Accessibility
The European Accessibility Act (EAA) came into effect on June 28, 2025, fundamentally transforming how digital products must serve users with disabilities across the EU market. For our business, this means every digital touchpoint must meet strict accessibility standards or face severe consequences (up to 5% of annual turnover or €250,000 per violation). It may seem like the EAA only applies to Europe, but that’s not the case — in the US there’s the ADA initiative, which has been in effect even longer, and some of our digital products (like SheetMusicPlus) have already been subject to lawsuits.Here is the EAA compliance project where you can find all the details.
Requirements
This table reflects the necessary steps to achieve a minimum level of compliance with the requirements of Directive (EU) 2019/882 on Accessibility Requirements for Products and Services (European Accessibility Act). We see this work as a priority not only from a user experience perspective, but also to mitigate legal and reputational risks. As our legal counsel noted after reviewing the directive's requirements:
Regulatory penalties: fines up to 5% of turnover, product/service withdrawal from EU markets. Reputational harm. Loss of access to EU partnerships.
Fines and service withdrawal can become quite substantial so we want to ensure there's at least a minimum compliance occurring.
Non-compliance could result in significant financial losses, restricted access to EU markets, and undermine the trust of partners and users. Our aim is therefore to ensure at least a basic level of compliance at all levels where applicable.
Category
Checking
Status
Notes
Content
The entire text is written in a clear and simple manner that is free of jargon.
All images have alternate text
There are descriptions and captions for the video and audio
Need
Need
Done
Important for cognitive accessibility
alt for <img>, aria-label for decorative elements
Subtitles, transcriptions
Navigation and layout
Everything is accessible from the keyboard (Tab, Enter, Space)
Logical sequence of focus
Used :focus-visible, you can see where the focus is located
ARIA markup
Add descriptive link text
Need
Done
Need
Need
Done
Make sure you can use it without a mouse
The order of tabulation is logical and predictable
For example, circling or highlighting an element
The layout should be delineated logically through aria
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Components
Design system components with a11y support are used
All interactive elements have a role and an aria-* where needed
Done
Done
You cannot use “hand-held” elements without markings
Custom dropdowns, for example.
Colours and contrast
Text contrast complies with WCAG 2.1 AA (minimum 4.5:1)
There's no conveying meaning through color alone
Need
Need
Check with [Lighthouse] or [Accessible Colors]
For example: errors not only in red, but also in icon or text
Semantics and structure
Use <h1>...<h6> for headings in the correct hierarchy
Forms have <label>or aria-label
Done
Done
You can't skip header levels
For screen readers
Mobility and adaptability
The interface works correctly at 200% scaling
Everything is readable on mobile and in “enlarged text” mode
Done
Done
No horizontal scrolling
Test on emulators and real devices
Testing
Tested by Lighthouse, Wave or Axe-core
Manual testing: Tab, screen reader, zoom, color blindness
Done
Need
CI/CD integration
At least one person has to go down this path
Feedback and support
There is a contact to complain about inaccessibility
The a11y errors are logged as bugs in the task tracker
Accessibility document next to praivasi polisi
Done
Done
Need
For example: accessibility@yourcompany.com
A11y = not a nice to have, but a must-have
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