From mid-2025, websites that provide electronic services must be accessible. This is stipulated in the German Accessibility Reinforcement Act (BFSG), implementing European guidelines. The law also affects Swiss companies that offer products and services in the EU or Germany.
In this blog post, we explain who is affected by the changes, what you need to look out for to be compliant and how you can evaluate your website with our handy checklist.
Situational Disability Affects All of Us
Accessibility on the web enables or facilitates participation for people with different needs and disabilities. This affects more people than we tend to think, because:
What Does the New Law Mean for Your Company?
The legislative change affects you directly if you manufacture, import or trade in devices in the following categories:
Computers, laptops, tablets, smartphones, mobile phones; ATMs and automatic ticket and check-in machines; televisions with internet access; eReaders or routers.
It also affects you if your company offers any of the following services:
Telephone services, eBooks, messenger services; services offered on mobile devices
(including apps) by national passenger services; banking services, electronic business transactions as well as passenger services (in the case of municipal, suburban and regional transport services, interactive self-service terminals only).
What if Your Company Does Not Meet the Legal Requirements?
In case of suspected violations, the law provides for a request to remedy the deficiencies. If these are not rectified, a reminder is issued under threat of discontinuation of the service. In the event of further refusal, fines of up to 100,000 euros or forced discontinuation may be imposed.
How Do You Protect Yourself From Legal Action?
As a digital agency, we cannot give you a legal guarantee. But we can offer tools to help you check whether your website adheres to the four basic principles of accessibility, as defined in the standards and guidelines.
Focus on these four cornerstones:
Is your content:
Perceivable?
Operable?
Understandable?
Robust?
For an initial self-assessment, we provide a free checklist that you can download:
Download checkliste now
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