Digital accessibility: what your website must comply with
3 min read below · WebYes knowledge base
What digital accessibility means, who is legally required to comply (EAA and government) and how to check whether your website measures up.
Digital accessibility means everyone can use your website, including people with a visual, auditory, motor or cognitive impairment. For governments and for many web shops and online services this is a legal requirement; the technical standard behind it is WCAG.
What does digital accessibility cover?
An accessible website works for visitors who use a screen reader, navigate by keyboard only, struggle with low contrast or find complex language hard to process. In practice it comes down to things like alt texts on images, sufficient colour contrast, a logical heading structure, forms with clear labels and buttons you can operate without a mouse.
The four base principles come from the international WCAG guidelines: perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. Meeting WCAG level AA covers the vast majority of the legal requirements.
Who is legally required to comply?
For the public sector the Dutch government accessibility decree applies: websites and apps of central government, provinces, municipalities, water boards and public-law bodies must be accessible and publish an accessibility statement.
For businesses the European Accessibility Act (EAA) has applied since 28 June 2025. It covers e-commerce services, meaning websites and apps where consumers can buy, book, reserve or sign up for something. According to the guidance from the Dutch regulator ACM, the obligation applies to businesses with 10 or more employees or an annual turnover above 2 million euros. Micro-enterprises below both thresholds are exempt.
Note: a quality mark or external audit is not legally required. The law demands that your service is accessible, not that you hold a certificate for it. An independent check does help you find out where you stand.
Which standard applies: WCAG 2.1 or 2.2?
The ACM uses WCAG level AA as the practical interpretation of the legal requirements and advises businesses to start working with WCAG 2.2, as that version is becoming the new standard for digital accessibility. If you are building or rebuilding now, test against WCAG 2.2 AA straight away; the differences with 2.1 are limited and the new criteria mainly matter for mobile use and forms.
The WebYes scan runs automated accessibility checks based on WCAG 2.2 AA. Automated checks do not catch everything (roughly 30 to 50 percent of the criteria can be tested by a machine), but they do find the most common problems: missing alt texts, insufficient contrast, empty links and buttons, and missing form labels.
Where do you start?
Start by measuring. An automated scan shows within minutes which basic problems exist. Fix the blockers first: navigation that cannot be operated, forms without labels and contrast below the standard. Then plan a manual review for the parts a machine cannot judge, such as the logic of error messages and the order of keyboard navigation.
Accessibility is not a one-off project. Every new page or feature can introduce new issues. Make it part of your build process and re-test periodically.
Related articles
What is WCAG? The guidelines for an accessible website
WCAG explained: the four principles, levels A, AA and AAA, the difference between 2.1 and 2.2 and how to test your website against the guidelines.
Mobile-friendly website: what does your site need to get right?
A mobile-friendly website works well on every screen. Read where it goes wrong in practice, what Google expects and how to test your own site.
Frequently asked questions
Is digital accessibility mandatory for every website?
No. The obligation applies to government organisations and, through the European Accessibility Act, to e-commerce and electronic communication services of businesses with 10 or more employees or over 2 million euros in annual turnover. A small portfolio site is not covered, but accessibility pays off even without a legal duty: it widens your reach and improves the experience for everyone.
Do I need an accessibility statement?
Government organisations must publish an accessibility statement. E-commerce services under the EAA also have a statement obligation: you explain how your service meets the accessibility rules, in a place that is easy to find.
Does the WebYes scan check accessibility?
Yes. Accessibility is one of the four pillars of the scan, alongside speed, security and mobile. We test automatically against WCAG 2.2 AA criteria and show per finding what is wrong and how to fix it.
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