The goal of the EAA is to promote equal access to digital products for the 27% of people in the EU who have a disability (this equates to over 87 million people).

Closer to home, 22% of the population of Ireland have a disability.

Why the EAA matters:

To illustrate why the EAA matters, consider the following two scenarios:

1. If a person has a serious vision impairment, how would they use an electronic ticket machine?

2. How would a person shop online without the necessary hand mobility required to use a computer mouse?

In a nutshell, the EAA can provide effective solutions to people with disabilities trying to access what many of us take for granted.

The National Disability Authority of Ireland states that there are over 640,000 people with disabilities in Ireland alone.

The EAA is an excellent opportunity for better social inclusion & for businesses to grow.

What is affected by the EAA:

Firms with 10 or more employees, operating in the following sectors* of the European market:

• E-commerce.

• Banking.

• Telecoms.

• Transport (air, bus, rail & waterborne passenger transport services).

• Technology products (computers, mobile phones, e-readers, ticketing & check-in machines, point-of-sale devices, ATM’s, information kiosks).

*sectors mentioned also include firms that are not based in Europe, but who have dealings with Europe (e.g. air transport firms that are registered outside of the EU, but who fly into the EU).

The UK, within its own borders, is not affected by the EAA. However, UK based firms that provide their products or services to the EU, will be required to comply with the EAA. The same applies to firms based in the United States that provide products or services to the EU.

What is exempt from the EAA:

The EAA does not apply to the following:

• Firms with less than 10 employees & with annual turnover not exceeding 2 million Euro.

The EAA also does not apply to the following strict conditions relating to content of websites & mobile applications:

• Pre-recorded time-based media published only before 28th June 2025.

• Office file formats (e.g. PDF documents) published only before 28th June 2025.

• Online maps & services, if essential information is provided in an accessible digital manner for maps intended for navigational use.

• Third party content that is neither funded by, developed by, or under the control of the economic operator concerned.

• Content of Websites & Mobile Apps qualifying as archive material only, meaning that they only contain content that is not updated or edited after 28th June 2025. This means digital content is only exempt from the EAA if all content remains completely unchanged; i.e. there is no single edit of any content made after 28th June 2025.

Penalties for non-compliance with the EAA:

While the EAA itself is the same across Europe, the penalties for non-compliance are decided and enforced by each individual EU member state.

Penalties are also to be accompanied by effective remedial action where non-compliance is established. If no remedial actions are implemented, then the ability to trade might be questioned.

In Ireland, firms who are subject to the EAA & are not digitally accessible after 28th June 2025, risk the following penalties for non-compliance:

• On summary conviction, a class A fine of €5,000 and/or imprisonment up to 6 months.

• On indictment, fines up to €60,000 and/or imprisonment up to 18 months (applicable to Directors, Managers, Secretaries and other Officers).

Assigned compliance authorities are empowered to direct businesses to comply with requirements. The EAA Regulations appear to also allow for private individuals, with the option to be supported by interest groups, to enact court proceedings directly.

Other important laws within Ireland, such as the Disability Act (2005) & the Equal Status Acts (2000-2018), potentially may also have a bearing on litigation relating to digital accessibility.

Standards required to achieve EAA compliance:

Digital products in general, are checked for accessibility using the European Standard referred to as EN 301 549 “Accessibility requirements for ICT products and services”.

Websites & Mobile Apps are further checked for accessibility by the EAA using WCAG 2.1 AA (double A) criteria. This is a global standard used to determine if website / mobile app content is accessible or not.

Firms must also publish a formal Accessibility Statement indicating how they currently meet the Act’s requirements at the time of publication.

It is very important to understand that an Accessibility Statement on its own, without full implementation of required changes, is not enough to prevent EAA penalties.

The same can be said about commonly used 3rd party Overlay products that claim to fix all accessibility issues on a website; legal precedents have proven that Overlay products do not address accessibility issues sufficiently, nor do they protect from litigation.

One other important point to note is that firms are themselves fully responsible for the accessibility of any 3rd party products they pay for, develop, or control.

Unsure if your digital content is compliant?

There are a number of options to help determine compliance with the upcoming EAA Regulations.

To learn about the services I offer, please go to my Services page.

Implementing digital accessibility is more of a marathon than a quick-fix, so it's better to evaluate your current status as soon as possible & if necessary, start remediation prior to 28th June 2025.

For expert consultation & compliance evaluation, contact me today.

Please note: this article is provided for information purposes only & does not constitute legal advice.

To learn more about me, go to my About page.