For a while, digital accessibility and inclusion were treated simply as best practices or ways to improve user experience. But now organisations across the European Union, including Irish businesses, need to consider their accessibility compliance obligations.
But what does European Accessibility Act compliance actually mean in Ireland in 2026? Who needs to comply, what does the law require, who enforces it, and how much can a WCAG audit cost?
This guide explains the key requirements, exemptions, enforcement process and practical steps Irish businesses should take to assess their accessibility compliance.
The European Accessibility Act is an EU directive that sets accessibility requirements for certain products and services across the European Union.
This regulation was created to improve access to essential products and services for people with disabilities across the EU, and its requirements fully apply to Ireland.
Ireland implemented the EAA through the European Union (Accessibility Requirements of Products and Services) Regulations 2023 (S.I. No. 636/2023). Since 28 June 2025 it officially took effect.
The EAA mentions a range of products and services, including:
Not every business in Ireland is automatically subject to the EAA.
The first thing is understanding whether your organisation provides a product or service covered by the legislation, as outlined in the list above.
For example, an Irish business with an online shop most likely falls within the scope of the EAA because e-commerce is one of the services covered.
That means that, in most cases, if your company offers any of the products or services mentioned on the list above, you are required to comply with the EAA.
There are a few cases in which the organisations are not obligated to comply, which involves company’s size and/or change of functionality.
Irish SMEs do not automatically have to comply. There is an important exemption for microenterprises providing services covered by the EAA.
Under the EU directive, microenterprises offering services are exempt from the EAA's accessibility requirements and related obligations.
The European Commission generally defines a microenterprise as a business with fewer than 10 employees and annual turnover of no more than €2 million.
It’s important to make this distinction between microenterprises and SMEs. Companies that don’t specifically fit within the definition above will be exposed to legal risks and compliance penalties if not compliant.
Businesses may qualify for an exemption where meeting the requirements of the EAA would cause a major change to the product or service that the business is offering.
One example is requiring a product designed solely to deliver audio to provide also visual functionality. This could fundamentally change its purpose and how it is used.
An exemption can also be considered when a specific accessibility requirement would create an excessive financial burden, especially to small businesses where the development costs can be disproportionate to the business size.
However, even where a business is allowed to rely on an exemption from the accessibility requirements, this does not mean that it can completely ignore the issues raised by the accessibility requirements.
Compliance with the European Accessibility Act means making the services accessible to people with disabilities.
To make this happen in a more actionable way, the EAA accessibility requirements are based on a technical standard, which demonstrates the path to conformity.
For websites, EN 301 549 is particularly important. The standard specifically points to WCAG 2.1 Level AA as the minimum standard to be followed.
However, it’s important to notice that WCAG 2.1 AA and EAA compliance are not necessarily interchangeable terms.
EN 301 549 contains requirements that go beyond WCAG 2.1 in some circumstances.
The EAA for Banks & Fintechs, for example, apart from WCAG compliance, also requires content to be clear, with a language complexity that does not exceed B2 level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).
Businesses should consider accessibility across the complete digital experience, including areas such as:
To make sure that the work is including all the requirements under WCAG 2.1 AA, we recommend running an automated accessibility check or performing a manual audit with an accessibility expert.
The Nexus Inclusion platform for example analyses websites against each success criterion of WCAG, showing issues found by severity, so companies know what to focus on first.
Our tool also provides detailed guidance on how to resolve accessibility issues, so they can be fixed quickly and efficiently.
We like to say that this is the best approach as a first step. This way you know exactly where the company stands in relation to digital accessibility and can rapidly start working on improvements, all in one platform, without having to pay enterprise prices for it.
There is not one single Irish regulator responsible for every EAA-covered product and service.
In Ireland the enforcement is sector-specific, having designated different authorities for each one.
For products like e-commerce and e-books, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) is the market surveillance authority responsible for the regulation.
Other sectors fall under authorities such as ComReg, Coimisiún na Meán, the Irish Aviation Authority, the National Transport Authority and the Central Bank of Ireland.
Since June 2025, these authorities can investigate compliance and, depending on the circumstances, require businesses to take corrective action.
In 2025 the CCPC registered 53 complaints and 16 exemptions under the EAA. For a relatively new regulation, these numbers show that action should be taken urgently to avoid legal exposure.
The type of penalties that Irish companies can face depend on each case.
As the regulation gives authorities powers to enforce compliance with the EAA, businesses may be required to take corrective actions, comply with specific directions based on their sector, or face court orders.
