Guide
The European Accessibility Act and your WordPress site
The European Accessibility Act has applied since 28 June 2025. If your WordPress site sells products or services to consumers in the EU — an online store, booking, banking or e-book service — it probably applies to you. This guide explains what it asks for in practical terms. It is general information, not legal advice.
Updated September 28, 2026. General information, not legal advice.
What the EAA is
The European Accessibility Act (Directive (EU) 2019/882) sets common accessibility requirements for a list of products and services sold in the EU. Each member state has turned it into national law, with its own enforcement body and penalties.
For websites, the practical benchmark is the harmonized standard EN 301 549, which is built on WCAG. The version currently cited, V3.2.1, is based on WCAG 2.1 Level AA; a new version aligned with WCAG 2.2 was published in September 2026. Meeting WCAG 2.2 AA puts you in a good position for both.
Who it covers
The services covered include e-commerce, consumer banking, electronic communications, audiovisual media services, passenger transport services and e-books. For most WordPress site owners the key one is e-commerce: selling products or services to consumers online.
Microenterprises that provide services — fewer than 10 employees and an annual turnover or balance sheet total of no more than €2 million — are exempt from the service requirements. The exemption does not apply to products. Businesses outside the EU are covered when they sell to consumers in the EU.
Practical steps for a WordPress site
- Choose an accessibility-ready theme and check its header, menus, footer and forms with a keyboard.
- Scan all existing content and fix the common problems: missing alt text, skipped headings, vague links, unlabeled form fields and low-contrast text.
- Test the journeys customers complete: product pages, cart, checkout, account and contact forms.
- Check documents such as PDFs, which are part of the service too.
- Publish an accessibility statement that explains how your service meets the requirements, its known limitations and how to report a problem.
- Keep new content accessible by checking it before it is published, and re-test after theme or plugin updates.
Where Lumtera helps
Lumtera's free plugin checks every post, page and WooCommerce product against 69 WCAG 2.2 checks, shows authors how to fix each issue in WordPress, and checks the rendered page — theme, menus and footer, keyboard included — in review mode.
Its free EAA toolkit covers the parts of an EAA service that sit on your site: an accessibility feedback form with an inbox, reference numbers and replies, and an accessibility statement you can base on EN 301 549 or WCAG, with an EAA template, known problems listed by WCAG criterion and EN 301 549 clause, the enforcement procedure and review dates. It never marks the site "fully conformant" by default.
Lumtera Pro adds response targets for feedback with overdue alerts, structured records for a disproportionate burden assessment, a tamper-evident evidence log of the work, and checks of key pages — including cart and checkout — at desktop and phone width, on a schedule.
No tool can make a site conform on its own. Use automated checks to fix what can be found reliably, then test the rest by hand or with an accessibility specialist.
Questions
Does the EAA apply to my blog or brochure site?
The EAA covers specific consumer products and services, not every website. A site that only publishes information may fall outside it — but other laws, and your visitors, still benefit from an accessible site. Check the national law that applies to you.
What are the penalties?
Each EU country sets its own penalties, which the directive requires to be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. They differ between countries, so check the national law where you sell.
Is an accessibility overlay enough for the EAA?
No tool can make a site conform on its own, and overlays do not change the underlying content. The requirements are met by fixing the site itself.
Sources
Find these issues on your own site
Lumtera checks every post, page and product against 69 WCAG 2.2 checks while you write, checks the rendered page in review mode, keyboard included, and scans the whole site in one click. Free, with no account.
Lumtera features that help
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Free
Accessibility statement generator
A draft statement for WCAG 2.1, WCAG 2.2 or EN 301 549, with templates for the EAA, UK public sector, ADA Title II and AODA, built from your own findings.
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Free
Accessibility feedback form and inbox
A form visitors use to report a barrier or ask for an accessible version, and an inbox with reference numbers, statuses, email replies and notes.
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Pro
Tamper-evident evidence log and evidence pack
A dated record of scans, manual tests, statement changes, fixes and feedback, hash-chained so changes can be detected, with a pack you can print or export.
Start with the free plugin today
All 69 content checks and 33 whole-page checks, fixes you approve with undo, and the site report — free, with no account and no page limits.