What really changes between countries
The underlying standard is the same in every EU country: EN 301 549, in practice WCAG 2.1 level AA. A webshop that sells in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany is held to the same technical standard everywhere, and the content of the mandatory statement — what is accessible, what is not, and how complaints are received — is therefore largely the same. What does differ is the way each country has implemented the European directive into its own legislation: which authority oversees compliance, in which language and form the statement must be presented, and where exactly you must place or register it.
For an SME entrepreneur who only sells in the Netherlands, this distinction is rarely relevant. As soon as you serve customers in other Member States — through a webshop with shipping abroad, or a service offered in multiple countries — it becomes something worth knowing, if only to avoid assuming that one statement automatically suffices everywhere.
What remains the same everywhere
The core of the statement is about the standard, not the country: which parts of your site comply with WCAG 2.1 AA, which parts do not yet comply, and how someone can report an accessibility issue to you. These three elements appear in almost every national implementation because they follow directly from the European directive. The underlying assessment too — the scan, the findings, the prioritisation — does not change per country. You conduct it once and use the results as the basis for each country version of the statement.
What can differ by country
What varies are the practical requirements. The language in which the statement must be presented is usually the language of the site itself, but some authorities have additional requirements. The name and contact details of the competent authority differ by country, and this should appear in the statement — a reference to a Dutch authority has little value for a German customer who wants to file a complaint. The format in which you present the statement may also vary: one country accepts a free-form text page, another works with a fixed template or a mandatory reporting point where the statement must be separately registered.
There is also the well-known German practice of the Abmahnung: in Germany, competitors or advocacy organisations can send a formal notice of alleged violation, a mechanism that has no direct equivalent in other Member States. This does not change the standard itself, but it does affect how quickly a missing or incomplete statement becomes visible there.
What this means if you sell in multiple countries
For a business operating in one country, this is primarily background information. For those with multiple country versions of a site or app, it means the statement needs its own contact reference per country and possibly its own location, while the substantive assessment can remain the same. In practice, this amounts to one base document with a few country-specific annexes, not entirely separate processes per market.
Because these differences exist from country to country, the component that brings together the authority, reporting route and statement format per country is something many entrepreneurs prefer not to tackle themselves. researched what exactly is required per country provides an overview of this, so you don't have to search each authority individually.
Where you can get something out of it now
Before this kind of country-specific detail becomes relevant, the first question is always whether the law applies to your situation and what an initial assessment of your site produces. You can verify this for free and without an account. The full elaboration per requirement, including country-specific sections and templates to document everything, is covered by your subscription; what that includes in detail is explained at an overview of what is included.
If you have doubts about a specific point in your own situation, that is a matter for a lawyer or the competent market surveillance authority in the country in question — this article describes the standard, not your individual case.
If you first want to know whether and where you stand, do the free quick-scan or browse through the other topics in the knowledge base; they provide a concrete answer for each situation without requiring an account.