Web accessibility guides for online shops
These guides answer the questions shop owners and their developers ask about web accessibility, from what the European Accessibility Act requires to how a fix reaches a shop’s theme. Each one links its sources and says when it was last checked.
- guides, each with its sources and dates
- 6
- questions answered, each with a short answer first
- 56
- countries whose national law a guide covers: Germany, Denmark, France and Spain
- 4
- languages: English, Deutsch, Dansk, Français and Español
- 5
The law: the EAA, the BFSG and the accessibility statement
-
The European Accessibility Act (EAA) for online shops
The European Accessibility Act, Directive (EU) 2019/882, covers e-commerce services provided to consumers after 28 June 2025 and exempts microenterprises that provide services from its accessibility requirements.
- Updated
- Answers
- 11
- Covers
- EU law, Germany, Denmark, France, Spain
-
The BFSG for online shops: who it covers and what it requires
The BFSG is the German law that transposes the European Accessibility Act; it has been in force since 28 June 2025 and covers e-commerce services offered to consumers through websites and apps.
- Updated
- Answers
- 10
- Covers
- Germany
-
What an accessibility statement for an online shop must contain
The European Accessibility Act asks a provider of e-commerce services to consumers, unless it is a microenterprise, to make public how its service meets the accessibility requirements, and Germany’s BFSG asks for corresponding information.
- Updated
- Answers
- 11
- Covers
- EU law, Germany, the EU model statement
Standards and testing: WCAG 2.2 AA, EN 301 549 and scans
-
WCAG 2.2 AA and EN 301 549: which one applies to an online shop
WCAG and EN 301 549 are not alternatives: EN 301 549, the European standard for the accessibility of ICT products and services, uses the success criteria of WCAG for web pages.
- Updated
- Answers
- 10
- Covers
- WCAG 2.1, WCAG 2.2, EN 301 549
-
What automated accessibility testing can and cannot prove
Automated accessibility testing can show that a page fails specific WCAG success criteria, but it cannot prove that a page conforms: a pass means only that a rule found no failure.
- Updated
- Answers
- 7
- Covers
- Automated rules, manual checks
Fixes in a shop’s code
-
How accessibility fixes reach a Shopify, Shopware, WooCommerce or Magento theme
An accessibility fix that belongs in a shop’s theme is an edit to the theme’s own files; Validiscan delivers it as a pull request, an unpublished copy of a Shopify theme or a patch bundle, and the merchant or their developer puts it live.
- Updated
- Answers
- 7
- Covers
- Shopify, Shopware, WooCommerce, Magento
How are the guides written?
Every legal or statistical statement in a guide links to its primary source: the law on EUR-Lex or the national law portal, the standard’s publisher, the regulator. A statement that could not be checked against such a source is left out.
-
Sources
Each source is listed with its publisher, its own date where it has one, and the date it was checked.
-
Dates
Each guide shows when it was published and when it was last updated.
-
Scope
Each guide is information, not legal advice.
For what Validiscan checks and how, see the method and the standards and the rule catalogue.
Also in Knowledge
- Overlays and source fixes
What an accessibility overlay changes in the visitor’s browser and what it leaves as it was, and how a source fix differs.
- Rule catalogue
Every rule Validiscan’s scanner knows, with the WCAG criteria it tests, its impact, its fix tier and whether it runs in a scan.
- WCAG criteria
Each WCAG 2.2 success criterion at levels A and AA, the scanner’s rules that test it, and the manual check for it where the checklist has one.
- Glossary
Short definitions of the terms used on this site, in Validiscan’s customer portal and in the Remediation Evidence Package.
Start with a free check of your shop.
Send your shop’s address. Validiscan scans it and replies with every failure the scan can prove, with the page and the code.
Request a free checkOr write to info@validiscan.com.
What the free check covers, and what it leaves out- You send
- your shop’s address
- Pages scanned
- up to 15
- You get
- every failure the scan can prove, with the page and the code
- On your shop
- public pages only; no login, nothing bought, no forms sent
- What it is not
- a full audit