The accessibility statement under the European Accessibility Act

Reviewed 30 September 2026. General information, not legal advice.

Short answer: Service providers covered by the European Accessibility Act must publish information explaining how their service meets the accessibility requirements. Annex V of the Directive asks for three things: a general description of the service in accessible formats, the explanations needed to understand how the service works, and a description of how the accessibility requirements are met. National laws can add to that: Germany also requires the name of the competent market surveillance authority.

What the law asks for

Article 13(2) of Directive (EU) 2019/882 obliges service providers to prepare the information set out in Annex V and to explain how the service meets the accessibility requirements. The information must be made available to the public in written and oral format, in a way that is accessible to persons with disabilities, and kept for as long as the service is in operation.

Annex V says the information belongs in the general terms and conditions or an equivalent document, and must include:

a general description of the service in accessible formats;
descriptions and explanations necessary for understanding how the service operates;
a description of how the service meets the relevant accessibility requirements.

The Directive does not use the words “accessibility statement”, and unlike the public sector there is no mandatory EU template. “Accessibility statement” is simply what most businesses call the page that carries this information.

How it differs from the public-sector statement

Public-sector bodies publish an accessibility statement under a different law, the Web Accessibility Directive (EU) 2016/2102, using the model statement in Implementing Decision (EU) 2018/1523. That model requires a compliance status, a list of non-accessible content, the date and method of the assessment, a feedback contact and a link to the enforcement procedure.

None of that structure is mandatory for private businesses under the EAA. It is widely used as a pattern anyway, because it answers the questions a customer or an authority will actually ask.

A simple outline

The service. What it is and who provides it, in plain language.
How it works. The main steps a customer goes through — for a shop: finding a product, the basket, checkout, payment, the customer account — and what help is available.
How the requirements are met. The standard you work to (for example EN 301 549 and WCAG 2.2 level AA), how and when the service was tested, and by whom.
Known barriers. What does not yet meet the requirements, which parts of the site are affected, and when you plan to fix it.
Feedback and contact. How someone can report a barrier or ask for information in another format.
Authority. The competent market surveillance authority, where national law requires it (Germany does).
Date. When the statement was written and last reviewed.

Points 1 to 3 cover what Annex V requires. Points 4, 5 and 7 are good practice; point 6 depends on the country. The W3C offers a free accessibility statement generator that follows a similar structure.

Where to publish it

Annex V names the general terms and conditions or an equivalent document. In practice most businesses publish a page called “Accessibility” that is linked from the footer of every page, and refer to it from their terms. Publish it as a normal web page rather than a scanned PDF: the information itself has to be accessible.

Mistakes to avoid

Declaring full compliance on the strength of an automated scan. Automated testing covers only part of the requirements. A statement that claims more than you have tested can be held against you.
Copying a template that does not describe your site. A statement listing no barriers on a site that plainly has them is worse than an honest list.
Writing it once and never again. Review it when the site changes, and at least once a year.
Hiding it. If customers cannot find it, it is not “available to the public”.

How RampCheck helps

Every RampCheck full audit ends with a draft statement filled in with your results: the barriers the audit found, each with its WCAG success criterion, the date and the method. The draft never declares full compliance on the basis of an automated test, even when the scan is clean. You add the description of your service and review it before publishing. See the draft in the sample report.

Questions

Is an accessibility statement mandatory for private businesses?

The information described in Annex V is mandatory for service providers covered by the European Accessibility Act. The name “accessibility statement” and a particular layout are not.

Do micro-enterprises need one?

Micro-enterprises that provide services are exempt from the accessibility requirements and from the obligations that relate to them, which includes this information. Publishing a short statement anyway is good practice.

Which language should it be in?

The Directive does not name a language. The sensible choice is the language the service itself is offered in, so that the customers it is written for can read it.

Does publishing a statement make my website compliant?

No. The statement describes the state of the service. It does not replace fixing the barriers it lists.

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