The European Accessibility Act (EAA) is one of the most significant pieces of digital regulation since GDPR, and many Malta businesses are unprepared. By 28 June 2025, products and services covered by the directive must meet accessibility requirements — including websites and mobile applications used in eCommerce. If your business sells products or services online to European consumers, this affects you. Here is what you need to know and do.
What the EAA Requires
The European Accessibility Act (Directive 2019/882) requires that certain products and services be accessible to people with disabilities. For digital businesses, this primarily applies to eCommerce websites and apps, banking and financial services, telecommunications, transport services, and e-books. The Act mandates that these services be perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust — the same POUR principles that underpin the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
In practical terms, this means your website must be navigable by keyboard, compatible with screen readers, provide sufficient colour contrast, include text alternatives for images, offer captions for video content, and avoid interactions that rely solely on colour, sound, or mouse gestures.
Who Is Affected in Malta
- eCommerce businesses: Any online shop selling to EU consumers must ensure their website meets accessibility standards. This includes product pages, checkout flows, account management, and customer support channels.
- Financial services: Banking apps, insurance platforms, and fintech services must be accessible. Given Malta's strong financial services sector, this affects a significant number of local businesses.
- iGaming operators: While not explicitly named in the directive, Malta-based iGaming companies serving EU markets should consider accessibility compliance as part of their regulatory obligations.
- Microenterprises: Businesses with fewer than 10 employees and annual turnover below EUR 2 million are exempt. However, making your site accessible is still good practice and expands your potential customer base.
Steps Toward Compliance
Start with an accessibility audit of your current website. Use automated tools like axe DevTools, Lighthouse, or WAVE to identify technical issues. Then conduct manual testing with keyboard navigation and screen readers (NVDA for Windows, VoiceOver for Mac). Automated tools catch roughly 30-40% of accessibility issues — the rest require human evaluation.
Prioritise fixes based on user impact. Broken form labels, missing alt text, insufficient contrast, and keyboard traps are the most common issues and typically the easiest to fix. Then address more complex issues like dynamic content updates, complex widgets, and multimedia accessibility. Document your accessibility efforts in an accessibility statement published on your website.
Penalties and Enforcement
Each EU member state, including Malta, is responsible for implementing enforcement mechanisms. Penalties vary by country but must be "effective, proportionate, and dissuasive." In addition to regulatory penalties, inaccessible websites face growing litigation risk. In the US, digital accessibility lawsuits have increased dramatically — a trend that is beginning to spread to Europe. Proactive compliance is significantly cheaper than reactive remediation after a complaint.
Beyond Compliance: The Business Case
Accessibility is not just a legal obligation — it is good business. Over 100 million people in the EU have some form of disability. Accessible websites also benefit elderly users, people with temporary impairments, and anyone using a device in challenging conditions. Accessible design tends to improve overall usability, SEO performance, and mobile experience for all users. At Born Digital, we build accessibility into every project because it is the right thing to do and because it makes our clients' websites better for everyone.