EAA Penalties and Enforcement

EAA Penalties and Enforcement

The European Accessibility Act became enforceable on 28 June 2025. Non-compliance carries real consequences. Here's what you need to know.

How is the EAA enforced?

Unlike some EU directives, the EAA uses a market surveillance model. Each member state must:

1. Designate a market surveillance authority responsible for monitoring compliance
2. Establish complaint procedures for consumers and organisations
3. Define penalties that are "effective, proportionate, and dissuasive"
4. Report to the European Commission on enforcement activities

What penalties can be imposed?

The EAA leaves penalty specifics to member states, but penalties must be effective, proportionate, and dissuasive (Article 30). Common penalty types across member states include:

Financial penalties

• Fines — ranging from thousands to hundreds of thousands of euros depending on the member state, severity, and duration of non-compliance
• Daily penalties — ongoing fines until compliance is achieved
• Revenue-based fines — some member states set fines as a percentage of annual turnover

Non-financial penalties

• Product withdrawal — removal of non-compliant products from the EU market
• Service restriction — orders to cease offering non-compliant services
• Public naming — publication of non-compliant operators ("name and shame")
• Corrective action orders — mandated remediation with deadlines

Member state examples

Note: These are illustrative and may have been updated by national transposition. Check your specific member state's implementation.

The complaint process

Any person or organisation can file a complaint about non-compliance:

1. Consumer complaint — filed with the national market surveillance authority
2. Organisation complaint — disability organisations can act on behalf of consumers
3. Cross-border complaints — the EU's mutual assistance mechanism allows authorities to cooperate across borders

What happens after a complaint

1. Authority reviews the complaint
2. If valid, authority contacts the operator and requests information
3. Operator has a period to demonstrate compliance or remediate
4. If not resolved, formal proceedings begin
5. Penalties are imposed if non-compliance is confirmed

Risk factors that increase scrutiny

Certain factors make enforcement action more likely:

• High-traffic consumer services (e-commerce, banking, transport)
• Known accessibility barriers that have been publicly reported
• Failure to have an Annex V declaration (easy to detect, clear violation)
• Repeat offenders who have been previously notified
• Consumer complaints from individuals or disability organisations

How to protect your organisation

1. Publish an Annex V declaration — even an honest declaration showing partial compliance demonstrates good faith
2. Run regular accessibility audits — document your compliance efforts
3. Establish a feedback mechanism — make it easy for users to report issues
4. Create a remediation roadmap — show that you're actively working towards full compliance
5. Retain compliance records — keep declarations and audit reports for as long as the service remains available (Article 13(2))

The cost of non-compliance vs compliance

The math is clear: investing in compliance is significantly cheaper than dealing with enforcement actions.

Start now

The EAA enforcement date has passed. If you haven't started:

1. Scan your website with our free tool to identify current issues
2. Prioritise high-impact fixes — start with the most critical WCAG violations
3. Generate your Annex V declaration — even partial compliance should be documented
4. Set up monitoring — catch regressions before enforcement authorities do