The EAA doesn’t set specific technical standards for accessibility.
Instead, it outlines general requirements and leaves room for flexibility in how those requirements are met.
According to the EAA’s official Fact Sheet, the law will “not impose detailed technical solutions telling how to make” a site compliant. That means businesses have the freedom to choose how they meet accessibility goals, as long as the end result is inclusive.
That said, EN 301549 is widely recognized as and expected to be the standard to follow under the EAA.
While the law doesn’t mention it by name, EN 301549 is already widely used by public sector organizations when selecting digital services. It was also repeatedly referenced throughout the legislative process, making it the expected benchmark for evaluating compliance.
A deeper dive into EN 301549 conformance
Developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), EN 301549 is the official accessibility standard of the European Union for digital products and services.
It outlines detailed technical requirements to ensure websites, applications, and other digital tools are accessible to all users, including those with disabilities.
EN 301549 is built on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) - specifically WCAG 2.1 Level AA.
Developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), WCAG is the standard for compliance under laws like Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). It is also referenced by many courts when ruling on web accessibility cases under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Ultimately, complying with the EAA through EN 301549 entails meeting the guidelines set out in WCAG 2.1 Level AA.
What does adhering to WCAG actually entail?
Since WCAG 2.1 Level AA conformance is central to meeting EN 301549 - and, by extension, complying with the EAA - it’s worth understanding what that actually entails.
Some of the key guidelines you’ll need to follow include:
- Provide descriptive alt text for meaningful images
- Ensure your website is operable using only a keyboard
- Ensure sufficient contrast between text or meaningful icons and their background
- Allow users to resize text up to 200% without losing content or functionality
- Use consistent navigation and heading structures across your website
- Identify form input errors clearly and explain how to correct them
- Display visible focus indicators when users tab through elements using a keyboard
- Avoid using color alone to convey meaning
While these are important action items, the full list of requirements for WCAG 2.1 Level AA conformance is quite extensive. In addition to core web design and development practices, WCAG also covers aspects like structure, semantics, focus management, and responsive behavior.
It’s also important to note that web accessibility applies to more than just your website’s layout or code.
Under WCAG, PDFs, videos, and other online assets must also be configured so that they can be accessed by everyone, regardless of ability:
- For PDFs, this means using proper heading structures and tags for screen reader navigation, and including alt text for any embedded images, among other requirements
- For videos, this means providing captions for spoken content, transcripts for audio, and audio descriptions for key visual elements, among other requirements
To explore WCAG in more depth and get a comprehensive understanding of what full conformance entails, we recommend you check out these resources: