Does My WordPress Website Need to Comply with the European Accessibility Act by 2025?

Yes, your WordPress website will need to comply with the European Accessibility Act (EAA) by 28 June 2025 if it falls under specific categories. The EAA aims to ensure that products and services across the EU are accessible to people with disabilities.

The EAA applies to businesses providing certain products and services, including:

• E-commerce websites & apps
• Banking services
• Transport services (ticketing, booking, etc.)
• Telecommunications services
• Audio-visual media services
• E-books and related software

If your website falls into any of these categories, compliance is mandatory. However, even if your business isn’t legally required to comply, following accessibility best practices can significantly improve your user experience, expand your audience reach and future-proof your website against evolving regulations.

Mandatory requirements

Perceivability

• Provide text alternatives for non-text content such as images and videos
• Ensure content can be presented in multiple ways, for example, via screen readers

Operability

• All functionality must be accessible via a keyboard
• Provide users with enough time to read and use content

Understandability

• Make text content readable and understandable
• Ensure webpages behave in predictable ways

Robustness

• Ensure content is compatible with assistive technologies
• Use clean HTML and follow web standards for better compatibility

These principles align with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 at the AA level, which is the standard benchmark.

Recommended best practices – not mandatory

• Ensuring users can navigate your site using a keyboard alone
• Adding descriptive alt text for images, especially those conveying important information
• Using high-contrast colours & legible fonts for better readability
• Providing captions for videos & transcripts for audio content
• Improve the navigation for screen readers
• Testing your website to identify accessibility issues

If your website falls under the EAA categories and doesn’t comply, you could face legal risks such as:

• Fines
• Legal action
• Being required to make your website compliant within a set timeframe

Bright Website Design can help audit your website to identify areas for improvement and ensure your site meets the necessary accessibility standards. Whether you need to achieve full compliance with the EAA or simply want to enhance your website’s inclusivity, our team will guide you through the process and implement effective solutions tailored to your business needs. Let us help you create a website that’s accessible to everyone & compliant with upcoming regulations.

Get in touch today to ensure your website is ready for the European Accessibility Act 2025!