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8 minute read

European Accessibility Act: what's changing and what does it mean for you?

With 2025 now underway, we look at the importance of ensuring your web product is ready from the changes to be implemented as part of the European Accessibility Act (EAA).

Visually impaired businesswoman using smartphone and earphones during business meeting
by Graphite Digital
30 December 24
  • Accessibility
  • Design

Accessibility in digital design is no longer just a nice option to have. The European Accessibility Act (EAA) is set to take full effect in June 2025 and is going to make a statement in the digital space, moving us all towards a more inclusive and accessible web.

But it’s important to remember that this isn’t just about doing the bare minimum to comply—it’s an opportunity to innovate and to demonstrate a commitment to ethical, user-centric design. In the pharma and healthcare sectors, when dealing with critical information and diverse user groups, having inclusively designed digital solutions is more important than ever. As we enter 2025, understanding the EAA and its implications for your digital presence is crucial in staying ahead and delivering digital experiences that work for everyone.

In this article, we’ll explore what the European Accessibility Act entails, why it matters for healthcare and pharma organisations, and how businesses can prepare to meet its requirements.

What is the European Accessibility Act (EAA)?

Passed in 2019, but set to come into action in 2025, the European Accessibility Act (EAA) is a ruling aimed at ensuring products and services within the EU are inclusive to people with accessibility needs. It sets a range of standards for various industries, including banking, e-commerce, transportation, digital services like websites and apps.

This alignment across EU member states, aims to:

  1. Promote equal opportunities and social inclusion.

  2. Improve the usability of digital tools for everyone, not just people with disabilities.

  3. Encourage businesses to embrace innovation while meeting legal requirements.

The EAA will apply to any new products and services made available after June 28, 2025, so it is crucial for companies to adhere to the new rules as soon as possible.

WACG: the inspiration

While the EAA is partially based on the UN convention on the Right of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), it also takes much of its content from the four principles of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WACG).

This is particularly important when we talk about the EAA and how it will impact digital products and services. The four WACG principles are as follows:

  • Perceivable: content must be presented in ways that users can perceive. This means all users, including those with visual or auditory impairments, must be able to access and interpret the information. Examples include providing text alternatives for non-text content, offering captions for videos, and ensuring that text has sufficient colour contrast for readability.
  • Operable: interactive elements must be usable by all. Users should be able to navigate and interact with the content easily, regardless of how they access it. This includes ensuring the website can be navigated using a keyboard, providing sufficient time for interactions, and avoiding design elements that might trigger seizures, such as flashing animations.
  • Understandable: content must be clear and easy to comprehend. Users should be able to understand both the information presented and how to interact with the interface. This involves using plain language, predictable navigation, and providing clear instructions or error messages when users make mistakes.
  • Robust: content must be compatible with assistive technologies. Web content should be built to function reliably across a wide range of current and future user agents, including assistive technologies like screen readers. This means using clean, semantic code and adhering to web standards.

While the EAA 2025 sources WCAG 2.1 in particular, the more nuanced and up to date WCAG 2.2 has now been published. This means that if you want to do more than just the bare minimum for accessibility, you implement these newer standards into your digital product.

Who does the EAA apply to?

The European Accessibility Act differs from previous accessibility laws, such as the Public Sector Accessibility Regulation (PSBAR), as it applies to all public and private organisations. Any business with at least 10 employees and an annual turnover of more than €2 million will have to comply. This means that all pharmaceutical and healthcare organisations with websites or apps that are available to those living within the EU will need to abide by the new legislation.

Why should you care about the EAA?

​​Accessible digital design is crucial for health and pharma organisations because it ensures that critical information and services are available to all, improving outcomes for diverse patient and healthcare professional demographics. Inclusive design not only aligns with their mission to improve lives but also enhances the user experience universally, benefiting everyone regardless of ability or context.

From a more practical perspective, here’s why the EAA is important for any organisation that offers a product or service in the digital space:

  • To meet legal requirements
    First and foremost, if your digital service operates in the European Union and does not comply with the EAA it can result in legal penalties, harming your organisation's reputation and eventually leading to you losing out on new business opportunities.
  • To expand your market reach
    Designing for accessibility improves the user experience for everyone. And by doing so, as a business you can continue to offer your services to those in the European Union. However, if you operate outside of the EU, you can view this as an opportunity to reach a wider audience—including the millions of people in Europe living with disabilities.
  • To build a more inclusive, ethical and inclusive brand
    Choosing to incorporate accessibility as part of your digital design demonstrates your commitment to inclusivity and social responsibility. Digital experiences are foundational to how we interact with the world, ensuring that everyone can use your service strengthens a brand’s reputation and helps align people to what you offer.

