer skills we can work right in your git-based dev environment, send code pull requests and in general deliver a flexible way of working.

With our writing and publishing knowledge, including deep CMS knowledge, we can improve accessibility at the content level.