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Compliance · European Union

The EU Web Accessibility Directive

Directive (EU) 2016/2102 requires the websites and mobile apps of public sector bodies across the EU to be accessible. It is the law behind France's RGAA, Germany's BITV 2.0 and their equivalents in every Member State. Its companion for the private sector is the European Accessibility Act. This page summarises the Directive. It is not legal advice, and each country's own law applies.

Who it covers

Public sector bodies: the State, regional and local authorities, and bodies governed by public law (Article 3(1)), for their websites on any device and their mobile apps (Article 1(2)). It does not cover public service broadcasters, or NGOs that provide neither essential public services nor services for disabled people (Article 1(3)). Member States may also leave out schools, kindergartens and nurseries, except their essential online administration (Article 1(5)).

Excluded content (Article 1(4)):

  • office files published before 23 September 2018, unless needed for active administrative processes;
  • pre-recorded audio and video published before 23 September 2020, and all live audio and video;
  • online maps, as long as the essential information is provided accessibly;
  • third-party content the body neither funds, develops nor controls;
  • reproductions of heritage items that cannot be made fully accessible;
  • intranets and extranets published before 23 September 2019, until substantially revised;
  • archives not needed for active processes and not updated after 23 September 2019.

What it requires

  • Perceivable, operable, understandable and robust content (Article 4), to the extent this is not a disproportionate burden. A body relying on that exception must assess it, weighing its size, resources and nature, and explain it in its statement (Article 5).
  • Conformity through a harmonised standard (Article 6). Content that meets the standard cited in the Official Journal is presumed to conform. That is EN 301 549 V3.2.1, cited by Implementing Decision (EU) 2021/1339, whose web clauses follow WCAG 2.1 Level AA.
  • An accessibility statement (Article 7) that is detailed, comprehensive and clear, uses the Commission's model (Decision 2018/1523), and includes a feedback mechanism and a link to the enforcement procedure. The model decision says it should be updated regularly and at least once a year, based on a self-assessment or a third-party assessment.
  • An enforcement procedure in every Member State, such as the possibility of contacting an ombudsman (Article 9).

Deadlines (Article 12(3)): new websites from 23 September 2019, all websites from 23 September 2020, and mobile apps from 23 June 2021.

How it is monitored

Member States monitor public sector sites and apps, every year after the first period, and report to the Commission every three years (Article 8). The method (Decision 2018/1524) has two parts: a simplified check, run on a large sample and designed to use automated tests "to the maximum extent it is reasonably possible", and an in-depth check of a smaller sample by experts. The simplified sample is three websites per 100,000 inhabitants plus 75 after the first two periods.

The latest reports, due in December 2024, are published by the Commission. Its 2022 review of the Directive found that monitoring results were hard to compare between countries and that feedback and enforcement had not yet reached their full potential.

WCAG 2.2 and EN 301 549 V4.1.1

ETSI published EN 301 549 V4.1.1 in September 2026. It adopts WCAG 2.2 and was prepared for both this Directive and the European Accessibility Act. According to the AccessibleEU Centre, V3.2.1 remains the reference until V4.1.1 is formally cited in the Official Journal. Fixing to WCAG 2.2 Level AA now meets both.

How countries apply it

What an automated scan can tell you

The Directive's own simplified monitoring relies on automated tests, and that is what a scan is good at: finding, on every page and every time, the failures that can be measured. It cannot do the in-depth part, or write the statement's account of what is not accessible and why. Accessibility Pro lists the criteria it could not test instead of counting them as passes, and on the Team plan drafts an accessibility statement and an EN 301 549 criterion table from the scan. See the compliance reporting overview

Sources

Checked on 2026-09-29. EN 301 549 V4.1.1 had not been cited in the Official Journal on that date. National implementations differ in the details. This page is a summary, not legal advice.