From June 2025, the law on digital accessibility will apply in the EU

What is digital accessibility?

Digital accessibility refers to the design and development of digital products, such as websites, electronic documents, platforms and their content, which should be accessible and usable for all people, regardless of their abilities or limitations. This concept ensures that all people, including those with disabilities or other challenges, can benefit equally from the opportunities offered by the digital world. Accessibility not only helps people with disabilities, but also people with temporary or situational limitations.

Limitations that digital accessibility helps with

Digital accessibility helps people with different types of disabilities by making digital content, products and platforms more accessible to them.

Visual impairment
Hearing impairment
Motor impairments
Cognitive impairments
Color blindness

Legal basis for accessibility of digital solutions in the EU

In order to ensure the full and equal participation of people with special accessibility needs in society, the European Accessibility Act (EAA) was developed and came into force in April 2019. All member states had to pass the necessary implementing legislation by June 28, 2022 and ensure the implementation of the accessibility measures contained in the EAA by June 28, 2025. This means that the law generally applies to products that are placed on the market after June 28, 2025 and to services that are provided after this date. If this is violated, there is a risk of heavy fines.

What applies to accessibility in Switzerland?

In Switzerland, the following legal provisions apply to the accessibility of digital solutions. The federal government adopted the eCH-0059 Accessibility Standard Version 3.0 as a binding requirement on 21.05.2021. This new version eCH-0059 Version 3.0 is based on the internationally recognized Web Content Accessibility Guidelines WCAG 2.1 of the World Wide Web Consortium W3C and uses additional instruments to promote e-accessibility, which are inspired by the EU's e-accessibility directive. The WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) are the international standard for accessible web content.

For example, what does the entry into force of the Barrier-Free Accessibility Reinforcement Act (BFSG) in Germany from June 2025 mean for Switzerland?

The Accessibility Reinforcement Act (BFSG) applies to public bodies and private companies. As many Swiss companies also offer their products and services in Germany and throughout the EU, the BFSG (Germany) and the laws of other EU countries are also highly relevant for them.

Public bodies: All public bodies, such as authorities, municipalities and state institutions, must make their digital offerings accessible. This includes websites, mobile applications and other digital services.
Companies: The BFSG also affects certain private companies. If a company offers products or services that are accessible to the public, they must also meet the accessibility requirements. This can apply, for example, to online stores (B2C) or services provided via electronic commerce, e.g. banks, insurance companies, transport companies and telecommunications providers.
Exceptions: There are some exceptions, e.g. for small businesses with fewer than 50 employees or for products and services that are not digital. Nevertheless, companies should take accessibility seriously in terms of inclusion and equal opportunities.

It is important to note that the BFSG applies not only to websites, but also to mobile apps, software, e-books and other digital products. The exact requirements vary depending on the type of offer and the target group.

What needs to be considered when it comes to digital accessibility?

The WCAG - Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 comprise four principles:

Visibility

This is about the visibility of content. This must also be perceptible with restrictions. Link styles are mentioned here as an example. If links in scrolling text only stand out from the rest of the text due to their color, they cannot be identified by the user with color vision deficiency. With the help of icons, background areas or underlining, links are additionally marked and also made recognizable for affected persons.

Usability

It states that components and navigation in user interfaces must be operable by the user. That sounds logical and obvious. As an explanation, let's add the usability of a website using only the keyboard. The path to a product must also be completely accessible via the keyboard and not just the product itself (e.g. a PDF document).

Comprehensibility

Content and navigation must be understandable for users. The navigation structure should be clear and intuitive to use. Texts should be easy to understand (abbreviations and technical terms are explained) or there can be help such as explanations for forms or sample texts for input fields.

Robustness

Content and data are robust if they can be used by users with different technical requirements. This guideline stipulates that data must have maximum compatibility with “current and future” user agents, in particular assistive technologies (e.g. screen readers for blind people). On the one hand, it should be ensured that no measures are implemented during development that render these technologies unusable or circumvent them. It must also be ensured that information is provided in a standardized way so that assistive technologies can recognize and interpret it correctly.

This means that when developing your digital solutions, you do not have to offer any assistive technology functionalities yourself. However, correct implementation requires your product or service to be compatible with these assistive technologies.

These are the most important advantages of good accessibility of digital solutions

Expansion of the target group

Digital accessibility enables a wider population to access and use digital content. This can help more people to participate in the digital world.

Improved user experience

Digital accessibility contributes to optimized user-friendliness (usability). Digital content is easier to access and understand for all users. Users can have a better experience and use digital content more effectively.

Improved search engine optimization (SEO)

Digital accessibility can help digital content to be better recognized and indexed by search engines. This can result in better visibility and consequently a greater reach.

Compliance with regulations

Digital accessibility is a legal requirement in many countries. By complying with these regulations, organizations can ensure that their digital content is accessible to all and that there is no discrimination based on disabilities or limitations.

Innovation

Digital accessibility can contribute to the development of new technologies and approaches to make digital content accessible to all.

Our conclusion

According to a study by WebAIM: The WebAIM Million - The 2024 report on the accessibility of the top 1,000,000 home pages violate the WCAG guidelines. There is therefore still a considerable need for action in terms of digital accessibility. However, a common misconception leads to the impression that in the near future a special operating concept for people with disabilities will have to be developed for every digital application, which would result in enormous additional costs. However, digital accessibility is not primarily about integrating expensive functions such as voice output, magnification software or voice control. Rather, it is about ensuring that compatibility with assistive technologies is guaranteed when developing products and services. The associated costs generally remain manageable. In addition, the many advantages of digital accessibility should not be ignored.