Web accessibility means a site can be used by everyone, including people with visual, hearing, motor or cognitive disabilities. In practice it means that someone who cannot use a mouse can navigate the site with a keyboard alone, that a screen reader user can hear what a product image shows and what a form field expects, and that someone with colour blindness does not have to understand an error message from the colour red alone. The same changes also make life easier for a user shopping on their phone in bright sunlight, someone with an arm in a cast, or an older user.
The international technical reference for this is the WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) published by the W3C. The current version is WCAG 2.2, and its success criteria are defined at three levels, A, AA and AAA; legislation and corporate tenders usually target level AA.
Why is it on the agenda now?
The European Accessibility Act (EAA) has applied since 28 June 2025. It requires services offered to consumers in the EU, such as e-commerce, banking services, e-books and passenger transport ticketing, to be accessible. In practice the European standard EN 301 549 is used as the technical reference, and the web section of that standard is based on the WCAG criteria. Enforcement and penalties are set by each member state’s own national legislation.
Who should prioritise it?
- E-commerce sites selling directly into the EU: companies selling to EU consumers through a German, French, Dutch or English-language store.
- Software and digital service providers with corporate customers in the EU: SaaS and software companies whose customers ask suppliers for an accessibility statement for their own compliance.
- Companies bidding for public sector and large enterprise tenders: projects whose technical specification requires WCAG AA compliance.
- Any site with a broad user base: even where there is no legal obligation, accessibility problems mean lost conversions; a checkout form that cannot be completed with a keyboard loses sales.
