The European Accessibility Act (EAA) compliance deadline is June 28th, 2025 - a date your business can’t afford to ignore. Failure to comply could cost you millions, damage your reputation, or even halt your operations entirely.
Why Compliance with the EAA Matters?
Non-compliance with the European Accessibility Act could cost your business millions, damage your reputation, or worse — stop operations entirely. The legislation, which passed in April 2019, requires businesses to ensure their products and services achieve AA Level of WCAG 2.1, the global standard for digital accessibility.
What is WCAG 2.1 AA and Why Does It Matter?
These standards apply to all interactive software in use within the EU including websites, mobile apps, and desktop apps. Even if your business does not have operations within that state, as with GDPR, you must comply.
To reach the required AA Level of WCAG 2.1, the product must be built in a way that that is accessible to all individuals, especially those with disabilities. The considerations that need to be designed for include:
Visual Clarity: Use more than just color to show state changes; ensure text size increases don’t break usability.
Navigation and Input: Proper input labels, keyboard-friendly navigation, and avoidance of "keyboard traps."
Content Flexibility: Captions for audio, options to disable animations, and device orientation support.
Screen Reader Support: Clear error messages and semantic code structure for smooth navigation.
Key Accessibility Requirements for Your Product
Much of today's Internet suffers from the issues above and the EAA's purpose is to encourage businesses to factor these requirements into their product development process as these are elements that must be factored into the source code of the application.
The Cost of Non-Compliance
The way that the European Union has decided to encourage business is with significant sanctions for non-compliance. A sanction from one member state does not preclude another member state from applying their own sanction for the same instant of non-compliance.
These sanctions range in severity, all of which are damaging and costly to your business:
Mandates to correct the product.
Public disclosure.
Fines of up to €2m.
Suspension of business operations.
and, in the extreme, imprisonment.
How a Third-Party Audit Can Help
One of the most effective ways to ensure compliance is engaging a third-party inspection. Fresh, expert eyes can identify accessibility gaps from a user’s perspective - without the bias of internal familiarity with the product. Unlike automated tools or internal reviews, App Audits offers an independent, human-led analysis that combines WCAG expertise with practical solutions. Our detailed reports help your team take targeted actions quickly, ensuring compliance without unnecessary delays or costs.
A specialised third-party review highlights any shortfalls with the EAA by verifying your digital products with the WCAG 2.1 standard. Allowing you to apply any actions with your existing teams with a clear target to hit.
The Business Benefits of Accessibility
Ensuring that your code is accessible, efficient, and future-proof can help safeguard your bottom line by building trust and loyalty among users with disabilities, who represent a sizeable and growing market.
Remember, when you improve the quality of your products, you are improving usage for ALL users, making your products easier to use and more recommendable than your competitors increasing user satisfaction and retention.
By proactively addressing potential issues, businesses can mitigate risks, meet legal requirements, and position themselves as inclusive and forward-thinking in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
Take Action Before the Deadline
App Audits specialise in independent source code analysis delivering findings in a user friendly report with remedial recommendations for improvement.
With the deadline fast approaching, now is the time to act.
Contact Nick Green at nick@appaudits.co.uk