Rules for accessibility of products and services (EAA)

Does your business provide e-commerce or electronic communication services? Or banking or financial e-commerce services? Do you manufacture, import, or sell consumer equipment with interactive computing capability such as smartphones? Then your products or services must comply with the rules of the European Accessibility Act (EAA). These rules are intended to ensure that everyone can use your product or service without help from others, including people with disabilities.

Which products and services must by accessible?

Do you have more than 10 employees, does your annual turnover exceed €2 million, or both? If you manufacture import, or sell products or services covered by the European Accessibility Act to consumers, those products and services must be accessible to all consumers. This applies to products and services including:

• (personal) computers and operating systems
• ATMs and other POS terminals, ticketing and check-in machines
• smartphones and tablets
• TV equipment related to digital television services
• telephony services and related equipment
• audio-visual media services such as television broadcast and related consumer equipment (access to content)
• services related to air, bus, rail and waterborne passenger transport (including real time travel information)
• (online) banking services
• e-books and e-readers
• e-commerce services (such as online shops)

You can check the complete list of products and services and an explanation of what falls under that category in the European Accessibility Act.

Accessibility rules for products

Do you manufacture, import, or sell consumer equipment with interactive computing capability such as computers, routers, tablets, televisions, or e-readers (in Dutch)? These products must comply with the rules of the European Accessibility Act. For example, you must provide instructions for use in clear language and it must also be accessible to people with (visual) disabilities. The product must be designed in such a way that a person with a disability can use it easily.

Accessibility rules for websites and apps

Do you have a website or app where you sell products to consumers, or where consumers can communicate with each other? Then your website or app must comply with the 4 basic principles of accessibility, for example:

• The structure of your website is clear, and the language is simple.
• The information on your website or app is visible and audible, for example with adjustable font sizes, or a read-aloud function.

You must place an accessibility statement on your website or app in which you explain how your service meets the accessibility requirements. Your users must be able to find this statement easily. You must also provide this statement verbally, for example, via an audio clip with the text read aloud. Your helpdesk must provide information about the accessibility of your service in a way that is accessible for everyone.

Do the Dutch-language accessibility test to find out how accessible your website is.

Additional rules for e-commerce services

An e-commerce service is a website or app on which entrepreneurs or others offer products or services to consumers, such as a web shop, online marketplace, or a platform for booking hotels or ordering meals.

If you provide an e-commerce service to consumers, your service must comply with:

• the basic principles of accessibility
• the additional rules for e-commerce services

The additional rules for e-commerce services concern that you must provide information about the accessibility of the services or products you offer, and about the accessibility of electronic signing, logging in, and payments.

Additional rules for electronic communications services

An electronic communication service is a service that allows consumers to communicate, such as services for internet, telephone, or email.

If you provide an electronic communication service to consumers, your service must comply with:

• the basic principles of accessibility
• the additional rules for electronic communication services

The additional rules for electronic communication services concern the simultaneous presentation of speech and written text.

Additional rules for banking and financial e-commerce services

A banking service is, for example, online banking, or offering loans and mortgages to consumers. A financial e-commerce service is a website or app on which you offer financial services to consumers, such as crypto platforms, crowdfunding platforms, and online insurance providers.

If you provide a banking service or financial e-commerce service to consumers, your service must comply with:

• the basic principles of accessibility
• the additional rules for banking and financial e-commerce services

The additional rules concern the accessibility of electronic signing, logging in, and payments, among other things.

Sometimes your product or service must not be (fully) accessible

Some content of your website or app does not need to comply with the accessibility rules, including videos, sound recordings, and documents published on your website before 28 June 2025 and content from others that you do not control.

Do you need to change part of your product or service in such a way that it becomes a completely different product or service in order to comply with the law? Or are the costs you incur too high compared to the benefits for people with disabilities? In that case, that part of your product or service does not have to comply with the accessibility rules. This is called fundamental alteration and disproportionate burden.

Report that your website or app is not (fully) accessible

Is your e-commerce service or electronic communication service not (fully) accessible in accordance with the EAA? You must notify the Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) (in Dutch). It depends on how serious the impact is on your consumers whether you need to report within 1 week or 1 month.

Is your banking service or financial e-commerce service not (fully) accessible in accordance with the EAA? You must notify the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM). It depends on how serious the impact is on your consumers whether you need to report within 1 week or 1 month.

Is your e-book (service) or audiovisual media service not (fully) accessible in accordance with the EAA? You must notify the Dutch Media Authority (Commissariaat van de Media, CvdM, in Ducth).

You must also report if your service does not meet the requirements and you are invoking the exception for fundamental alteration or the exception for disproportionate burden.