The Web is Ableist… But there are about to be repercussions for this.

The European Accessibility Act 2025 is coming this year, June 2025 to be precise, which means businesses have around 5 months to provide equitable access to their website for everyone or risk huge fines and reputational damage. 

The European Parliament defines “Persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.” 

In the UK, 24% of the population live with a disability. That's around 13,670,000 people, and across Europe that number increases to 27% of the population, with around 87,000,000, a staggering amount of people that all deserve equal access to the internet.

Isn’t there existing legislation?

Yes, the UK’s Equality Act 2010 means that it is illegal to discriminate against any one group from accessing a service, but it’s difficult to enforce leading to a lot of websites missing the mark.

We’ve spoken before about this, labelling the Web is Ableist and giving pointers on the many blind spots in e-commerce for people living with disabilities.

The good news for those living with disabilities is that the new European Accessibility Act is going one step further to provide businesses with a more direct incentive to be accessible for all.

What is the European Accessibility Act?

The European Accessibility Act was derived from the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It was instigated to provide a uniform and standardised rule for all members of the European Union (EU), including any business that trades in the EU in a manner covered by the act, regardless of the location of the company. 

Despite the UK leaving the European Union after Brexit in 2020, if a UK business provides any service to customers in Europe they must abide by the law, including selling items to customers in Ireland. 

The European Accessibility Act will follow the established Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, commonly known as “WCAG” standards under four main principles: perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. 

Perceivable:  Make sure everyone can understand and navigate a website, and consider the needs of users who rely on other senses than sight alone. 

Operable: Make sure everyone can access and navigate all components of a website, this includes the use of accessible technologies such as screen readers. 

Understandable: Make sure all the information provided to a user on the website is understandable, and the user can use the interface and find the paths they require. 

Robust: Make sure the website’s content is robust enough to be interpreted easily by users, using accessible technologies such as screen readers or braille terminals.  

What happens if you don’t comply?

Those found to be non-compliant after the June deadline will be issued a fine ranging from €5,000 to €20,000 per violation, depending on the severity of the issue. Additional penalties can be given in the form of daily fines which will be imposed for ongoing non-compliance and can reach sums of up to €1,000 per day.

Businesses will also be ordered to immediately resolve the accessibility issue(s) in question, and failing to comply could result in your products being removed from the European market. This might seem extreme, but the EU plans to use these penalties as a means to incentivise rapid action. Put simply, daily penalties prevent repeat offenders from avoiding making necessary accessibility improvements.

It is also worth noting that alongside the fines, the risks to an e-commerce business include reputational damage, legal costs, increased scrutiny from additional regulators and exclusion from industries and accessibility-conscious consumers. 

What do e-commerce businesses need to do?

1. Establish if your e-commerce website falls under the European Accessibility Act.
   The two simple questions are; are you, as a business, based in Europe? Do you sell your products to European countries?  If you answer “yes” to either of those questions - then you fall under this umbrella. 

2. Carry out an Accessibility Audit of your website. 
   A combination of automated, manual, and user testing should be used to benchmark your website against accessibility levels. Here at Wind & Kite, we recommend Accessibility Services in partnership with Shaw Trust, and we can work with you to get this conversation started.

3. Are there any red flags in your website’s accessibility?
   If issues are found in your accessibility audit, we can help you work through these, and define and scope what needs to be conducted to create a priority list of issues to ensure you are ready for June 2025. At Wind & Kite, we are passionate about making websites accessible for everyone, and we conduct this as standard practice so we have the experience and knowledge to put this into action. 

4. Futureproof your site by conducting periodic revisits of your website’s accessibility standards. 
   ‍The legislation will evolve, and there may be changes and extensions made to the law, which will need to be kept on top of. E-commerce businesses should partner with a web development agency that puts accessibility at the top of its priority list.  

Simply put, we believe that all websites should be accessible for everyone. At Wind & Kite, we believe that making sites accessible isn’t just a legal requirement, it is morally the right thing to do.

If you want to learn more about how to prepare for the Accessibility Act changes, come visit us at our London Bridge office or contact us via our website to learn more about how we can prepare your Magento website to be accessible.