European Accessibility Act
This is general information, not legal advice.
The European Accessibility Act is Directive (EU) 2019/882. It has covered many products and services, including e-commerce, since 28 June 2025. This page points at the official text and at the shop pages worth testing.
The Directive, then the national law
Read the Directive on EUR-Lex: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32019L0882. Member states write it into national law. A shop selling into France, Ireland, Germany or Spain needs those measures as well. The list is at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/NIM/?uri=CELEX:32019L0882.
The UK is not in the EU. A UK-only shop is not automatically covered. A UK or US business that sells to EU customers needs advice on whether the service is offered into the Union. AltGrade will not make that call. The scan is still worth running. Broken checkout is broken checkout.
What to test on the shop
Customers have to see the product, operate the purchase, and understand the result. That means a text price, image alternatives, named options, errors in words, and a checkout that works from the keyboard. If a product film is the only place a measurement is spoken, it needs captions.
National statement rules differ. We do not invent a filing portal or a fine. Use the checklist on this site as the engineering list. Ask an adviser if you need to know whether a duty applies to your company.
How to find the failures
Pick one product with options, one simple product, the cart, and the first checkout step. View them at 320 pixels wide and on a desktop. Look for sideways scrolling, pale prices, and a focus ring sitting under a sticky bar. Check the html language and the newsletter field in the footer.
Then run AltGrade. The free scan covers up to 10 of those URLs. It uses axe-core plus checks for language, link text, alt text, focus, and keyboard reach of the menu. It will tell you the add-to-cart control has no accessible name. It will not tell you the Directive applies.
Fixes you can ship
On Shopify, colours live in the theme editor, alt text on the product media, and the skip link in theme.liquid. On WooCommerce, put checkout labels back if a theme hid them. The £49 audit covers up to 50 pages, a PDF, and a statement draft in a UK, European Accessibility Act, or US shape. Edit the draft before you publish it.
Monitoring from £19 a month catches a theme update that restores a critical issue. Agency plans put your name on the PDF. No tax is added. The invoice is not a statement that the site conforms to EN 301 549 or to the Directive.
National law is the binding text
Directive (EU) 2019/882 sets the frame. Each country transposed it. If you sell into France, Germany, Ireland or Spain, read that country's measure, not a blog summary of the Directive. The European Commission's transposition list is the index.
AltGrade does not tell you whether your shop is in scope. It shows the barriers a customer hits on the product, the cart and the checkout, and the edit that removes them. Start there while counsel reads the national text.
Questions
Does this apply to a UK-only shop?
The UK is outside the EU. A shop that sells to EU customers may still be covered. Ask an adviser. Scan either way.
Is the scan a conformity assessment?
No. It checks public pages. Automated scans cannot catch every WCAG issue, and they do not assess your business.
Where is the official text?
EUR-Lex has Directive (EU) 2019/882 and the national transposition list.