The European Accessibility Act and your online shop: what it asks and how to check yours
Since 28 June 2025, online shops selling to consumers in the EU have to be usable by people with disabilities. Here is what the law requires, which small businesses are exempt, and a checklist you can work through this week.
What the European Accessibility Act is
The European Accessibility Act (EAA) is Directive (EU) 2019/882. It was adopted in April 2019 and every EU country had to turn it into national law by June 2022. The aim, as the European Commission explains, is one set of accessibility rules across the EU instead of 27 different ones.
It covers a list of products and services. The ones most business owners meet are e-commerce, banking services, e-books, ticketing, computers, smartphones and payment terminals. The EU's Your Europe guide for businesses names online shops directly and says the requirements apply to products and services placed on the market after 28 June 2025.
What counts as an e-commerce service
The law defines e-commerce services as services provided at a distance, through websites and mobile apps, at the request of a consumer, with the aim of making a consumer contract. In plain words: if a customer can buy from you online, your shop is in scope. This includes a WooCommerce or Shopify site, an app, and a booking or ticket site that takes payment.
Who is exempt
Microenterprises that provide services are exempt from the accessibility requirements and the duties that come with them. A microenterprise is a business that:
- employs fewer than 10 people, and
- has an annual turnover of no more than 2 million euro, or an annual balance sheet of no more than 2 million euro.
That definition is word for word in the Cyprus law. A lot of small shops in Cyprus and Greece will fall inside it. Two warnings, though. First, if you grow past either line, the rules apply to you. Second, an accessible shop sells more, because more people can use it. I would still do the basics below, exempt or not.
Larger businesses can claim that a requirement is a "disproportionate burden", meaning the cost or effort is too high for them. Your Europe says you must have evidence for this and review it every five years. It is not an easy way out.
What the law actually asks of an online shop
The annex of the law sets general rules for all services and extra rules for e-commerce. Reading the Cyprus text, they come down to this:
- Your website and app must be accessible. The law says sites and apps should be perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. These are the same four principles used in WCAG, the web accessibility guidelines from the W3C, which Your Europe points businesses to.
- Information must work in more than one way. For example, images need a text alternative, text must be readable with enough contrast and a suitable font size, and content should work with screen readers.
- Accessibility information about what you sell. If the manufacturer gives you accessibility information for a product, you show it.
- Accessible login, security and payment. Identification, security and payment steps must be perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. This is where many checkouts fail: captchas, card forms and one-time codes.
- An explanation of how you comply. Service providers include information on how the service meets the requirements in their general terms and conditions or a similar document, in an accessible format.
- Support that can explain accessibility. If you have a help desk or call centre, it should be able to give information on the accessibility of your service.
The rules in Cyprus and Greece
Cyprus passed the Accessibility of Products and Services Law of 2024, Law 57(I)/2024, published on 2 May 2024. AccessibleEU, the Commission's accessibility resource centre, reported it as the law that brings the EAA into Cypriot law. The competent authority is the Deputy Minister of Social Welfare. Fines go up to 10,000 euro for a breach, up to 20,000 euro for a repeat breach, and up to 500 euro per day if a breach continues. Service contracts agreed before 28 June 2025 can continue unchanged until they end, for no more than five years.
Greece transposed the directive with Law 4994/2022. According to an analysis on Lawspot, its EAA part took full effect on 28 June 2025, and Article 26 allows administrative fines of up to 100,000 euro, along with orders to fix, withdraw or suspend a service.
A practical checklist for your e-shop
This is the order I would work in. Most of it is free.
- Check your size. Count staff and look at turnover and balance sheet. Write down whether you are a microenterprise and keep it on file.
- Use the keyboard only. Unplug the mouse and try to find a product, add it to the cart and reach payment using Tab, Enter and the arrow keys. If you get stuck, so will many customers.
- Add text to images. Every product photo needs alt text that says what it shows. "Black leather backpack, front view" is good. "IMG_2041" is not.
- Check contrast and text size. Light grey text on white is the most common problem I see. Prices, buttons and form labels must be easy to read on a phone.
- Label every form field. Name, address, phone and card fields need visible labels, not just placeholder text that disappears when you type.
- Test the checkout and login. Can a screen reader user complete payment? Is there a captcha with no alternative? Do one-time codes give enough time?
- Write an accessibility statement. A short page that explains how your shop meets the requirements, what you know does not work yet, and how to contact you. Link it from the footer and your terms.
- Brief your support team. Whoever answers the phone, email or WhatsApp should know where the statement is and how to help someone place an order another way.
What this means for businesses in Cyprus and Greece
Many shops here are run by small teams, so the microenterprise exemption will cover a lot of them. But many of the businesses I work with are growing, and platform themes and plugins are shared across shops of every size. If your theme has low contrast or an inaccessible cart, fixing it now costs far less than a rebuild later.
There is also a plain business case. Older customers, people with low vision and anyone shopping on a small phone in bright Cyprus sunlight all benefit from the same fixes. Accessibility work usually makes a shop easier for everyone, and easier shops sell more.
Questions people ask
I have a small shop with 4 employees. Do I need to do anything?
If your turnover or balance sheet is no more than 2 million euro, you are a microenterprise providing services and are exempt from the requirements. Doing the basics is still good for sales.
Does the law name a technical standard?
The law uses the four principles perceivable, operable, understandable and robust, which come from the W3C's WCAG guidelines. Most audits check sites against WCAG.
Who enforces it in Cyprus?
Law 57(I)/2024 names the Deputy Minister of Social Welfare as the competent authority, working with market surveillance authorities.
Is this article legal advice?
No. It is a plain summary for business owners. For your own situation, speak to a lawyer.
Want help with this? Book a free 30-minute call.
Sources
- Directive (EU) 2019/882 on the accessibility requirements for products and services, EUR-Lex, April 2019
- European Accessibility Act (EAA), European Commission
- Services, goods and their digital accessibility, Your Europe, European Union
- Ο περί της Προσβασιμότητας Προϊόντων και Υπηρεσιών Νόμος του 2024 (Ν. 57(Ι)/2024), Official Gazette of the Republic of Cyprus via CyLaw, May 2024
- Cyprus announces the Accessibility of Products and Services Law of 2024, AccessibleEU, June 2024
- European Accessibility Act: Πρόστιμο μέχρι και 100.000 ευρώ για ιστοσελίδες που δεν έχουν συμμορφωθεί, Lawspot, May 2025