Accessibility regulation in Europe
Accessibility across the EU is regulated by law, and compliance is mandatory. Learn what applies in your country, then test your site against it with our compliance checker.
Main EU directives
Public sector
Web Accessibility Directive (WAD)
Applies to
Websites and mobile apps of public-sector bodies
Standard
EN 301 549 / WCAG 2.1 AA
Monitored by
National monitoring body per Member State
Private sector
European Accessibility Act (EAA)
Applies to
11 product and service categories: e-commerce, banking, AV media, transport,
telecom, e-books, hardware, ATMs and kiosks, 112 emergency communications
Standard
EN 301 549 + sector-specific requirements
Enforced by
Sector supervisors per Member State
Enforcement across Europe
Statutory penalties exist across Europe, but enforcement clusters into three patterns.
Active named fines
5 jurisdictions
Sweden, France, Norway, Slovakia, Italy. Statutory fines with public registers and named cases.
Anonymised regimes
19 jurisdictions
Most continental EU. Active enforcement but respondent names stripped under post-2023 GDPR practice.
Ombudsman / no fines
6 jurisdictions
Latvia, Ireland, Luxembourg, Hungary, Poland, Estonia. Complaint-driven, no admin-fines regime.