WCAG conformance is necessary but not sufficient for legal compliance with the European Accessibility Act (EAA). The EAA enables legal proceedings against inaccessible digital products and services and has enforcement deadlines with formal notices already issued in some EU countries. Organizations operating in Europe must revise accessibility strategies to meet both WCAG and the EAA's harmonised standards. The Official Journal lists EN 301 549 and EN 17161:2019 as relevant harmonised standards. Compliance requires practical execution changes across development and operations to satisfy regulatory requirements without slowing delivery.
Disclaimer: As digital accessibility is our specific wheelhouse, we're keeping this focused on digital products and services . WCAG compliance is necessary-but it's not enough. Most teams know accessibility is important. The real challenge now is execution-how to meet growing regulatory demands without slowing down development or overloading operations. And as regulations like the European Accessibility Act (EAA) and Section 508 tighten, we can't afford to manage accessibility the same way we always have.
With the EAA and related national legislation providing a new basis standing to bring legal proceedings related to inaccessible products and services, the June 28th 2025 enforcement deadline was swiftly followed by formal notices. Notably, in France, disability associations have already issued formal notices to some major retailers requiring them to make their online services accessible by September 1st or face legal proceedings .
Products and services are presumed to conform with the accessibility requirements of the EAA, so long as they meet the requirements of the relevant harmonised standards (Article 15(1)). As of July 2025, the relevant harmonized standards published in the Official Journal of the European Union are: 1 EN 301 549 Accessibility requirements for ICT products and services EN 17161:2019 Design for All - Accessibility following a Design for All approach in products, goods and services - Extending the range of users
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