European Accessibility Act Directive - Is your company ready for it?

Directive 2019/882 mandates the digital accessibility of products and services as of June 28, 2025.

Its aim is to create an environment where access to products and services is a given, not a privilege. EAA covers a wide range of products and services: 

• transportation services, telephony and digital television, consumer banking

• computers, smartphones, payment and information terminals, websites, mobile applications

• e-commerce, access to audiovisual media services, emergency services.

Click to zoomimage > img Dyrektywa Europejski Akt dyrektywa 2019

WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) is a set of international standards developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to make digital content more accessible to all users, including people with disabilities.

The standards provide detailed guidelines for designing websites, applications and other digital content so that they are accessible and usable by the widest possible range of users.

Applicable and current version of WCAG

The legally binding version of WCAG is WCAG 2.1, which was published in 2018. WCAG 2.1 expands the guidelines from the previous version (WCAG 2.0) with additional requirements that take into account the needs of people using mobile devices, people with visual impairments and people with cognitive limitations.

The latest version of WCAG is 2.2, published in October 2023. Work is currently underway on version 3.0, which will likely be ready in a few years.

WCAG and the European Accessibility Act

The European Accessibility Act places a number of requirements on public and private institutions. The requirements for websites and mobile applications are regulated by the WCAG guidelines.

What does the future hold?

The European Accessibility Act will come into effect on June 28, 2025. Although the WCAG version in force in 2023 is WCAG 2.1, the EAA is likely to refer to the WCAG 2.2 as the accessibility standard for websites and digital applications in June 2025.  Updates to the version of the WCAG standard applicable in the European Union will take place independently of updates to the European Accessibility Act.

Please note: Although the WCAG is an independent standard that has existed separately to European Union accessibility laws, compliance with this standard will be required to meet the requirements of European Accessibility Act in 2025. 

WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) is a set of guidelines that define the level of accessibility of websites and applications. WCAG consists of three levels of compliance:

Click to zoomimg-Accessibility criteria according to WCAG

Implementing accessibility rules improves competitiveness and increases outreach, as more users can use the sites and services.

"People with disabilities make up a large audience - officially 101 milion Europeans have some form of disability, according to the Council of the EU and the European Council website. Allowing them to access products and services using assistive technologies is both beneficial to business and morally right. " - Lucyna Dziewa, Consulting Director at Hycom

By complying with digital accessibility standards you can:

• increase sales potential - the accessibility of your website's content and services enables users, including people with various disabilities, to freely access your offerings;

• gain a positive corporate image - as a company that cares about all customers, including those with limitations, you build a reputation as a socially responsible brand;

• improve the user experience - implementing accessibility principles improves the usability and navigation of your site, which in turn improves the experience of all visitors;

• open up to new markets - digital accessibility enables you to reach more users, including older people and users with limitations, scaling your customer base.

Many companies are concerned that they don't have enough knowledge or competence to ensure WCAG compliance. It's simpler than it sounds, especially at the very beginning.

The first step is to ensure a solid technical base that complies with programming standards, to eliminate errors that make it difficult for user applications to interpret the site correctly. Only then can the auditor conduct a solid manual audit, highlighting problem areas and more complicated issues related to human reception of the site. Full compliance with the standard in most cases requires both steps, and sometimes the involvement of real users.

Many basic errors can be detected using automated analysis tools. For initial verification of a site's code without the help of specialists, use:

1. WAVE

A popular online tool for quickly checking a site for accessibility. WAVE analyzes a site's structure and content, pointing out elements that need improvement (e.g. missing alternative descriptions or color contrast problems).

Click to zoomimage > Wave

2. Axe

Axe (by Deque) is an open-source tool that can be integrated into a browser or testing environment. It allows performing detailed accessibility audits, identifying problems and suggesting solutions.

Click to zoomimage > Axe

3. Lighthouse

Lighthouse is a built-in tool in the Chrome browser that, in addition to performance and SEO audits, also checks site's accessibility. The tool generates reports, indicating areas for improvement - helping to quickly identify and fix WCAG compliance issues.

Click to zoomimage > Lighthouse

If you want to make sure your products meet the highest accessibility standards, you should opt for professional digital accessibility support.

Early involvement of experts not only helps you avoid costly mistakes at later stages, but also ensures that your project is seamlessly user-friendly as a whole, for users with or without disabilities.