Plain AccessGuide

The European Accessibility Act and your WordPress site: what to check

Updated 2026-10-10 · by Hieu Tran, written with AI agents and checked against the sources below

The European Accessibility Act (EAA) has applied since 28 June 2025 to many products and services sold to consumers in the EU, including e-commerce. The usual yardstick for websites is WCAG 2.1 level AA (via the EN 301 549 standard). Micro-enterprises providing services are exempt; check whether that covers you.

Check these first (they're the most common)

• Images without alt text (1.1.1): set alt text in the Media Library or image block; empty alt only for decoration.
• Form fields without labels (1.3.1, 4.1.2): placeholders aren't labels; set visible labels in your form plugin.
• Icon links and buttons with no name (2.4.4, 4.1.2): cart, search, menu and social icons need a text label.
• Headings (1.3.1): one h1 per page, levels in order, no empty headings.
• Page language (3.1.1): set the site language in Settings → General.
• Zoom blocked (1.4.4): remove maximum-scale=1 or user-scalable=no from the theme's viewport tag.
• Colour contrast (1.4.3) and keyboard access (2.1.1): need a browser and a person; test checkout and forms with the keyboard only.

Why an overlay widget isn't enough

Overlay widgets add a toolbar on top of the page but don't change the page's markup, which is what screen readers use and what auditors test. The failures above remain. Some WordPress users also report overlays slowing sites or adding unwanted dependencies.

What to publish

Services under the EAA have to provide information on how they meet the accessibility requirements. An accessibility statement that lists what you've checked, what's still failing and how to contact you is the usual way to do that.