What is the European Accessibility Act 2025?
Adopted as EU Directive 2019/882, the European Accessibility Act (EAA) sets common accessibility rules for products and services across the Single Market. Member states finished transposing it into national law in 2022; enforcement starts 28 June 2025.
- Goal: Ensure people with disabilities can use everyday digital services—websites, mobile apps, e‑readers, ticket machines, banking portals, telecoms, transport booking and e‑commerce—without barriers.
- Technical benchmark: WCAG 2.1 AA (or any later equivalent) for all web and mobile content, plus EN 301 549 for hardware and software.
- Who must comply: Any business (inside or outside the EU) that offers the covered products or services to EU consumers, unless it qualifies as a micro‑enterprise (<10 employees and <€2 million turnover).
- Regulatory model: Market‑surveillance authorities in each country can audit, issue corrective orders and impose fines; cross‑border disputes go to the EU Safety Gate system.
Getting familiar with this legal foundation makes the 2025 deadline—and the penalties tied to it—much easier to navigate.
Deadline: 28 June 2025
What changes on this date?
- Market‑surveillance authorities shift from guidance to enforcement—cash fines can start the moment a WCAG 2.1 AA failure is detected.
- Maximum penalties published so far:
- France: up to €250 000 per incident
- Sweden: up to €200 000 plus daily sanctions
- Ireland: up to €60 000 and/or 18 months’ imprisonment
- Belgium: €1 000–€50 000 per breach
Proving you’re compliant
Maintain an up‑to‑date WCAG conformance report, a public accessibility statement, and automated test logs—these are the first items auditors will request.
Common mistakes that attract fines that attract fines
- 1.1.1 Non‑text Content – No descriptive alt text on images or icons → screen‑reader users miss information; high‑risk under French rules.
- 1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded) – Marketing videos without captions → blocks Deaf users; flagged by Irish authority.
- 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum) – Light‑grey text on white → low‑vision users struggle; frequent penalty trigger.
- 2.1.1 Keyboard – Navigation or menus only operable with a mouse → excludes keyboard‑only users; regulators issue corrective orders.
- 3.3.1 Error Identification – Vague or missing form error messages → prevents completion; creates blocking barriers for everyone.
How Test Collab QA Copilot reduces risk Collab QA Copilot reduces risk
AI‑generated accessibility suites
- One‑click generation of WCAG‑mapped test cases for every new user story.
- Coverage spans the five high‑risk criteria above, plus colour‑contrast matrix and focus indicators.
Continuous, automated checks
- Headless Playwright runs validate each pull request—no extra setup.
- Copilot raises blocking defects if new code introduces a failure.
Evidence for auditors
- HTML / PDF reports with screenshots, logs and timestamps automatically attached to each Test Collab run.
- Exportable as a signed PDF, ready for EU market‑surveillance review.
Fits existing tool chain
- Jenkins / GitHub / GitLab pipelines trigger Copilot tests post‑build.
- Results push back to GitLab issues, closing the feedback loop.
Implementation roadmap
Kick‑off by booking a 30‑minute accessibility consult through our demo calendar. From there, enable QA Copilot in a staging environment and run a baseline audit; add accessibility gates to your CI/CD pipeline; draft your WCAG conformance statement; run an internal dry‑run audit; and finally publish your public accessibility statement and keep monitoring production with Copilot’s automated checks. These steps flow naturally and can be completed in parallel with normal sprints, ensuring you’re ready well ahead of the EAA enforcement date.
Quick compliance snapshot
Top five must‑dos
- Alt text: Every image and icon includes meaningful 'alt' text (1.1.1).
- Captions & transcripts: Provide accurate captions or transcripts for all prerecorded media (1.2.2).
- Colour contrast: Text and icons meet at least 4.5 : 1 contrast (1.4.3).
- Keyboard access: Menus, forms and dialogs work with Tab/Shift‑Tab; no keyboard traps (2.1.1).
- Error messaging: Form fields surface clear, programmatically associated errors (3.3.1).
Compliance costs: ≈ €0.15 per line of code to test automatically. Non‑compliance fines: up to €250 000 plus daily penalties. The math speaks for itself—schedule your consult and lock in savings.
Sources
- EU Directive 2019/882 (European Accessibility Act) — Official Journal of the European Union
- AccessibleEU news brief — January 2025 — National penalty frameworks at a glance
