I’ll cut straight to the chase, prison time.
The European Accessibility Act (EAA) is implemented in Ireland through the European Union (Accessibility Requirements of Products and Services) Regulations 2023. It ensures that products and services are accessible to people with disabilities. This includes sectors like e-commerce, telecommunications, banking, transport, and technology products. It takes effect on June 28, 2025.
Businesses must meet these accessibility requirements by the deadline to avoid penalties.
In Ireland, non-compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) can lead to significant penalties under the European Accessibility Act (EAA). Organisations that fail to meet the accessibility requirements by June 28, 2025, may face fines ranging from €5,000 to €60,000, up to 18 months in prison, or both. These penalties apply to both public and private sector organisations, including those offering digital products and services. In effect every website.
In Ireland the National Disability Authority (NDA) publishes a Code of Practice to provide guidance for meeting legal obligations under the Disability Act, recommending Level AA conformance with the latest version of WCAG.
The current version of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) is WCAG 2.2, which was published on December 12, 2024 (https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/) (https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG22/). This version includes updates and new success criteria to improve web accessibility.
WCAG 3.0 is still in the development phase. The latest working draft was published on December 12, 2024 (https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/wcag3-intro/) (https://www.w3.org/TR/wcag-3.0/). WCAG 3.0 aims to provide a more flexible and comprehensive approach to web accessibility, with a different structure and conformance model compared to WCAG 2.x. It is expected to take a few more years before it becomes a finalized standard.