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Why U.S. companies need to pay attention to the EAA

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A dark blue pattern with the stars from the EU patterns circled on it.

If you’re a U.S.-based business, it’s easy to assume that the European Accessibility Act (“EAA”) doesn’t apply to you. 

But if your digital products or services reach consumers in any of the 27 EU member states, that assumption could cost you. The EAA, like the General Data Protection Regulation  (GDPR) before it, has extraterritorial reach. It protects EU residents no matter where a product originates, so any company doing business in the EU, directly or through partners, falls within its scope. 

There’s no exemption for companies that are American, or Canadian (or Antarctican, for that matter). 

As of June 28, 2025, companies that fall under the EAA’s scope are required to comply with its directives – or face penalties.

How to know if your company is subject to the EAA

You’re in scope if your product or service is on the market on or after June 28, 2025, and both of the following are true:

1. You provide a covered product or service to EU consumers, making you an “economic operator” (manufacturer, importer, distributor or service provider). Examples include:

  • Consumer-facing websites or mobile apps that provide e-commerce services
  • General-purpose computer hardware and operating systems 
  • Consumer-facing self-service terminals (e.g., ATMs, ticketing kiosks, check-in machines)
  • E-readers and audiovisual media services
  • Online banking, e-books, and digital transport services
  • Electronic communications and emergency services

AND

2. You’re not an exempt microenterprise. The EAA does not apply to businesses with fewer than 10 employees and less than or equal to €2 million in global annual revenue (about $2.25 million USD) – If they provide covered services only. A microenterprise that manufactures, imports, or distributes covered products is still subject to all EAA requirements. [1]

If both conditions apply, then so does the law.  


Quick check: are you in scope?

1. Confirm whether your offering appears in the EAA’s list of covered services or products 

2. Ask yourself:

  • Do EU consumers use your website/app to buy, book, watch, read, or bank?
  • Do you sell, ship or license consumer hardware that enables those services?
  • Do you target EU users via local language, currency, domains, or ads?
  • Do you take orders from or support EU residents? 

3. Apply the micro-enterprise test. You’re exempt only if all of the following are true:

  • You have fewer than 10 employees
  • Your global annual revenue is ≤ €2 million
  • You provide services only (no covered physical products)

A real-world example: Let’s say you’re a U.S. website selling pet food and taking orders from consumers in Belgium. With only 8 employees and €1 million in revenue, you meet the micro-enterprise thresholds and, as a pure e-commerce service, are exempt. That exemption disappears if you:

  • Hire more staff (e.g. grow to 12 employees), or
  • Launch a smart payment kiosk for in-store reorders (a covered product)

In either case, full EAA compliance would immediately apply.

Note: When in doubt, consult legal counsel or the competent authority in each EU market where you operate.


What does it mean to comply with the EAA?

The EAA demands that consumer products and services – digital or physical – be accessible, usable, and safe for people with disabilities. Below is a plain-language summary of the EAA’s core accessibility requirements for products and services, highlighting the most common, high-impact obligations. The law also offers a list of “non-binding examples” of practical solutions to support compliance.

EAA RequirementWhat it Means 
Make digital experiences accessibleWebsites, apps, and online services must be perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust (the four principles of accessibility).
Provide information via more than one sensory channelOffer non-visual and non-auditory alternatives, such as screen-reader output, text-to-speech, captions, or tactile cues. 
Offer inclusive user interfacesFeatures for users who can’t see, hear, speak, or use fine motor skills, e.g. adjustable contrast, magnification, text-to-speech, tactile controls, non-voice login options.
Work seamlessly with assistive techInteroperate with screen readers, braille displays, hearing aids, etc., while safeguarding privacy and security.
Meet sector-specific requirementsExtra rules for transport, banking, media, e-commerce, emergency services, e.g. real-time text, accessible ebooks, sign-language support.
Make packaging & product info accessibleLabels, manuals, safety instructions must be available in multiple accessible formats.
Keep customer-support channels accessibleHelp desks, call centers, and tech support must be reachable via accessible modes and able to explain compatibility with assistive tech.
Provide clear compliance documentationServices: publish a conformance statement.[2]
Products: issue an EU Declaration of Conformity and affix a CE mark
Reference EN 301 549 (recommended)The harmonized EU standard builds on WCAG 2.1 Level AA with some additional requirements. Conformance with EN 301 549 creates a presumption of EAA compliance.

These are mostly things your company should be doing anyway (many of our customers are already focusing on WCAG 2.2, for example, which is expected to soon be incorporated into an updated EN 301 549). But in the US, where the regulatory picture is a patchwork of laws and rulings from lawsuits, many US companies don’t feel like they are under time pressure to get their accessibility situation straightened out.

But they quite likely are.

If the EAA applies to you, you’re subject to enforceable penalties as of June 28, 2025.  That’s when each EU member state’s version of the law — adopted through a process called “transposition” — goes into effect.

What about B2B companies?

The EAA doesn’t regulate B2B transactions. It applies to the economic operator that puts a covered product or service on the EU consumer market — not to every upstream vendor in its supply chain. 

That said, if your software, platform, or hardware is embedded in a consumer-facing product, you’ll still feel the impact: your customers can’t buy inaccessible components from you and remain compliant.

