What is the European Accessibility Act (EAA)?
The European Accessibility Act (EAA) is a European Directive that comes into force on 28th June 2025. If you're based in the UK or outside the EU, you might be wondering how this affects you. That’s why we’ve asked accessibility expert Anika Bainbridge to break it down for you.
Does the EAA apply to UK freelancers and small businesses?
Firstly, let’s break down ‘freelancer’ in terms of the impact of the EAA. When we say freelancer, we mean sole traders, micro businesses, and small company directors, basically, anyone working solo or in a team of fewer than 10.
Typically, as a UK-based freelancer, you will not be directly affected by the EAA. But, there’s always a but, right? You might fall under the EAA if:
- You work with EU-based clients (e.g. you manage their website or socials)
- You sell digital products to consumers in the EU
- You run a membership or course with EU buyers
- You ship physical products to EU customers
In terms of the EAA, this is called ‘falling within scope’ of the Directive, so you’ll want to ensure that your (and, particularly, your EU clients’) socials are accessible, especially if you (or your EU clients) are selling commercially through them!
What products and services are covered by the EAA?
The EAA sets out accessibility rules across the EU to make sure people with disabilities and older people can use essential digital products and services.
As a freelancer, these are the areas most likely to affect you or your clients:
- Computers and operating systems
- Smartphones
- TV and streaming services
- E-books
- E-commerce platforms and websites
Anything new that is created after 28th June 2025, when the Act goes live, needs to be compliant. This includes updates to anything created before 27th June 2025.
Already published something like an e-book? As long as it won’t be updated after 28th June 2025, you're off the hook. Only new content or updates made after that date need to comply.
It is worth noting that Northern Ireland, although it is within the UK, looks likely to be covered by the Republic of Ireland’s scope. If you are based within Northern Ireland or work with clients there, it is good practice to seek advice from a legal firm specialising in the EAA legislation.
What do I need to do to be accessibility compliant?
Accessibility rules sound scary, so how can freelancers become compliant?
You’ve probably heard that your digital stuff needs to be “accessible.” But what does that even mean?
Key accessibility standards to know
Each of the following standards and guidelines will help you. Get ready for a lot of acronyms and numbers here…
You may have heard of WCAG before. WCAG stands for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and is currently on version 2.2. The levels of accessibility are A, AA, and AAA. However, the EAA uses a European standard that goes beyond WCAG and covers physical products and non-web-based technology as well as digital products and services.
EN 301 549 is the European accessibility standard for digital and commercial technologies (both software and hardware). It incorporates WCAG 2.1 level AA but has approximately 60 additional requirements that go beyond WCAG. The EAA is using the current version of EN 301 549 (v3.2.1) to inform its compliance guidance, however v4 will have specific EAA elements added to it when it is published (expected in 2026). If you are working towards EN 301 549 guidance and WCAG 2.2, you will be able to fix any accessibility issues within your products and services and (likely) be compliant with the legislation.
There is also EN 171 61 in existence that will help. This European standard is called Design for All, an approach that, amongst other things, enables e-commerce websites and apps to incorporate accessible functionality and accessible user experience (UX).
In the UK, we already have the Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations 2018 (PSBAR) for website and mobile applications. In a nutshell, this covers all public sector organisations, charities that have government funding, and universities. These regulations are, essentially, rolling across to private and commercial organisations because of the EAA, so it’s handy to be aware of them.
Do I need an Accessibility Statement?
Right now, only public sector websites must have one. But it’s good practice for everyone, and the EAA might make it a requirement later. Think of it like a privacy policy, it’s useful, transparent, and shows you give a sh*t.
Quick tips to make your content more accessible
Here’s how you can make your own — and your clients’ — content more accessible starting today:
- Add meaningful alt-text to your images
- Incorporate open or closed captions on your videos
- Use CamelCase in your hashtags
- Allow for colour contrast when overlaying text onto images or videos
- Avoid ‘fancy’ fonts, use a sans serif font
- Keep emojis to a minimum and try to place them at the end of sentences, not in the middle
- Include website links in meaningful text, not ‘click here’ text links
Why accessibility matters for your business
The EAA Directive states that businesses with accessible functions and features will benefit, and with ‘The Purple Pound' (the collective spending power of disabled people and their households in the UK) being estimated to be worth approximately £275 billion annually, you can see why!
You may think your (or your client's) target audience does not include older people or disabled people, but with an estimated 16 million disabled people in the UK alone, you'd be wrong to assume that!
People with disabilities are more likely to navigate away from a content or website if it is inaccessible to them and go to a business that makes content more accessible. That means losing a sale, a loyal customer, and damaging your reputation.
Non-compliance comes with various penalties, each managed independently by Member States but applicable across the whole of the EU.
If, for example, a Spanish business was found to be non-compliant and was not allowed to trade in Spain, that business would not be allowed to trade anywhere else in the EU.
There are also financial penalties and, in the case of Ireland, prison sentence penalties. (not necessarily the freelance supplier. However, the potential knock-on effect would be loss of a client for you.)
Accessibility isn’t just a ‘nice to do’. Sure, it feels good to run your business in the best possible way — but more importantly, it’s essential for growth and staying on the right side of the law.
