European Accessibility Act: What It Means for E-Commerce Websites
Directive (EU) 2019/882, commonly known as the European Accessibility Act, establishes common accessibility requirements for specific products and services across the European Union. In Greece it has been transposed through Law 4994/2022.
For online retail this is particularly important because the Directive explicitly includes e-commerce services: services provided at a distance through websites or mobile-based services, by electronic means and at the individual request of a consumer, with a view to concluding a consumer contract.
The relevant requirements for covered services apply from 28 June 2025. Accessibility therefore needs to be treated seriously by many e-commerce businesses, both as a usability issue and as a regulatory matter.
This article provides technical information, not legal advice. Whether and how the legislation applies to a particular business should also be assessed by an appropriate legal or compliance adviser.
Which online businesses need to examine the Act?
The Directive does not mean that every website in Europe automatically has identical obligations. Its scope covers defined products and services, including consumer e-commerce services.
There are also exemptions and proportionality provisions. In particular, the Directive exempts microenterprises providing services from the accessibility requirements covered by that provision. The correct process is therefore to determine whether the legislation applies to the business before planning the technical remediation work.
E-commerce accessibility covers the full customer journey
For a PrestaShop e-commerce store, accessibility is not limited to the homepage. Customers need to be able to complete the key stages of the buying process.
- Navigation and mega menus.
- Category and product listings.
- Filters, sorting and pagination.
- Product pages and combinations.
- Cart and checkout.
- Login, account areas and forms.
- Validation and error messages.
- Payment and shipping interfaces where they form part of the store experience.
This is why e-commerce accessibility is a technical project that can involve the template, modules, HTML structure, JavaScript interactions and content.
Keyboard navigation
An important part of testing is whether a user can complete essential actions without a mouse. Menus, buttons, filters, modal dialogs, product selectors, cart and checkout should have predictable keyboard behaviour.
Visible focus also matters, as does ensuring that sticky headers, cookie notices or overlays do not cover the control that currently has focus.
Semantic HTML and assistive technology
Correct semantics help screen readers and other assistive technologies understand the page structure. Headings, buttons, links, labels, lists and landmarks need to be used for their intended purpose.
ARIA can be useful when necessary, but it should not be used as a substitute for appropriate native HTML.
Images and text alternatives
Images that communicate information need an appropriate text alternative. In e-commerce this is especially relevant to product images, icons and visual elements used to explain features or choices.
Alt text should not be filled mechanically with keywords. It should describe the purpose of the image in its actual context.
Contrast and information that does not rely only on colour
Prices, availability, errors, selected states and other important interface information should remain understandable without relying exclusively on colour. Text and important controls also need sufficient visual contrast.
Forms and checkout
Checkout is one of the most important journeys in an online store. Labels, required fields, instructions and error messages need to be clear and programmatically associated with the correct controls.
A generic “there is an error in the form” message is not enough. Users should be able to identify the problem and understand how to correct it.
An accessibility toolbar is not sufficient
A toolbar can provide useful additional controls, but it does not automatically repair problems such as incorrect semantics, keyboard traps, inaccessible filters, poorly structured checkout flows or custom JavaScript components that cannot be operated correctly.
That is why web accessibility optimization needs to examine the actual interface rather than simply add an overlay or produce a score.
Automated audits and manual testing
Automated tools can identify many technical findings, but they cannot determine whether every interaction is understandable or whether an alt description is genuinely useful.
A practical accessibility process combines automated checks with manual testing of the most important user journeys, especially menus, filters, product pages, forms, cart and checkout.
WCAG as a technical framework
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines are widely used as a technical reference for accessible web content. Our technical reviews examine areas such as keyboard access, focus, contrast, text alternatives, forms and semantic structure against those principles.
We do not present an audit, plugin or single remediation project as an automatic guarantee of complete legal compliance. Technical accessibility and legal compliance are closely related but are not the same professional discipline.
Why accessibility still matters when a business is exempt
Accessibility reduces barriers for people with different needs and often improves interface quality for everyone: clearer forms, better navigation, more understandable controls and more organized content.
For a business, that means more visitors can actually use the website and reach the action it was built for, whether that action is a purchase, enquiry or account task.
How we approach accessibility for websites and PrestaShop stores
Our work begins with an audit of the main templates and user journeys. Findings are recorded and prioritized, and we determine whether each problem originates in content, the template, a module or custom functionality.
Targeted remediation can then be carried out without pretending that one plugin can solve an entire accessibility problem. For new projects, accessibility can be considered from the beginning of the website development or PrestaShop e-commerce development process.
If you want us to assess an existing website or store, see our Web Accessibility Optimization service.