The European Accessibility Act Is Now Law: What Indian Businesses Selling to the EU Must Know
The EAA entered full enforcement on June 28, 2025. Here's what Indian exporters, SaaS companies, and digital agencies need to do to comply.
On June 28, 2025, a deadline that many businesses had quietly hoped would stay on the horizon finally arrived. The European Accessibility Act (EAA) — Directive 2019/882 — entered full enforcement across all 27 EU member states. For companies selling digital products and services into Europe, the rules changed overnight. For Indian exporters, SaaS companies, and digital agencies with EU clients, it's a compliance requirement that can no longer be ignored.
What the EAA Covers
The EAA applies to a sweeping range of digital touchpoints: e-commerce websites, banking and financial service apps, e-books, audio-visual streaming platforms, ticketing kiosks, and passenger transport booking portals. If your product or service touches an EU customer — via a website, mobile app, or software — you are in scope.
The technical standard referenced is EN 301 549 v3.2.1, which in turn incorporates WCAG 2.2 Level AA. This is a step up from the older Web Accessibility Directive (which required WCAG 2.1) and means companies need to address newer success criteria around focus visibility, target size, and authentication without cognitive tests.
Why Indian Companies Are Not Exempt
A common misconception is that the EAA only matters if you're incorporated in Europe. It doesn't. The EAA applies based on where your customers are, not where your company is registered. If an Indian SaaS platform sells subscriptions to French businesses, or an Indian e-commerce company ships goods with a European storefront, that company's digital presence must meet EAA requirements.
Each EU member state has designated a national market surveillance authority to enforce compliance. Penalties vary by country, but the reputational and commercial risk of being flagged as non-compliant — particularly in B2B procurement contexts where accessibility declarations are required — is significant.
What You Need to Do
Start with an accessibility audit against WCAG 2.2 Level AA. Identify gaps in your web and app interfaces. Prioritise high-traffic pages: checkout flows, login screens, account management, and navigation. Produce an Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) — the EU equivalent of a VPAT — and make it available on your website. This document demonstrates due diligence and is increasingly requested by EU enterprise buyers as a procurement requirement.
The EAA is not a technicality. It is the new cost of entry into the European digital market.
The Opportunity for Indian Tech Companies
Businesses that get ahead of this — that audit, remediate, and document their accessibility posture now — will be positioned as preferred partners for EU clients who are themselves navigating the EAA. In a competitive SaaS market, an accessibility-ready product is a differentiator. In procurement, it's a gate. The companies that treat accessibility as a feature, not a checkbox, will win.
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