Do you sell exclusively to other businesses, with no private customer appearing anywhere in the process? Then the question of whether the European accessibility law (Directive (EU) 2019/882) applies to your platform is less straightforward than for a webshop that sells directly to consumers. The Directive is aimed at products and services offered to consumers, and a platform used solely by other businesses lacks that point of reference as a rule.
But "purely B2B" is less often the case in practice than it appears on paper. Many platforms that are called "business-oriented" internally or by account managers still have a consumer-facing side somewhere: an end customer ordering as a private individual, a freelancer acting as a natural person, or a module also used by the public. The market surveillance authority does not look at what you call your platform, but at who actually uses it.
What the Directive means by consumer
The Directive distinguishes between services offered to consumers and services conducted exclusively between businesses. A consumer is someone who acts outside their profession or business. This is relevant because many platforms calling themselves "B2B" are in practice also used by sole proprietors or freelancers who in a specific transaction act as private individuals, not as a business. The classification therefore depends on the nature of the relationship in a specific case, not on the label you put on your website.
When a B2B platform is nevertheless affected
There are a few recurring situations in which a platform that is internally considered business-oriented turns out to have a consumer-facing side. A booking system purchased by travel agencies but ultimately used by private travellers to make a reservation is an example: the business acquiring the system is commercial, but the end user of the service is a consumer. The same applies to a reservation tool that contains both a business dashboard and a booking page for the public, or to a portal where alongside large business customers self-employed persons without staff also log in.
In such cases, it is worthwhile to assess each component separately, rather than the platform as a whole. The business dashboard for buyers may receive a different assessment than the booking screen that ultimately is completed by a private individual. Asking those two questions separately prevents you from treating an entire environment with one brush when only part of it has a consumer-facing function.
What remains relevant apart from the consumer question
Even when a platform clearly stays within the business sphere, that does not guarantee that nothing else applies. Other legislation, such as requirements for government websites or contractual agreements with business customers regarding accessibility, may play a role independently of this Directive. The scope check of the European accessibility law does not address this; it only assesses whether this specific Directive applies, not whether requirements reach you from another angle.
How you can verify this for your own platform
Because the assessment hinges on the question of who actually uses the service, it helps to look at each feature rather than at the label. Is a component also used by someone not acting on behalf of a business? Then that component deserves attention, even if the rest of the platform is clearly business-oriented. in a few questions to determine whether your situation falls under the law provides an initial indication for this, without requiring you to have an account.
For those working with multiple platform components — a business dashboard alongside a consumer-facing module, for example — it is advisable not to rely on a single assessment. the explanation for each situation in the knowledge base goes deeper into combinations of business and consumer use within one environment. In addition, it is good to know where the information on these types of pages comes from; how the scope check arrives at its conclusion explains that step by step.
Should your situation remain unclear after working through the questions, that is not an exception: borderline cases between business and consumer use occur more frequently than a strictly business platform might suggest. For a legally sound answer about your specific situation, a lawyer or the competent market surveillance authority remains the appropriate contact. Frequently debated borderline cases, including platforms with a mixed audience, are also collected in the most frequently asked questions about the scope of the law.
Unsure whether your platform falls entirely or partially under the directive? The free scope check provides an initial indication within a few minutes, without requiring you to register.