Does the European accessibility act apply to the UK and other countries outside of the EU?

While the EAA does not directly apply to the UK, its principles and standards are relevant for UK businesses that interact with EU markets or want to remain competitive and inclusive. Organisations should assess their digital services for compliance with both UK regulations and EAA standards to ensure accessibility across all regions they serve.

It should also be noted that currently the UK government hasn’t made any announcements regarding the EAA becoming a part of UK law. However, if we use other EU regulations, such as GDPR as an example, then there is a possibility that the UK will line up with Europe and the EAA at some point in the future.

Penalties for not complying with the EAA

For those not compliant with EAA there are a range of penalties that they may be subject to. These vary by severity, context and the specific regulations of the country of where the business exists. For example, those operating outside of the EU are not going to face the same penalties as those operating inside of it.

Warnings and notices: authorities may issue formal warnings or notices to non-compliant businesses, asking for quick rectification of accessibility issues. Failure to address these issues will eventually lead to more severe consequences.

Fines: financial penalties for not following the EAA can be applied and will vary by country along with the infraction's severity.

Legal proceedings: if your product does not comply with the EAA, you may be subject to legal action. These will likely come from advocacy groups or individuals who will put forward lawsuits, court orders, or mandated settlements to address accessibility shortcomings.

Product or service withdrawal: Persistent non-compliance may force authorities to remove non-accessible products or services from the European market, directly impacting a company's operations and revenue.

Criminal penalties: In certain areas, severe or repeated violations can lead to criminal charges against company officials, including fines and imprisonment.

What do you need to know to prepare your digital offering for the EAA?

With the 2025 deadline approaching, businesses need to act now to ensure their digital product is accessible and compliant. Here are the key steps:

  1. Assess current platforms: conduct an accessibility audit to identify gaps.

  2. Prioritise accessibility in new projects: embed accessibility into the design and development process from the start.

  3. Work with experts: partner with agencies like who have the knowledge to guide you through the process.

What we do to include the EAA and WACG2 in your digital designs

For us, accessibility is a cornerstone of our design philosophy. We don’t just aim to meet compliance standards; we integrate it into all of our designs from the outset.

Our approach includes:

Typography

Selecting the right typography to meet a design needs to involve multiple considerations:

  • Readability: choosing fonts with clear, distinct letterforms. Avoiding overly decorative or script fonts that may hinder legibility.

  • Sans-serif fonts: fonts like Arial, Roboto, or Open Sans are often preferred for their simplicity and clarity, especially on digital screens.

  • Fallback fonts (if required): defining a fallback font to ensure readability if the primary font doesn’t load.

Meeting the standards:

  • We aim to meet WCAG 2.1 AA standards as a baseline for accessibility. And, depending on the design, strive for AAA compliance for maximum inclusivity.

Colour contrast

An important factor that also affects the accessibility of text is colour contrast against background. In order to ensure clear visibility to users, colour contrast needs to meet minimum ratios. This means that when a colour palette is created at the beginning or updated in a design system it is vital to consider both background colours and text colour. The minimum colour ratios are:

  • For normal text (up to 18px): Minimum contrast ratio of 4.5:1.

  • For large text (18px and bold, or 24px and larger): Minimum contrast ratio of 3:1.

User experience

We make sure our designs are always responsive, ensuring that, regardless of the device on which the product is viewed, users are presented with the most legible and functional version.

Content should be presented clearly and in plain language. This includes organising content in a logical structure, using consistent design patterns, and providing well-defined headings to enhance navigation. These practices collectively ensure the product is accessible to the widest possible audience.

Development

In the later stages of design particular features require development in order to reach accessible standards. These are also very important and should be factored into any product being produced. These are:

  • Screen readers: ensure text content is selectable and semantic (e.g., using <p> for paragraphs and <h1>–<h6> for headings).

  • Using alt text/attributes for images as an alternative way of describing the image.

  • Descriptive text for icons and decorative elements.

  • Ensuring all navigation is accessible via a keyboard.

  • Not time limiting tasks such as the input of forms.

In order to ensure that we meet all these accessibility standards, tools are used to test areas such as colour contrast and even overall once a product is developed. Some of these are WAVE, Axe, Lighthouse and Material colour contrast.


Is your digital product ready for the EAA?

Get in touch with us to learn how we can help you navigate the path to inclusive design solutions that meet both user needs and regulatory requirements.

Whether through an accessibility audit or user research with patients and HCP, together, let’s build a digital future that works for everyone.

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