IT Solutions - Ireland
The European Accessibility Act: Does Your Website Need to Comply?
The European Accessibility Act (EAA) became enforceable in June 2025, and it's already catching Irish businesses off guard. If your website sells products or services, takes bookings, or is central to how customers interact with your business, accessibility is no longer optional - it's a legal requirement for many organisations.
What does "accessible" actually mean?
In practice, it means your website should be usable by people with visual, hearing, motor or cognitive impairments - things like sufficient colour contrast, keyboard navigation, screen-reader-friendly structure, and captioned video. The technical benchmark most commonly used is WCAG 2.2 Level AA.
Who does this apply to?
The Act applies broadly to e-commerce, banking, transport and telecoms services, though the practical safest approach for any business taking bookings or payments online is to treat accessibility as a standard requirement, not an exception.
What should you do first?
- Run an accessibility audit against WCAG 2.2 AA on your current site
- Fix critical issues: colour contrast, form labelling, keyboard navigation, alt text
- Publish an accessibility statement on your website
- Build accessibility into any new pages or features going forward
We build every new Mahnoor Ltd website with WCAG 2.2 AA practices as standard, and offer accessibility audits and remediation for existing sites - see our Web Design & Development page or get in touch for a straightforward compliance review.