TheEuropean Accessibility Act (EAA) represents a decisive breakthrough for digital accessibility in Europe. Enacted in April 2019 as Directive (EU) 2019/882 and transposed by Italy in May 2022, this legislation will come into force on June 28, 2025, forcing companies and organizations to make their websites and digital services accessible.
The directive stems from the need to standardize European regulations and ensure that some 100 million Europeans with disabilities can access barrier-free digital services. For companies, this means adapting their websites to meet the accessibility requirements set by the legislation.
Before examining the available solutions, it is important to understand how the EAA fits into the international landscape of accessibility regulations:
In the United States, digital accessibility is regulated mainly by:
Differences with the EAA: The U.S. approach is more based on legal contentions and less on detailed technical specifications. The EAA offers more precise guidelines and a broader scope.
.png)
Canada passed the Accessible Canada Act in 2019 with the goal of creating a barrier-free Canada by 2040.
Differences with the EAA: The Canadian law has a more gradual approach focused on the participation of people with disabilities in the creation of standards.
Post-Brexit, the UK has maintained accessibility requirements through the Equality Act 2010 and the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
Differences with EAA: Similar in approach but narrower in scope, mainly focused on the public sector.
The EAA applies to all economic operators providing digital services, with some exceptions:
Importantly, the directive applies to digital services placed on the market after June 28, 2025. For existing websites, it will be necessary to ensure accessibility if they undergo substantial changes after that date.
When it comes to making a website EAA-compliant, companies essentially have two options: implement ready-made accessibility widgets or develop custom solutions in-house.
Benefits of internal development:
Disadvantages of internal development:
Benefits of ready-to-use widgets:
Disadvantages of ready-to-use widgets:
The market offers several EAA-compliant web accessibility widget solutions. We analyze and compare the three main ones: SkynetTechnologies, iubenda Accessibility, and UserWay.
Among the various solutions available on the market, SkynetTechnologies emerges as a leader in reliability, comprehensiveness and ease of implementation. This is the solution we use for our site.
The widget of offers numerous features to improve the accessibility of Web sites:
iubenda, known primarily for its GDPR and cookie compliance solutions, also offers a website accessibility widget.
UserWay is one of the most widely used accessibility widgets internationally, with an artificial intelligence approach.
While ready-made solutions offer immediacy and simplicity, some companies may consider in-house development of accessibility tools.
The development of accessibility features can begin with simple but effective interventions. Here is an example of basic code to implement a high contrast button:
javascript
// Esempio di funzione per alternare la modalità ad alto contrasto
function toggleHighContrast() {
const body = document.body;
body.classList.toggle('high-contrast');
// Salva la preferenza dell'utente
const isHighContrast = body.classList.contains('high-contrast');
localStorage.setItem('highContrast', isHighContrast);
}
// CSS di base per la modalità alto contrasto
const style = document.createElement('style');
style.textContent = `
body.high-contrast {
background-color: black !important;
color: white !important;
}
body.high-contrast a {
color: yellow !important;
}
body.high-contrast button,
body.high-contrast input {
background-color: #333 !important;
color: white !important;
border: 1px solid white !important;
}
`;
document.head.appendChild(style);
// Applicazione delle preferenze salvate
document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', () => {
if (localStorage.getItem('highContrast') === 'true') {
document.body.classList.add('high-contrast');
}
});
This is just a small example of the many features required for full compliance. In-house development requires specialized expertise in web accessibility, in-depth knowledge of WCAG, and considerable time to implement all the functionality required by the EAA.
The process of implementing a compliance widget is generally quite simple and similar in most solutions on the market:
The entire process takes less than 48 hours on average.
The adoption of ready-to-use accessibility widgets is the most efficient and cost-effective solution to comply with the European Accessibility Act by the June 28, 2025 deadline.
For Italian companies that need to comply with the EAA, adopting a ready-to-use accessibility widget is not only a matter of regulatory compliance, but also represents:
What do I risk if I do not adapt my site to EAA by June 28, 2025?
Non-compliance with the EAA can result in administrative penalties, legal liability, and reputational damage. In addition, business opportunities are lost with the 20 percent of the population that has some form of disability.
Do widgets slow down the loading of my site?
No, the widget is optimized not to affect site performance. It uses lazy loading techniques and takes up less than 100KB, with negligible impact on loading time.
Can I customize the appearance of the widget to fit my brand?
Yes, there are extensive customization options, including colors, positioning and visible features, allowing seamless integration with your site's visual identity.
Is the widget compatible with all CMSs?
Yes, the widget works with all major CMSs such as Webflow, Drupal, Shopify and custom platforms. Installation requires only the addition of one line of JavaScript code.
How can I prove EAA compliance to the relevant authorities?
The major providers of these services offer a certificate of compliance and a customized accessibility statement that you can post on your site and present to authorities in case of audits.
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)