Accessibility law for webshops: does the EAA apply to you?

Since 28 June 2025, the European Accessibility Act (EAA) applies in the Netherlands. In short: websites and apps where consumers buy, book or reserve something must be usable by people with a disability. The ACM (Authority for Consumers & Markets) supervises this and has already examined the largest webshops and addressed companies about shortcomings.

Does it apply to you?

The rules apply to businesses with 10 or more employees and/or more than €2 million in annual turnover that sell to or take bookings from consumers online — webshops, but also booking and reservation sites and apps. Smaller businesses (micro-enterprises) are exempt for services.

Not covered? Accessibility is still smart. It concerns a large group of customers: people with poor eyesight or colour vision, people who only use a keyboard, or who need a screen reader. And what's accessible is almost always nicer for everyone.

What "accessible" means in practice

The standard used in practice is WCAG 2.1 level AA (through the European standard EN 301 549). Concretely, that means things like:

• Contrast: text that's easy to read against its background, including grey "subtle" text.
• Keyboard: the entire checkout can be completed without a mouse, with a visible focus.
• Forms: every field has a label, and error messages say what's wrong and how to fix it.
• Images: product photos and icon-only buttons have descriptive text.
• Structure: headings, lists and buttons are real headings, lists and buttons — so a screen reader understands the page.
• Zoom: the site stays usable at 200% zoom and on a small screen.

Where it usually goes wrong

Most problems aren't in the design but in the details: a cookie banner that traps the keyboard, a pay button that's only an image, a size picker with colour swatches and no text, or a pop-up a screen reader doesn't announce. Automated scans only catch half of those — manual testing with a keyboard and screen reader is part of the job.

How we handle this

Accessibility is standard in everything we build: good contrast, full keyboard operation and clean structure. For existing webshops we run an accessibility check: we test the key journeys (search, choose a product, check out) manually and with tools, and deliver a list of concrete improvements — or fix them straight away.