If you are…Are you “in scope”?
A bank, e-commerce retailer, streaming platform, or kiosk importer/operator serving EU consumersYes. You are the “service provider”, “manufacturer” , “importer” or “distributor” defined in the EAA, and have obligations to ensure accessibility.
A U.S. SaaS vendor, cloud host, or component supplier that sells to consumer-facing operators in the EUNo. But you will likely be unable to sell your inaccessible software/hosting service/device to those operators, because they must comply.

About EAA penalties: how non-compliance can cost you across the EU

The European Union doesn’t enforce the EAA directly. Each member state does, so one accessibility failure can trigger penalties in several countries at once.

Enforcement may include:

  • Administrative fines of up to 10% of your company’s annual turnover (Netherlands [3] and Poland [4])
  • Daily accruing fines for unresolved issues (Cyprus [5]) 
  • Market withdrawal orders or bans on non-compliant products and services across all Member States[6]
  • Criminal sanctions of up to 1 million (Luxembourg [7])

And yes, you can be fined repeatedly if you fail to fix the problem. Some countries, like France and Italy, allow escalating penalties over time. [8]

In rare but serious cases, you could even face jail time

  • In Cyprus, violations can result in up to 3 years’ imprisonment, though it’s unclear whether this applies to directors, officers, or legal representatives [9].
  • In Ireland, individuals or companies can face up to 18 months’ imprisonment, depending on the severity of the breach.[10][11] 

A real-world scenario

Let’s say you’re a large U.S. e-commerce company with an app and kiosks used across several EU member states, and that you fall short on these key EAA requirements:

  • No CE marking on your kiosks.

The EAA requires CE marks to appear “visibly, legibly and indelibly” on the product or its data plate. If that’s not possible, then on the packaging and accompanying documentation.

  • Zooming the app to 200% overlaps content and hides product prices.

Visual content must provide for flexible magnification so low-vision users aren’t excluded.[12]

  • Error messages rely on red text alone (so color-blind users can’t tell what went wrong). When color is used to convey information, an alternative cue must also be provided.[13]

Here’s what can happen:

  • Ireland can impose a fine of up to €60,000 for the missing CE mark. [14]
  • Germany can issue administrative fines of up to €100,000 for serious accessibility violations. [15]
  • Italy can impose administrative fines of up to €40,000 if a user files a complaint, and if authorities confirm non-compliance. [16]
  • Spain can levy a €600,000 fine for a single “very serious” infraction.[17] 

That’s €800,000 in fines — just across four countries.  

But what if your app is available in all 27 countries? 

One regulator’s decision can snowball. Under EU rules, a national authority must alert the European Commission and other member states when it finds a breach. Your app could then be delisted EU-wide.[18]

Enforcement follows a clear process

You won’t be fined €800,000 overnight. Enforcement under the EAA follows a structured process. 

  1. First, the national authority investigates and requests full cooperation from you.
  2. If a real issue is found, you get a reasonable window to fix it.
  3. Only if those fixes are ignored — or incomplete — does the matter escalate. 

That said, it’ll clearly be cheaper in the long run to comply, especially when you consider that every day your site or app is not accessible, you’re already losing business. That’s the biggest fine of all. 

Final thought

The EAA is probably the strongest push for digital inclusion in global law, and EU regulators are already writing significant penalties into national law. But the real stakes extend far beyond potential fines. Public non-compliance headlines can erode brand equity; inaccessible products shut the door on EU markets; and major buyers will simply drop vendors whose tools exclude users with disabilities. 

But there’s good news, too. A solid, heads-up job on accessibility at your company should keep you not only EAA-ready, but compliant in most Western markets – and beyond.


Special thanks here to Susanna Laurin, an original contributor to the European Accessibility Act and Managing Director of the Funka Foundation in Sweden, for her comments.


References

[1] Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 4(5). 

[2] Directive (EU) 2019/882, Recital 81: For services, the information necessary to assess conformity with the accessibility requirements of this Directive should be provided in the general terms and conditions, or in an equivalent document, without prejudice to Directive 2011/83/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council.

[3] Netherlands: Field Fisher insight

[4] Poland: Accessibility Act for Certain Products and Services 2024 Article 73; and Bird & Bird summary

[5] Cyprus: Law 57(I)/2024, Art. 36(2).

[6] Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 20 – Procedure at national level for dealing with products not complying with the applicable accessibility requirements

[7] Luxembourg: Loi du 8 mars 2023, Art. 33 – Criminal Sanctions.

[8] Forbes Business Council (Jan 16 2025) – “EAA Compliance Requirements for Websites.”

[9] Cyprus: Law 57(I)/2024, Art. 38(ββ).

[10] Ireland: Irish S.I. 636/2023 , Art. 32 Offences: Penalties 

[11] Mason Hayes & Curran, “European Accessibility Act Implemented into Irish Law.”

[12] Directive (EU) 2019/882 Annex I 2 (c),

[13] Directive (EU) 2019/882 Annex I 2 (d)

[14] Ireland: Irish S.I. 636/2023, Art. 32.Offences: Penalties

[15] Germany: Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz (BFSG), Art. 37(10)(2) and Field Fisher insight

[16] Italy: Legislative Decree 82/2022, Art. 24.

[17] Spain: Law 11/2023, Art. 39. Sanciones

[18] Regulation (EC) No 765/2008, Art. 29 – National Measures.