European Accessibility Act for web agencies and software houses
The European Accessibility Act (EU Directive 2019/882) has been fully applicable since 28 June 2025 and covers web agencies and software houses as well. Here's what it means in practice and how to check your site right away.
Why it concerns you too
The sites you build for clients must comply with the European Accessibility Act: the responsibility is the client's, but the request (and the perceived blame) reaches you. Accessibility is also a concrete business opportunity: audits, remediation and compliant maintenance are billable services from day one.
The obligation comes from EU Directive 2019/882 (European Accessibility Act), fully applicable since 28 June 2025. Non-compliance risks administrative fines, consumer complaints and remediation orders. Only service microenterprises are exempt: fewer than 10 employees and less than €2 million turnover.
The issues we find most often in this sector
Non-compliant themes and templates
Purchased themes and page builders generate markup with insufficient contrast, headings out of order and components with no ARIA.
Component libraries with no accessibility testing
Sliders, mega-dropdown menus and modals reused across dozens of client sites replicate the same errors everywhere.
No checks at handover
The go-live checklist covers SEO and performance but not WCAG: the site ships already non-compliant.
These are recurring examples found in scans of sites in this sector: your site may have others (or none at all). The only way to know is to check.
Check now, it's free
Check a site you have delivered for free: if issues surface, the €49 report is a ready-made quote for your client.
Analyse your site for freeFrequently asked questions
- Does the European Accessibility Act apply to web agencies and software houses?
- The sites you build for clients must comply with the European Accessibility Act: the responsibility is the client's, but the request (and the perceived blame) reaches you. Accessibility is also a concrete business opportunity: audits, remediation and compliant maintenance are billable services from day one.
- Which accessibility issues are typical for web agencies and software houses?
- The three we find most often: Non-compliant themes and templates; Component libraries with no accessibility testing; No checks at handover.
- How do I check whether my site is compliant?
- Start with the free EAA Sentinel scan: a real browser analyses up to 3 pages of your site and returns a 0-100 score with the most severe issues in about a minute. The full report (€49 one-time) extends the analysis to up to 50 pages, with every issue and fix instructions. Automated analysis detects 30-40% of WCAG issues — the machine-verifiable ones: full compliance also requires manual checks.
Prefer to start from the technical check? Accessibility check for web agencies and software houses