Quick Answer
Yes, the EAA can apply to companies established outside the EU when they place covered products on the Union market or provide, or offer to provide, covered services to consumers in the Union. There is also no single EAA "deadline" for every situation: the main application date was June 28, 2025, while specific transitional arrangements run through June 28, 2030, and certain self-service terminals can remain in use for up to 20 years.
Introduction
"We're not based in the EU, so this doesn't apply to us" is a reasonable-sounding assumption, and it's also not how the Directive actually works.
The European Accessibility Act (official website), formally Directive (EU) 2019/882, establishes its scope around the Union market and consumers in the Union, not around where a company is headquartered. A business established outside the EU can fall within the Directive's scope when it places a covered product on the Union market or provides, or offers to provide, a covered service to consumers in the Union. The obligations that follow depend on the specific role involved, whether the company is acting as a manufacturer, importer, distributor, or service provider.
The deadline question adds another layer of confusion. There isn't one date that answers "are we compliant yet." June 28, 2025 is the main application date, but it sits alongside a separate transitional period running through 2030 for certain existing arrangements, and an even longer window for some hardware already in use. Treating any single one of these dates as the whole answer misses the actual structure of the law.
This guide walks through what actually determines whether the EAA applies to a non-EU company, which products and services it covers, what each relevant date actually means, and what a non-EU company practically needs to do about it.
Does the EAA Actually Apply to Companies Outside the EU?
What actually determines whether the EAA applies
Scope depends on a combination of factors, not a single test. The product or service has to be one the Directive actually covers, checked against the specific categories listed further down in this guide, not against a general sense of "digital product or service." The relevant connection to the Union depends on the activity and circumstances, not simply on the fact that a small number of EU customers can technically access a product.
The specific economic operator role involved, manufacturer, importer, distributor, or service provider, affects which obligations apply, since a company acting as a distributor faces a different set of duties than one acting as the original manufacturer. And any relevant exemption or transitional provision, covered later in this guide, needs to be checked before assuming the full set of requirements applies. "We have some customers in the EU" is the start of this question, not the end of it.
Example: a non-EU e-commerce business serving EU consumers
E-commerce is one of the Directive's explicitly listed covered services, which makes it a clear example. A company established outside the EU that provides an e-commerce service to consumers in the Union can fall within the Directive's scope, provided the specific service and circumstances meet the Directive's requirements. The location of the company's servers, staff, or registered office isn't the relevant factor; the connection to consumers in the Union is.
Which Products and Services Does the EAA Cover?
The Directive doesn't apply to digital products and services generally. It lists specific categories.
Covered products
These include general-purpose computer hardware systems and their operating systems, certain self-service terminals such as payment terminals, ATMs, ticketing machines, and check-in machines, consumer terminal equipment used for electronic communications or for accessing audiovisual media, and e-readers. Interactive self-service terminals installed as an integrated part of a vehicle, aircraft, ship, or rolling stock are specifically excluded from this Directive's scope, since that equipment falls outside what the Directive covers in the first place.
Covered services
These include electronic communications services, services providing access to audiovisual media, specific elements of air, bus, rail, and waterborne passenger transport, such as real-time travel information and self-service terminals used in the journey, consumer banking services, e-books, and e-commerce.
A company offering a service that appears similar to one of these categories, such as a subscription content platform, a fintech product, or a booking tool, should not assume that it is covered or excluded based only on that similarity. The actual service should be assessed against the relevant definition in the Directive.
Why having EU customers alone isn't enough
A company with EU customers still needs to check whether what it actually sells or provides falls into one of these listed categories. A product or service outside this list isn't brought into EAA scope just because it happens to be sold to someone in the EU. And because the Directive's covered services are framed around services provided to consumers, meaning natural persons acting outside their trade, business, or profession, a service offered exclusively to business customers will generally call for a separate scope analysis rather than assuming that the service is automatically outside scope.
Why products and services are treated as two separate questions
It's worth being explicit about this, since it shapes everything that follows in this guide. A company that manufactures a covered product answers to a different part of the Directive than a company that provides a covered service, and a company doing both, say, selling e-readers directly to EU consumers through its own e-commerce platform, needs to work through both sets of obligations rather than assuming one covers the other. Products go through the manufacturer, importer, distributor, and authorised representative framework described later in this guide. Services go through a separate framework that places the obligations directly on the service provider. Treating these as one undifferentiated "EAA compliance" question, rather than two related but distinct ones, can leave a real gap in what a company actually addresses.
What Is "The" EAA Deadline, Exactly?
June 28, 2025
This is the Directive's main application date. Covered products placed on the EU market after this date, and covered services provided to consumers after this date, need to meet the applicable accessibility requirements. As the next two sections show, it isn't the only date that matters in practice.
The transitional period through June 28, 2030
The Directive provides for a transitional period ending June 28, 2030, during which service providers may continue providing services using products that were already lawfully in use before June 28, 2025. Separately, service contracts agreed before June 28, 2025 can continue without alteration until they expire, but for no longer than five years from that date, meaning the latest any such contract can run is June 2030. This is specific transitional treatment for existing arrangements a service provider already had in place, not a general five-year grace period for building compliance from scratch.
