Mandatory commitment to accessibility for eCommerce – European Accessibility Act
As of June 28, 2025, every company in the European Union is required to address accessibility for consumers with disabilities. As digital services and products play an increasingly important role in our society and economy, they are especially scrutinized, including your webshop, white papers or online service platform.
These regulations are part of the European Union’s direction to make eCommerce more sustainable.
As always with European regulations, Europe leaves the concrete interpretation but also the control and penalization to the federal states. For example, Europe allows an exception to be made for companies with less than 10 FTE. It is not yet entirely clear to Flanders how these regulations will be implemented, but it is certain that they will be.
How to prepare.
Even though the criteria are not clear today, you can still prepare your web shop or lead platform for what is to come. We provide some concrete tools to make this happen.
Text to speech
For the visually impaired, increasing the ease of use of your platform by adding a functionality that automatically converts the content of your platform (product description, article, white paper) into a spoken message. Plugins for this already exist today for many CMS that you can activate immediately.
Optimization of videos
Add subtitles to your video that are not embedded, allowing users to adjust the color and size of the text to their liking. On YouTube, you can use the default built-in subtitles as a base. Then you can customize the subtitles by editing the text, correcting grammar and spelling. Make sure the subtitles do not appear word for word, but in full sentences, as is common in movies and television.
Subtitles should have high contrast, for example, white text on a black background, and they should be accurately synchronized with the video content. In addition, it is important to include an audio description that clearly and in detail describes what can be seen on the screen, without using text. This voiceover ensures that all the information conveyed by the video is well understood.
Transcription may be offered as an additional measure. This allows deaf and visually impaired people to read and possibly transcribe the information transmitted in the video using a Braille reader. It is important that videos do not start automatically when the page loads, and that they do not contain flashy content to avoid the risk of seizures in sensitive individuals.
Accessibility Statement
In addition to the privacy statement, attach an accessibility statement to your Web site; this may include: the contact information for the department responsible for accessibility of the Web site. Information about possible future changes to the website. The alternatives offered to ensure that all citizens can access any information on the website that does not yet meet WCAG 2.1 guidelines. The government has developed a tool to help you generate this statement.
Enhance color and contrast
Website color contrasts and the visibility of the “active” link during keyboard navigation are controlled via cascading stylesheets (CSS). This is a relatively simple and quick adjustment, but usually requires the intervention of a developer. Increasing contract improves the usability of your Web site.
Use alternative descriptions for your images
Most content management systems offer the ability to add alternative descriptions for images. Check the Web site content to determine which images require descriptions. Keep in mind that some images do not require a description because they are decorative and do not contain essential information.
Build your page logically
Use headings (H1, H2) to structure your page. These headings also make it easy for reading assistance tools to convert your content to speech. A structured page also increases the usability and SEO potential of your website.
Use meaningful links
When linking to other pages or documents, make sure the link text is meaningful. Avoid using words like ‘here’ or ‘this’ as a link. Instead, use descriptive text for the link, for example, “the registration document for this course can be downloaded.
Provide accessible pdf
To do this, use a Word document, go to “Check”, select “Check Accessibility” and correct the detected errors. Then save the document in pdf format.
Flexible size font
Provide an option for your users to easily adjust the font size of your website. Several plugins already exist for this as well.
Responsive
Your website should work equally effectively on every possible platform. This transcends being mobile friendly where the focus is only on presenting your website on mobiles and tablets. This also includes presentation on television, monitors, black and white screens only, projection, virtual reality, etc.
Loading speed
More than ever, your website will also need to load smoothly on a slow connection. A significant portion of the population in Europe does not yet surf via fiber or 5G.
Literal accessibility
Your users should be able to contact your company for any query in their preferred manner. Think: email, telephone, chat, form as well as physically.
It should be clear to the user who runs the website and what the company stands for.
Complaint Procedure
It should be clear to your customers, before purchase, what the complaint process looks like: where can the complaint be filed and how, what happens to your complaint, how long does the complaint process take on average and what are your ground rules on complaint handling?
Ads
Your ads should be clear: use accurate product information and presentation (images/video), make sure the landing page of the ad is consistent with the message of the ad, avoid misleading messages or ads that can be misinterpreted.
Need help?
Quite a sandwich! You are certainly not required to fully implement every guideline, but as always, the more compliant you are the greater your competitive advantage will be in the future. Feel free to contact us to discuss how you can make your platform more accessible.
Related articles
- Mandatory commitment to accessibility for eCommerce – European Accessibility Act
- Making eCommerce more sustainable! A requirement for every business by 2028
Source
- https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1202&intPageId=5581&langId=en
- https://accessibility.belgium.be/nl/faq/wat-het-verschil-tussen-de-wcag-en-de-europese-richtlijn
- https://accessibility.belgium.be/nl
This article was written for Alexander Schmitt, business manager of Authority.
Alexander already has 20 years of experience in digitizing businesses and optimizing various eCommerce platforms.