In some cases, non-compliance can also mean an offence. Depending on how the case is prosecuted, it can lead to maximum penalties, such as:
A Class A fine and/or up to six months' imprisonment on summary conviction; or
A fine of up to €60,000 and/or up to 18 months' imprisonment on conviction on indictment.
Now that you know who needs to comply with the EAA in Ireland and what the requirements are, you’re probably wondering how much does a WCAG audit cost.
Accessibility audits can vary significantly depending on the size and complexity of a website or digital service. Automated and manual audits normally also have a very different price gap.
A useful planning range is:
|
Audit type |
Indicative cost |
|---|---|
|
Automated accessibility scan |
Free to low cost |
|
Focused content audit |
€500–€1,000+ |
|
Small website manual/hybrid audit |
€1,500–€4,500+ |
|
Larger or more complex website |
€4,000–€10,000+ |
Digital accessibility is many times seen as too expensive or something that can only be done by large companies with big budgets. And this is one of the reasons why Nexus Inclusion was created.
The Nexus Inclusion platform includes a full suite of digital accessibility tools focusing on a cost-effective solution that suits companies of all sizes.
There you’ll find:
Automated accessibility scan of global regulations: with a comprehensive analysis of each issue by severity, status in relation to each WCAG success criterion, how each issue affects people with disabilities, along with detailed guidance for remediation.
Continuous monitoring tool: with customisable alerts so you can maintain compliance over time and avoid that new features and content releases reintroduces accessibility issues to the website.
Content tools such as colour contrast checker, webpage structure analysis, and content review for readability, complexity and grammar.
Media tools including image analysis, alt-text generator, audio & video transcription, and text-to-speech.
Accessibility tools such as website crawler and browser extension.
Learning & Certification where you can find digital accessibility courses, compliance guides, a digital accessibility knowledge base, and how-to-guides.
Our plans start at €41. Compare our plans so you can find the one that best suit your company’s needs having access to an all-in-one digital accessibility platform.
If your business needs to comply with the EAA, you need to know that digital accessibility is an ongoing process.
You should not wait for a complaint or regulatory notification to start working on it. And here’s how you prepare for EAA compliance in Ireland.
Use an automated scan to understand your current accessibility compliance status and detect the accessibility issues on your website.
Then list them by priority to focus first on the ones that are affecting user experience most.
You can use our Free Website Accessibility Checker to analyse your website’s homepage and understand your current compliance level. You’ll also get a compliance overview by e-mail with issues by severity based on WCAG principles.
Like we mentioned before, you should start working on the accessibility issues that have the biggest impact first.
Prioritise barriers that prevent users from completing important tasks, such as navigating the site, submitting a form, accessing information or completing a purchase.
With Nexus Inclusion platform you can simply filter them by severity to facilitate the remediation process.
Keep evidence of your accessibility work, including:
The Irish regulations require that companies under the EAA should maintain information explaining how their services meet applicable accessibility requirements and to keep that information while the service is operating.
Even after fixing all accessibility issues, it’s important to keep monitoring accessibility over time.
A website redesign, CMS update, new content, new features, or development release can introduce new errors.
The Nexus Inclusion platform offers an accessibility monitoring tool to help companies not be caught off guard, avoiding that issues become bigger compliance problems.
It offers customisable alerts and comparison reports, so you can share it with the teams and present how you’ve been improving accessibility overtime.
The EAA is already applicable in Ireland. So now it’s time to take action.
With the right tools and expertise, you can quickly understand where your website stands, prioritise improvements, and build a clear path towards compliance.
At Nexus Inclusion, we've built our platform to make that process simpler. Our website accessibility scanner identifies issues related to the EAA, WCAG, and other global accessibility regulations, while providing detailed guidance to help your team resolve them.
Book a free demo to see how it works and discover how Nexus Inclusion can support your accessibility journey.
In this guide, we’ll explain who needs to comply with the European Accessibility Act in Ireland, how accessibility enforcement in Ireland works, what the potential penalties are, and where WCAG audit cost fits into a practical compliance plan.
Today, people with disabilities represent more than 15% of the world's population, and with digital accessibility regulations being enforced around the globe, website accessibility is something that cannot wait any longer.
The European Accessibility Act (EAA) has been incorporated into EU Member States legislation since June 2025. Since then, many organisations have started to look for information on how to become compliant with it to avoid fines and improve their digital experience.
Understand your website’s accessibility, prioritise the issues that need attention, and build a clearer path towards EAA compliance.