UK companies have just over a year to comply with new EU legislation designed to ensure universal accessibility for digital services regardless of age or disability. Bob Farrell, VP of Solution Delivery and CX Practices at Applause, explains what businesses need to know about the law to move from risk to readiness and how they can look beyond compliance to design truly accessible digital products.

The European Accessibility Act (EAA) is legislation that affects a large number of UK companies doing business in EU member states. The act requires a large percentage of everyday products and services to be accessible for persons with disabilities (PwD), because those that are not accessible actively exclude PwD from participating in online life and being connected.

Like GDPR, it applies to any company creating software, digital services, and hardware sold or used in the EU. The EAA establishes a common set of accessibility rules that will lessen barriers created by divergent accessibility rules in the EU member states and improve the functioning of the internal market for accessible products and services.

Given the deadline to comply with the EAA is 28 June 2025, you would assume companies were already in the planning stages, but the lack of preparedness is alarming. Applause’s own research found that over a third of European businesses haven’t even started their compliance journey, and only a third of global businesses are on schedule to comply. Companies need to start preparing now if they are to have any chance of meeting the complex digital accessibility requirements of the EAA.

The Brussels Effect

Like GDPR, the EAA will have a global impact. Companies from outside the EU will find themselves managing a phenomenon known as the Brussels Effect, meaning they will have to adopt the EAA’s requirements to continue doing business with Europe.

Indeed, companies that make their digital products accessible because it is the right thing to do often comply with many legislative requirements by default. The EAA is simply enforcing a set of best practices that any company with an accessibility lead has most likely covered or is in the process of implementing.

However, just because a digital product is accessible by legal definition does not mean that it is inclusive by design. Even if a company ensures individual components meet accessibility requirements, when they put the components together into a user flow, they can fail to provide a good user experience for the disability community. Despite all the best intentions, quite often developers will design for compliance without a complete understanding of people with disabilities’ needs. Designers need help bridging their knowledge gap.

Inclusivity by design

We live in a world where people are living longer and developing all kinds of disabilities as they age, such as cataracts, that can impact a person’s ability to see their screen. It’s clear that accessibility doesn’t just benefit people with permanent disabilities, it impacts people with temporary or situational disabilities and can also improve technology for people with no disabilities.

Focusing on inclusive design will spur innovation and features that are useful across the board. If that’s the case, then why shouldn’t companies invest in developing products that provide the best digital experiences for everyone?

The reality is that they can, and they shouldn’t need to use pending legislation as an incentive to develop accessible services for all. It’s time for companies to embrace the principles of inclusive design that go beyond defined accessibility standards.

Inclusive design considers anything that could affect a person’s ability to use a product or service. It accounts for legislative measures but also incorporates the latest research and principles that lead to optimal user experiences for all.

The gold standard and best practices is really to design, develop, and test with PwD to incorporate their lived experience into the product development. This requires businesses to integrate accessibility into every phase of the software development lifecycle to prevent defects early on, instead of having to fix things later in the lifecycle when it becomes more costly.

It’s also important to conduct user research and collect feedback from people with disabilities and carry out design reviews with accessibility experts as well. This ensures that accessibility is always on the agenda and top of mind all along the product life cycle. The aim is to build products that provide an equitable experience for all users, rather than ones that are designed for some and retrofitted for others.

A successful transition

Unlike GDPR, improving digital accessibility is not a one-time effort. This requires a long-term change management effort and continuous improvement. The EAA requires EU states to start enforcement of their EAA statutes in June 2025 when a five-year transition period begins. However, the five-year transition period only relates to existing products that are not accessible, new products must be accessible as of June 2025.

Many businesses might assume that five years is enough time to begin upgrading services or creating new ones. But building a major app, such as a digital banking, retail, or transport app, is a long-term project, made even more complicated by integrating digital accessibility standards and inclusive design. Culture and processes within your organisation will need to be changed. Teams spanning development, UX, QA, management, and more need to be trained and brought up to speed. So, it’s important not to delay.

Businesses can adopt an accessibility maturity framework to gauge where their organisation stands in terms of maturity. The Applause Accessibility Maturity Framework has four different levels, each with five different criteria for advancement to the next level. It takes time – often many years – for organisations that are starting out at the basic ‘Informal level’ to reach the ‘Optimise level’. But in that time, you will have established processes that allow you to understand to what degree your products and services are accessible, including websites, mobile apps, chatbots, and other digital channels. You will have identified and appointed people within your organisation to become your champions of accessibility. Plus, you will have a defined roadmap in place to deploy accessibility inside and outside your organisation along with KPIs to measure progress.