The short answer: since 28 June 2025 digital accessibility has been a European requirement for many private e-commerce and service websites too — not just for the public sector. And the good news is that an accessible site is not a compliance chore: it is a site that sells to more people.
What changed
The European Accessibility Act (transposed in each member state — in Italy, by Legislative Decree 82/2022) requires a range of digital products and services — e-commerce, banking, transport, communications — to be usable by people with disabilities as well: people who navigate with a keyboard, people using a screen reader, people who see little or struggle to distinguish colours. In practice: readable text, sufficient contrast, forms everyone can fill in, content people can understand.
It applies where the service is offered, not where the company sits: a business outside the EU selling to European consumers is inside the scope just the same.
Who it covers (and who it doesn’t)
It covers businesses selling services or products online to consumers. Service micro-enterprises are exempt: fewer than 10 staff and up to €2 million in turnover. If you fall inside the exemption there is no obligation — but two things are worth knowing: you can cross that threshold by growing, and accessibility remains a commercial advantage even for the exempt. In Italy, where we are based, one person in five lives with some form of disability: a site that shuts them out shuts out customers.
The practical view (without the alarmism)
There is no need to panic: what you need is to know where you stand. Most sites have fixable problems — contrast, form labels, alternative text — and an action plan ordered by priority costs far less than an emergency rebuild. Be wary of shortcuts, though: the “magic widgets” that promise accessibility in one line of code do not fix the site underneath, and abroad they have already brought penalties on those who sold them as complete solutions.
Where to start
With an honest snapshot. Our free scan tells you within 24 hours what automated tools detect on your site — while stating their limit openly: they cover around 30% of the criteria. For the full picture there is the compliance check-up, with a manual review and an action plan. Either way the result stays private, and you decide what to do with it.