Understanding the European Accessibility Act: Important June 2025 Deadline!

Join Natalie MacLees and Natalie Garza for the 26th episode of the AAArdvark Accessibility Podcast, where they delve into the European Accessibility Act (EAA), discussing why it matters, who needs to comply, and what compliance involves.

Natalie Garza: Hello everybody and welcome to the AAArdvark Accessibility Podcast. I’m Natalie Garza, one of the co-hosts, and with me today is,

Natalie MacLees: Natalie MacLees, the other co-host.

Natalie Garza: and she is an accessibility expert here to answer all of our questions. And in this episode, we’re going to cover the upcoming European Accessibility Act, or EAA.

Natalie MacLees: Yes.

Natalie Garza: We will start with a disclaimer. We are not lawyers, but we will try our best to explain it and go over why it matters, what it is, who needs to comply, and what does it actually involve.

So to start off the episode, why does the European Accessibility Act matter right now?

Natalie MacLees: So the day that this podcast comes out, the second part of the act will actually go into effect. So June 28th, 2025. Any new products, websites, or services have to be compliant with the law. If you already have an existing website, product or service, you have until June 28th, 2030 to make it compliant.

But if you’re doing any major updates, redesigns, et cetera, that’s gonna trigger the law and you’re gonna have to make sure that that is accessible.

Natalie Garza: Yeah. As far as June 28th, 2025, any new products hitting the market have to comply.

Natalie MacLees: That date or after have to comply.

Natalie Garza: So super relevant, especially if you’re watching the episode on the day that it comes out and you’re in the European Union.

Natalie MacLees: Or you do business in the European Union, we’ll get to it.

Natalie Garza: Yes. We’ll get to that here in a second. So why does the EAA matter in general?

Natalie MacLees: You are going to start facing legal penalties for having kiosks, digital devices, websites, web apps, et cetera, that are not accessible. So there will be legal consequences to having those on the market.

And of course, those are in addition to all the consequences you already have for having something in the market that’s not accessible, which is that you’re damaging your brand trust and your brand.

You’re losing out on some competitive advantages and you’re not respecting everybody’s civil and human rights and not being inclusive.

Natalie Garza: Yes, ’cause everyone has a right to information online.

Natalie MacLees: Yes, they do.

Natalie Garza: So, what is the European Accessibility Act specifically? What is it, what does it cover?

Natalie MacLees: Yeah, so it covers any kind of digital products or services, so mobile phones, gaming consoles, kiosks like where you check in at the airport or at a hotel. Also, any kind of web apps or web services, websites, et cetera. All of those kinds of things are covered, and they all need to be made accessible.

Natalie Garza: And every single European country has their own rules

Natalie MacLees: Yes, yes. The specifics of what that means differs from country to country, so we won’t be digging into that today. But if you are dealing with a specific country, you need to look up and see how the EAA got implemented in that coun...