European Accessibility Act (EAA) compliance for WordPress sites
The European Accessibility Act (EAA) applies to any business selling products or services to EU consumers (e-commerce, banking, transport ticketing, e-books), including companies based outside the EU, and building on WordPress does not exempt you. It has been enforced since June 28, 2025, and the technical benchmark is EN 301 549, which incorporates WCAG 2.1 AA for web content.
WordPress core is reasonably accessible; themes and page builders are where violations concentrate. Common failures: heading levels skipped for visual styling, slider/carousel plugins without keyboard support, contact-form plugins with unlabeled fields, and low-contrast button colors baked into the theme.
What enforcement actually looks like
National market-surveillance authorities can order remediation, block services, and impose fines. The first private lawsuits were filed in France in late 2025, and in 2026 a French court ordered a major retailer to make its site and app accessible under a daily penalty.
Fixing accessibility on WordPress
Prefer accessibility-ready themes, audit after every plugin update, and fix templates rather than layering an overlay plugin on top. Overlays don't confer compliance and have drawn FTC action.
Why one-time fixes don't hold
WordPress sites change constantly, theme updates, plugins/apps, and content edits can reintroduce violations at any time. A site that conformed last quarter can fail today without anyone touching code deliberately. Continuous scanning with a timestamped log is both the practical safeguard and the evidence trail that matters in enforcement.
Compliance checklist
- Scan your WordPress homepage, a key content/product page, and your checkout or lead form
- Fix critical and serious violations in your theme/templates, not with an overlay widget
- Re-scan after every WordPress theme, plugin, or app update
- Keep the dated scan history as compliance evidence
- Publish an accessibility statement with a contact route
Frequently asked questions
- Does the European Accessibility Act (EAA) apply to WordPress sites?
- Yes. The law applies based on who you serve, not what you build with. It covers any business selling products or services to EU consumers (e-commerce, banking, transport ticketing, e-books), including companies based outside the EU. WordPress gives you the building blocks, but conformance depends on your theme, plugins, and content.
- Is WordPress accessible out of the box?
- WordPress core is reasonably accessible; themes and page builders are where violations concentrate. Common failures: heading levels skipped for visual styling, slider/carousel plugins without keyboard support, contact-form plugins with unlabeled fields, and low-contrast button colors baked into the theme.
- What should I fix first on WordPress?
- Prefer accessibility-ready themes, audit after every plugin update, and fix templates rather than layering an overlay plugin on top. Overlays don't confer compliance and have drawn FTC action.