European Accessibility Act Definition
The European Accessibility Act (EAA) is an EU law that sets common accessibility requirements for a range of everyday products and services, so that people with disabilities can use them. Officially known as Directive (EU) 2019/882, it was adopted in 2019 and has applied since 28 June 2025 through national laws in each EU member state. Because each country writes its own implementing law, details such as enforcement and penalties vary from country to country.
Who and what does the EAA cover?
The EAA applies to selected products and services offered to consumers in the EU:
- Products such as computers, smartphones, e-readers, and self-service terminals like ATMs, ticket machines, and check-in kiosks
- Services such as online shopping (e-commerce), consumer banking, e-books, electronic communications, and the websites and apps of passenger transport services
- Businesses outside the EU, if they sell covered products or services to consumers in the EU
Very small service providers, known as microenterprises (fewer than 10 employees and an annual turnover or balance sheet total of no more than €2 million), are exempt from the requirements for services.
What does it mean for online shops?
Websites and mobile apps must be usable by people with disabilities, for example by people who use screen readers (software that reads screen content aloud) or who navigate with a keyboard instead of a mouse. In practice, businesses follow the European standard EN 301 549, which builds on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), an international set of rules for accessible websites. The requirements cover the whole purchase journey, including registration, login, and payment. Shops must also publish an accessibility statement explaining how their service meets the requirements.
What does the EAA mean for product data?
One requirement applies specifically to e-commerce: online shops must show information about the accessibility of the products they sell when the manufacturer or supplier provides it. A shop selling a smartphone, for example, should pass on what the manufacturer states about its screen reader support or hearing aid compatibility, rather than dropping that information from the listing.
Product content itself also has to be accessible. Product images need text alternatives (alt text) that describe them, and key details such as dimensions or care instructions should not appear only inside an image, because screen readers cannot read them. Accessibility features should also be described consistently, using the same terms across products.
This makes accessibility partly a product data task. A Product Information Management (PIM) system can store accessibility features as structured attributes, keep alt text with each image as asset metadata, and make sure this information reaches every sales channel without being lost along the way.
