Since 28 June 2025, the European Accessibility Act is enforceable in all Member States. Anyone who consults the text of the Directive will also find a second date: 28 June 2030. That second date is part of a transition arrangement for services that were already running before the law came into force, and this arrangement regularly raises the question among business operators whether they thus still have five years.
The short answer is that the transition period does not mean you can wait until 2030. The Directive distinguishes between the date the law enters into force and a separate, more limited arrangement for services that already existed at that time and remain unchanged. As soon as a service is modified, replaced or redesigned, that transition arrangement no longer applies and the ordinary requirements apply directly.
Why that second date is in the law
The legislator took into account, when implementing the Directive, parties who have long been providing a service based on existing contracts, systems or software that cannot be replaced overnight. For these situations, the Directive contains a transitional measure: certain services that were lawfully provided before the date of application may, under conditions, continue unchanged until 28 June 2030. This is an exception to the main rule, not a general deferral.
Whether and how this transition measure applies to a specific service depends on the precise nature of that service and what has changed since then. The official text of the Directive on EUR-Lex contains the exact conditions; for an assessment of a specific situation, legal advice or enquiry with the competent market surveillance authority is appropriate.
What 'unchanged' can mean in practice
The trickiest point in this arrangement is what exactly counts as a modification. A webshop that has used the same checkout process for years and does not change it is in a different situation than a webshop that introduced a new payment system, a new login flow or a redesigned interface in the past year. A service that is substantially modified at any time after the date of application generally leaves that transition situation and is subject to the ordinary requirements from that point on. This aligns with a broader principle in this legislation: accessibility is not a one-time test but something that requires attention again after every relevant change. how that works in practice after a modification is described in more detail.
For most webshops and business sites with an account environment, the practical question is therefore not whether 2030 is still far away, but whether the own service has already been modified since 28 June 2025 or will be in the near future. For a webshop that has just migrated to a new platform, received a new checkout module or undergone a redesign, relying on the transition arrangement is less straightforward than for a service that has run unchanged for years.
Why this is no reason to do nothing now
The transition arrangement is intended for a defined situation, not as a general argument to postpone modifications. Anyone who is actively working on the webshop, the checkout process or the login environment will often leave the transition arrangement behind in practice through the very nature of that work itself. Furthermore, the exemption for micro-enterprises providing services remains a separate arrangement, separate from this transition period; both address a different question and are therefore not used interchangeably.
Whether the transition period applies to a specific service, and what that means alongside the exemption for micro-enterprises, can often be clarified quickly with a few targeted questions. The scope check on the free scope check and quick scan shows whether a webshop or service falls within the scope of the directive, and the risk indication that comes with it is free to consult without an account.
For those who want to know not only about this transition period but also what else is on the calendar, such as the forthcoming WCAG 2.2 standard or the updated EN 301 549, that overview can be found in the knowledge base with all topics by situation. And for those who want to know exactly where the information on axessia.eu comes from and how it is maintained, that is explained on the page on how the information is compiled.
The transition period until 2030 is a detail that may be relevant for a limited group of existing services, but no reason to delay testing the checkout, the login flow or the rest of the site. Do the free scope check and quick scan to see where your situation stands at this moment, and read the other topics in the knowledge base for the rest of the calendar.