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The European Accessibility Act (EAA) is a law that was originally passed just over 5 years ago, in mid 2019, and will finally come into full effect and be implemented on the 28th June 2025. It aims to put into place a stronger set of rules for what products and services need to be more accessible, what that accessibility looks like, and what happens if peoples needs are not met.
Contents
Introduction
Accessibility across the web, while better than it was a decade ago, is still not as good as it could or should be. Efforts to create a set of standards for the web to follow has led to the creation of the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), which have been great to allow people to create a more accessible web.
The Web Accessibility Directive (WAD)
In order to help ensure that accessibility guidelines were being followed, the Web Accessibility Directive (WAD) 2016 was put into place in the EU to cover all EU member states, enforcing a set of requirements for public sector websites and applications. These requirements aimed to harmonise the accessibility standards laid out by the WCAG, following the main principles for content being 'perceivable, operable, understandable and robust'.
The WAD had several main requirements:
- An accessibility statement for each website and application.
- Feedback mechanism for people to flag accessibility issues.
- Monitoring of public sector websites by EU Member States.
The only exceptions were for non-government organisations (NGOs) that don't provide essential services (such as some charities, despite their often essential work), and websites and apps that don't provide services that are meant for people with disabilities (such as pre-existing content or individually distributed electronic documents).
Extending the WAD
The European Accessibility Act (EAA) broadens the scope of the WAD, to provide better coverage and more consistency with penalties. It also mandates that websites (and applicable digital media) follow the WCAG 2.1 standard and maintain at least a AA conformance level as the minimum.
Private Sector Scope Added
The main change that the EAA brings is further coverage for private sector websites, services, and even some physical products produced, imported, marketed, or exported within the European Union.
The additional scope includes:
Computers and Smartphones and Their Operating Systems
Computers and phones have been generally fairly good in this regard, with Windows, Mac, and Linux offering plenty of options for colour contrast, screen readers, and other accessible device support.
Cash Machines, Ticket and Payment Machines, and Check-In Machines
As banks remove branches, and train stations remove guards and conductors, there's an ever greater need for their automated replacements to offer the same level of service, and this includes being accessible to those that need it most. This will mean improvements like more cash machines with headphone sockets for those with vision impairments (to help ensure the persons security where a loud speaker would obviously be an issue).
Transportation Systems
While improvements to ticket and payments machines have overlap here, there are further additions which should be added to ensure that people can use the service regardless of their needs. This will include better adaption for wheelchairs or those with service animals across all manner of transport from trains to planes. All digital systems must also be as accessible as possible, giving everyone the same opportunity to book and manage their travel.
E-Books
Electronic books and the systems to manage them need to ensure that they offer the material in ways that can be accessed by all, whether that be offering audio formats, allowing screen readers, providing the means to increase text size, and generally not put barriers in place that might penalise against those with a disability.
Banking and Financial Services
Banking has been an area which I feel has made a lot of inroads in the last decade, but still has some way to go. Not only do banks and financial services have to ensure that their websites follow WCAG standards as best as possible, but they need to further ensure that the natural jargon of the industry is explained in terms that can be understood by as many people as possible. Balancing security and accessibility often brings in its own unique problems which need to also be addressed, such as offering an easy method to log in or transfer funds, without allowing bad actors to take advantage.
E-Commerce Services
As more and more of our services have moved online over the years, so too have our shopping habits. The things that all the e-commerce sites have in common are product/service selection lists, and payment forms. These offer a whole host of problems for those most in need of an easy user journey, from poor focus handling, bad error messages, and an overload of information with no semantic support for screen readers.
TV Services and Broadcasting
While it may seem that television might be offered an excemption given its obvious visual nature, audio support in the form of audio descriptions has been a feature for some years now, with growing support across many channels offerings. Likewise, subtitles and captions have been a boon for those people with hearing problems. In-fact, captions have been the best digital example of the curb cut effect in the digital age, benefitting anyone who might otherwise not be able to listen to the audio portion of a video, whether it's a parent watching a video while they rock their baby to sleep, or someone on a bus who forgot their headphones.
The EAA Timeline
There are 4 main milestones in the EAA timeline: original publication, EU adoption, enforcement, and then the final deadline for non-compliant material to be removed.
EAA Non-Compliance
Previously, compliance for the private sector was advisory only. While it absolutely made sense to make what you produce accessible, both financially and from a company appearance point-of-view, you could just generally accessibility without any major repercussions. The EAA changes that advisory requirement to a legally binding one for all applicable websites, services, and products.
EU member countries will be responsible for meting out their own penalties, but they should follow a consistent approach across all EU member states. The exact penalties can include:
Fines and Financial Penalties
While each individual EU member state will define their own fines for non-compliance, these are expected to be significant, aligning with the scale of those of GDPR non-compliance. So too, will fines depend on severity, duration, company action, as well as the companies size and resources.
Product and Service Restrictions
Non-compliant products and services can see themselves removed from the market until changes are made to make them compliant. Websites may be blocked and products and services may face sanctions.
Increased Monitoring
Failure to comply can result more frequent audits, and companies may be required to submit regular accessibility audits of their own from either an internal or third-party assessment.
Non-EAA Penalties
As well as the guideline penalties laid out by the EAA, there are also the more typical disadvantages to not making your content accessible. You can suffer reputational damage, especially if people feel there has been no effort whatsoever to make things work for them. This can be reinforced by any legal penalties applied. In some cases this may also open up a company to discrimination claims, which will be far more expensive than investing that time and cost into accessibility improvements in the first place.
Lastly, a company may render themselves ineligible to bid on public-sector contracts if they fail to demonstrate their capability to account for accessibility within the private sector.
Conclusion
The EAA's legal framework incentivises companies to meet accessibility standards through potential financial, operational, and reputational repercussions for non-compliance. Given the EAA's extensive coverage, it is essential for companies to take proactive steps toward compliance to avoid these consequences, and ensure that their digital products and services are accessible to all users across the EU.
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