What is the European Accessibility Act?

The European Accessibility Act (EAA) is a new EU law that came into effect on 28 June 2025. If your company offers digital products or services in the EU, the EAA likely applies to you.

The act requires businesses to make their digital products and services accessible to people with disabilities. This includes people using screen readers, and people with visual or hearing impairments.

The EAA is a valuable opportunity to rethink how your business approaches accessible design, and it can also open up new opportunities.

Up to 27% of people in the EU live with some form of disability, so improving accessibility ensures your content can reach all your customers.

What products and services are affected?

Who or what is exempt?

The EAA does include some exemptions. While the law doesn’t require you to submit formal documentation upfront, it does expect reasonable justification for any exemptions.

• Micro-enterprises: Businesses with fewer than 10 employees and an annual turnover of under 2 million euros.

• Disproportionate burden: You may be exempt if compliance with the EAA causes an excessive financial or technical burden. Or if it fundamentally alters a product´s core function.

• Certain content types:

  • Pre-recorded media published before 28 June 2025.

  • Office file formats published before 28 June 2025.

  • Third-party content not created or controlled by your business.

  • Archived websites or apps that won´t be updated after 28 June 2025.

How is the EAA enforced?

Each EU member state is responsible for enforcing the EAA, so fines and penalties vary depending on the country. In Ireland, for example, serious violations can lead to fines of up to 60,000 euros and/or up to 18 months in prison.

What do I need to do to comply with the EAA?

The EAA doesn´t provide clear step-by-step guidelines on how to comply with the law, but it does align with EN 301 549, which is the European standard for digital accessibility. This standard is based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

What we recommend for compliance

One of the best ways to meet most of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines is to follow the POUR acronym. POUR represents the four essential principles of digital accessibility: it stands for Perceivable, Operable, Understandable and Robust.

Perceivable: Can all users access the information presented on your platform? Are there text alternatives for images and subtitles for videos?

Operable: Can users navigate and interact with your digital content using a keyboard, screen reader or other assistive technologies?

Understandable: Is your content written in clear, simple language? Is navigation predictable and intuitive?

Robust: Is your digital content compatible with assistive technologies and adaptable in the face of future accessibility innovations?

Making accessible content can be quick and cost-effective

Meeting the POUR requirements doesn´t have to mean higher costs or complex workflows. However, you do need the right combination of tools to help keep things quick and cost-effective. One tool by itself is unlikely to help you meet every requirement. Let´s look at an example of the combination of tools you might need if you were making a video.

Applying the POUR guidelines to video content

Looking at the POUR guidelines, you know that you need to add captions and/or subtitles to your video to support users with hearing impairments.

However, we also need to remember that this visual-first focus can exclude users with visual impairments. Therefore we also need to add voiceovers or audio descriptions, to make the video accessible to those who rely on sound.

Here are some of the tools you can use to make video content accessible to people with both visual and hearing impairments in a quick and cost-effective way:

• Subtitling

• Voiceovers

• AI dubbing

How can localisation help me go further?

The POUR guidelines are a great place to start, but true inclusivity goes further than this. Making your content accessible for people in different regions will also significantly improve its usability.

For example, your video with translated subtitles might support non-native speakers, but it may still fall short for viewers with visual impairments in non-English speaking markets.

Adding localised voiceovers, audio descriptions, or dubbing in the target language bridges this gap. With the right combination of tools, this process can be quick and straightforward.

Want to learn more?

The EAA isn´t just about following a new legal requirement, it´s also an opportunity to optimise your content creation processes and develop your business at the same time.

Our free white paper breaks down the EAA even further. We provide you with detailed practical guidance, and a roadmap to help your business follow the rules and improve your market reach.