Accessibility used to be treated as a nice-to-have by small businesses selling online. The European Accessibility Act moved it, for many of them, into the same category as VAT: something you deal with because the rules say so.
The Act has applied since 28 June 2025, so this is not a deadline to plan for - it is already in force. This is a plain-language summary rather than legal advice. The Act is an EU directive, which means each country implements it in its own national law, and the details that decide whether it applies to you live in that national version. If you sell to EU consumers and you are unsure, check your own country's implementation or ask someone qualified.
What it covers
The Act sets accessibility requirements for a set of products and services sold to consumers, and the part that catches most small businesses is e-commerce: selling goods or services to consumers online.
If your website takes orders, bookings or payments from consumers in the EU, it is worth assuming you are in scope until you have established otherwise.
Who is exempt
There is a micro-enterprise exemption for services, which covers businesses below a headcount and turnover threshold. Many one-person and small-team operations fall under it.
Two things worth knowing before you rely on it. The thresholds and how they are applied come from national implementation, so check yours rather than a summary written for another country. And the exemption removes a legal obligation, not the commercial reason: customers who cannot use your checkout do not buy, whether or not the law requires you to fix it.
The fixes that matter most
Accessibility work sounds vast and is mostly a short list done properly. In rough order of how much they matter on a small business site:
- Alt text on images that carry meaning. A product photo, a menu, a map. Decorative images need nothing.
- Colour contrast on text and buttons. Pale grey on white is the single most common failure, and the easiest to fix.
- Keyboard navigation. Every link, button and form field reachable with Tab, in a sensible order, with a visible focus outline.
- Labelled form fields. A placeholder is not a label. Screen readers announce labels.
- Real headings. One H1, then H2s and H3s in order, rather than bold text pretending to be a heading.
- Video captions, if you use video.
- Error messages that say what is wrong, next to the field that is wrong.
None of that requires a redesign. Most of it is a morning's work on a site that is otherwise fine.
How to check where you stand
Start with your own site on your own phone, using only the keyboard on a laptop and then with the text size turned up. You will find more in ten minutes than most audits report.
After that, an automated check catches the mechanical failures - missing alt text, weak contrast, unlabelled fields. Webkio includes an accessibility score in Site Health, so the common problems surface without installing anything. Automated tools cannot judge whether your alt text is useful or your headings make sense, so treat the score as a floor rather than a certificate.
Our own accessibility statement covers where the platform stands.
Why it is worth doing beyond compliance
Roughly one in four adults in the EU has some form of disability, and the number rises with age. Every one of those failures above is a customer who could not complete a purchase.
The same fixes also help everyone else: better contrast in sunlight, keyboard navigation for power users, captions for anyone watching without sound. Accessible sites tend to be faster and clearer, and search engines read them more reliably too.
Start free and build on a site that gets the basics right by default. The small business website essentials guide covers the rest of what a site needs.
FAQ
Does the European Accessibility Act apply to my small website?
If you sell goods or services online to consumers in the EU, assume yes until you have checked. There is a micro-enterprise exemption for services, but the thresholds come from your country's implementation of the directive.
What standard do I need to meet?
Implementations generally point at the European standard EN 301 549, which for web content draws on WCAG at level AA. In practice that means the fixes listed above, done consistently.
Is an automated accessibility checker enough?
No. Automated tools reliably catch missing alt text, weak contrast and unlabelled fields, which is most of the mechanical failures. They cannot tell you whether your alt text is meaningful. Use one, then test with a keyboard yourself.
Is this legal advice?
No. It is a summary to help you work out whether to look into it. National implementations differ, and if you are unsure whether you are in scope, check with someone qualified in your country.