How to make your website EAA compliant

Does your website include text-to-speech, keyboard navigation, and screen reader compatibility? If your answer is "Yes," then congratulations! Your business may meet European Accessibility (EAA) standards.

But … if your answer is "No," or "Not all of it," you need to update your website ASAP. EEA standards will be enforced starting June 28, 2025.

Failure to comply with EAA standards could result in penalties. It could also hurt reach, brand reputation, and consumer trust. So, you need to check your website to address accessibility issues -- fast!

For those who purchased our Popular Pro website theme, this means you can expect an update related to EAA compliance.

A quick refresher on the European Accessibility Act (EAA)  

By now, you may already know about the European Accessibility Act (EAA) or (EU) 2019/882. In case you forgot, here's a quick reminder of what it's all about.

It aims to enhance the accessibility of products and services for people with disabilities across the European Union. It outlines standard accessibility requirements to ensure that key products and services are accessible to all individuals, including those with disabilities and older adults.

Products that need to comply include:  

• Computers and operating systems
• Smartphones and tablets
• ATMs, ticketing, and check-in machines

Who is affected by the EAA? These include European organizations and non-EU organizations that do business in European countries:    

• Manufacturers, importers, and distributors of covered products
• Service providers, especially in ICT (information and communication technology), banking, publishing, and transportation
• Public and private sector organizations offering relevant services or products  

There are exceptions you might fall under. The EAA exempts businesses with fewer than 10 employees and an annual revenue of less than €2 million.  

But, as mentioned, an urgent deadline is coming up: By the end of June 2025 - this month! - these laws will come into effect.

Why EAA accessibility matters?

EU Member States will oversee their penalties for non-compliance. These penalties should be “effective, proportionate, and dissuasive.”

Beyond the penalties, it also offers the chance to consider the needs of and reach more consumers.

• 27% or 1 in 4 of the EU population over the age of 16 had some form of disability as of 2023, according to Consilium.
• 51.7% of people aged 65 years and above have a disability. The likelihood of having a disability increases as you age. 
• €20 billion is the estimated cost of differing accessibility requirements in 2020, according to the EU Commission.

So, having a single set of rules for all EU countries lessens the need to cater to customers with many different preferences. It also promotes digital inclusion and equal access.

The proposed EU action is estimated to reduce that by 45 to 50 percent. Harmonizing accessibility standards could save companies and member states up to €10 billion per year.

P.O.U.R. Principles of accessibility

When reviewing your apps and websites, keep in mind the four principles of accessibility. These are perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust, or POUR for short.

1. Perceivable: Make sure everyone can “see” or “hear” what’s on your website, even if they can’t see or hear. For example, if someone is visually impaired, they might use a screen reader to “listen” to your content. 
2. Operable: Everyone should be able to use your website, regardless of how they interact with it, whether through a mouse or keyboard. 
3. Understandable: Your content should be clear and easy to follow for everyone. This content includes the language you use, the colors and the layout of your site.
4. Robust: Your website must be robust enough to work well with all kinds of devices and tools, both now and in the future.

How to meet EAA Accessibility requirements

How do you ensure your website meets at least the AA standards? We share some steps you can take on how to do it yourself. But you can also get support from HubSpot web development experts like leadstreet.  

1. Start by scanning website pages. Use websites like Accessibility Checker, Accessiway, AccessiBe, or Site Improve. Through these scans, you can get a sense of how much or little work you need to do. They detect issues, such as titles needing a consistent hierarchy. You can get the number of instances where each issue appears.
2. Aim for the AA standard of compliance. According to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), there are three levels. Level A is the lowest level. Level AA includes all Level A and AA requirements. Many strive to meet the Level AA standards. Level AAA is the highest standard and consists of all Level A, AA, and AAA requirements.
3. Address critical issues like Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA). The three main features of ARIA are roles, properties, and states/values. Roles define what an element is or does on the page or app. Properties express characteristics or relationships to an object. States and values represent the current conditions or data values associated with the element.  
4. Look into your content’s semantic structures. Accessible headings (H1, H2, etc.) help them to understand and navigate web pages and documents. A logical structure will also make your content accessible to everyone.
5. Review your website’s color contrast. This refers to the difference in brightness between foreground and background colors. For accessible text, aim for a 4.5:1 ratio. This ensures readability for people with low vision or color blindness. You can use the WebAIM Contrast Checker.
6. Check if there are additional regulations in your country. For example, Belgium also enacted national legislation. This adds specific obligations, especially for public sector websites and mobile applications. Learn more about the Digital Accessibility Law.

Get help on EAA accessibility from leadstreet

You need to act! Making sure your website meets the EAA Accessibility Act can be daunting. We can help navigate website accessibility requirements. Find out how to maximize the available tools and features on HubSpot. Contact our team to discuss fee structures and project requirements.

You don't have to do this alone. You can get support and insights from our team of HubSpot web development experts. We have a decade of experience in adapting to European policies.