Self-service terminals and possible continued use
For hardware specifically, the Directive allows member states to permit self-service terminals that were already lawfully in use before June 28, 2025 to continue in service until the end of their economically useful life, subject to a maximum of 20 years after they first entered use. That "may" matters. It's a possibility a member state can choose to allow, not an automatic 20-year exemption written directly into every company's obligations, and it applies to hardware already installed, not to new terminals placed into service after the application date.
What Do Non-EU Companies Actually Need to Do?
Product supply-chain roles
The Directive defines several roles: the manufacturer, the importer, the distributor, and the authorised representative. A manufacturer may, by written mandate, appoint an authorised representative established in the EU to carry out specified tasks on its behalf, such as keeping technical documentation available to market surveillance authorities and cooperating with them on compliance questions.
That mandate cannot include the manufacturer's core accessibility obligations or the drawing up of technical documentation; those responsibilities stay with the manufacturer regardless of who else is involved in the supply chain.
The EU-established economic operator question
Separately from the EAA itself, Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 on market surveillance establishes an EU market-surveillance framework under which certain products covered by the legislation specified in that Regulation may only be placed on the Union market when an economic operator established in the Union is responsible for specified tasks.
Depending on the applicable framework, that operator may be an EU-established manufacturer, importer, authorised representative, or, in certain circumstances, a fulfilment service provider. Whether this framework applies to a specific EAA-covered product, and which role fits a particular company's supply chain, is worth confirming directly rather than assuming, since it depends on the product category involved.
Service provider obligations
For services, the Directive places the relevant accessibility obligations on the service provider itself, rather than creating the same product supply-chain roles used for manufacturers, importers, and distributors. That includes maintaining the service in a way that continues to meet the applicable accessibility requirements and taking corrective action if it stops doing so.
Is Anyone Exempt?
The microenterprise exemption, for covered services
The Directive defines a microenterprise as an organization with fewer than 10 employees and an annual turnover or balance sheet total not exceeding €2 million. Microenterprises providing covered services are exempt from the Directive's service accessibility requirements.
Products are not covered by that exemption
This exemption does not extend to covered products. A microenterprise manufacturing, importing, or distributing a covered product still has obligations under the Directive, even if a lighter documentation approach may apply in some circumstances.
Disproportionate burden and fundamental alteration
Separately, an economic operator can determine that specific accessibility requirements would require a fundamental alteration to the basic nature of a product or service, or would impose a disproportionate burden. This isn't a blanket exemption an organization can simply claim by asserting it. It requires a documented assessment using the criteria set out by the Directive, including the relevant costs, benefits, and the resources available to the operator, and that assessment must be retained and reviewed as required by the Directive.
What Happens If a Company Does Not Meet the EAA Requirements?
Enforcement runs through national market surveillance authorities in each member state, for products, and separate compliance procedures for services. The available measures include requiring corrective action from the company, restricting or prohibiting a non-compliant product from being made available, and market withdrawal where necessary.
Member states set their own specific penalties, which the Directive requires to be effective, proportionate, and dissuasive, so the specific penalties and enforcement measures depend on the applicable national rules and circumstances. A company's establishment outside the EU does not, by itself, remove a covered product or service from the Directive's scope.
If your organization needs help understanding how the EAA applies to your products or services, you can get in touch with BarrierBreak for accessibility support.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the EAA apply if a company has no physical presence in the EU at all?
It can. Scope depends on whether a covered product is placed on the EU market or a covered service is provided, or offered, to consumers in the EU, not on where the company operates from. A company can fall within scope even without a physical establishment in the EU.
What counts as "providing a service to EU consumers?
It means providing a covered service on the Union market, or making an offer to provide that service, to consumers in the Union. The exact scope depends on the specific service category and the circumstances of the offering, including whether the service is provided on the Union market or offered to consumers in the Union.
Do non-EU companies need an EU authorised representative under the EAA?
For products, a manufacturer may appoint one by written mandate. Separately, Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 can require an EU-established economic operator in the supply chain for products covered by the legislation it specifies, a role that can be filled by a manufacturer, importer, authorised representative, or, in some circumstances, a fulfilment service provider, depending on how the supply chain is structured. For services, there's no equivalent representative structure; the service provider itself holds the obligations directly.
What transitional provisions apply to products or services already in use before June 28, 2025?
Service providers get a transitional period through June 28, 2030 to keep using products that were already lawfully in service, and existing service contracts can run until they expire, capped at five years from June 28, 2025. Self-service terminals may get a longer window, up to 20 years after entering use, where a member state chooses to allow it.
Does meeting WCAG 2.1 AA satisfy EAA requirements on its own?
No. WCAG conformance can be relevant to meeting accessibility requirements for certain digital components, but the EAA covers specific products and services and includes requirements that go beyond what WCAG conformance addresses on its own.
Do micro-enterprises selling products get any exemption at all?
Not the same exemption available to service providers. The Directive's microenterprise relief applies to covered services; a microenterprise dealing in covered products still has obligations under the Directive.
Further Reading
EAA Digital Accessibility Compliance: What the Carrefour Ruling Teaches Every Business