Elgarde
Regulations

European Accessibility Act

Directive (EU) 2019/882 — European Accessibility Act

In force since

28 June 2025

Scope

E-commerce websites, banking, transport, media services, and consumer electronics provided to EU consumers

Primary source

Official text

Enforcement bodies

NL Autoriteit Consument & Markt (ACM) — Market surveillance for all EAA-covered products and services
PT ANACOM — E-commerce, electronic communications, radio equipment
PT ASAE — Non-radio IT equipment
PT ERC — Audiovisual media services
PT INR, I.P. — Regime monitoring and coordination

What this regulation requires

The EAA mandates that products and services placed on the EU market for consumers meet accessibility requirements. For websites, the practical standard is EN 301 549 v3.2.1, which incorporates WCAG 2.1 Level AA by reference.

Services in scope

  • E-commerce (websites and apps selling products or services online)
  • Electronic communication services
  • Consumer banking services
  • Services providing access to audiovisual media
  • Passenger transport services (websites, apps, electronic tickets)
  • E-books

Micro-enterprise exemption

Art. 4(5) EAA exempts micro-enterprises (fewer than 10 employees and annual turnover / balance-sheet total not exceeding EUR 2 million) that provide services. This exemption does not apply to products.

How this applies in the Netherlands

Implementatiewet toegankelijkheidsvoorschriften producten en diensten (Stb. 2024, 87) transposes the EAA. Entry into force: 28 June 2025 (Stb. 2024, 341).

Enforcer: Autoriteit Consument & Markt (ACM). ACM has already conducted market scans under this regime, finding that a majority of large online stores fail accessibility requirements.

Note: Public-sector websites in the Netherlands are governed by a separate instrument — the Tijdelijk besluit digitale toegankelijkheid overheid — which transposes the Web Accessibility Directive (2016/2102), not the EAA.

How this applies in Portugal

Decreto-Lei n.º 82/2022, de 6 de dezembro transposes the EAA, supplemented by Portaria n.º 220/2023 (which defines accessibility criteria and the “disproportionate burden” assessment).

Enforcement is split across four authorities by product/service class:

AuthorityScope
ANACOME-commerce, electronic communications, radio equipment
ASAENon-radio IT equipment
ERCAudiovisual media services
INR, I.P.Regime monitoring and coordination

For a typical e-commerce website, the relevant enforcer is ANACOM.

What Elgarde checks

The scanner runs an accessibility audit using axe-core against WCAG 2.1 Level AA. Detected issues include missing alt text, insufficient color contrast, missing form labels, incorrect heading structure, and more. Each issue is mapped to the specific WCAG success criterion it violates.

Sources

Check your website's compliance

Free scan — no registration required. See your compliance grade in 30 seconds.

Scan now
← All regulations