Understanding the Accessibility Act: A Shopify Merchant’s Guide to EAA 2025

Learn how to make your Shopify store compliant with the European Accessibility Act (EAA). This guide covers legal requirements, practical steps, and tools to improve accessibility, avoid penalties, and unlock new growth across the EU market.

Key Takeaways

→ EAA compliance is mandatory for any Shopify store selling to EU customers — even if based outside the EU.
→ Shopify doesn’t guarantee accessibility out of the box — merchants must audit, test, and fix their stores manually.
→ Accessibility is not just a legal requirement—it improves UX, boosts SEO, and expands your customer base.

This blog is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Merchants should consult legal or accessibility compliance experts before making decisions or implementing changes based on the European Accessibility Act (EAA).

Understanding the European Accessibility Act (EAA)

If your Shopify store serves customers in the European Union, it doesn’t matter where your business is based—you’ll likely need to comply with the European Accessibility Act (EAA).

For U.S.-based businesses, this may sound familiar. 

You’ve probably heard of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Maybe you’ve even made changes to meet ADA guidelines. 

But heads up—ADA compliance isn’t the same as EAA compliance. 

The two laws share the goal of digital accessibility but differ in scope, enforcement, and specific requirements.

The EAA represents the biggest shift to digital accessibility in Europe’s history. 

For Shopify store owners, understanding this legislation is critical if you want to stay in the EU market.

What is the EAA, and Why it Matters

The European Accessibility Act (EAA) is an EU-wide law that makes digital accessibility mandatory for online businesses. 

It applies to any Shopify store serving EU customers—even if that store is based outside the EU. If someone in the EU can browse, select, and buy from your site, you’re within scope.

The law specifically includes ecommerce, defining it as any platform that allows users to complete a purchase through a digital interface. 

‘e-commerce services’ means services provided at a distance, through websites and mobile device-based services by electronic means and at the individual request of a consumer with a view to concluding a consumer contract”

That means your product listings, checkout experience, support systems, and mobile functionality all fall under the EAA’s umbrella.

At the heart of the EAA is WCAG 2.1 Level AA, a widely adopted set of web accessibility guidelines. These are built on four key principles:

• Perceivable – Content must be accessible to people with visual impairments (e.g. alt text for images, readable fonts, captions).
• Operable – Your site must work with assistive technologies and allow keyboard-only navigation.
• Understandable – Labels, forms, and menus must be clear and predictable.
• Robust – Code must be compatible with screen readers and adaptable to future tech.

Compliance means implementing and maintaining features like alt text, keyboard support, resizable text, and sufficient color contrast. 

It also means regular testing—automated and manual—and documenting your results.

Who Needs to Comply

If your store targets customers in the EU, you are subject to the EAA—regardless of where your business is based. 

This includes dropshipping stores, print-on-demand sites, and any digital storefront that markets to or ships to the EU.

Microenterprise Exception

The European Accessibility Act provides a limited exemption for certain businesses under specific conditions:

According to Recital 35 of the Directive:

“This Directive contains exemptions for microenterprises providing services.”

This refers to businesses with fewer than 10 employees and annual turnover or balance sheet total not exceeding €2 million. However, the exemption:

• Primarily applies to services, not physical product sales.
• Does not automatically apply—it must be assessed and justified.

Even if you qualify, you’re still required to:

• Publish an accessibility statement
• Indicate which parts of the service are not accessible
• Provide an alternative contact point for customers with disabilities

In addition, the Directive allows for a disproportionate burden defense, but sets a high threshold for approval.

Per Annex VI, businesses must formally assess and document:

“Ratio of the net costs of compliance with accessibility requirements to the overall costs (operating and capital expenditures) of manufacturing, distributing or importing the product or providing the service for the economic operators.”

This means evaluating the cost of compliance in proportion to your total operational and capital costs for the affected ecommerce services. 

Factors such as company size, financial capacity, and the impact of compliance on business viability are considered.

In practice, most Shopify merchants are unlikely to qualify under either exemption. 

With modern tools reducing implementation costs, it’s often more practical—and legally sound—to focus on building accessibility into your store rather than pursuing exemptions.

Scope and Specifics

“Some activities that take place via websites and mobile applications of public sector bodies, such as passenger transport services or e-commerce services, which fall within the scope of this Directive, should in addition comply with the applicable accessibility requirements of this Directive in order to ensure that the online sale of products and services is accessible for persons with disabilities… (Recital 46)

The EAA covers websites and mobile apps used for the sale of goods or services. This includes:

• Browsing product pages
• Filtering options
• Cart and checkout flow
• Customer support tools like chat and contact forms
• Mobile responsiveness and touch controls

Starting June 28, 2025, EU market surveillance authorities began enforcing these rules. 

Non-compliant stores risk penalties, removal notices, or even having their sites blocked in certain EU countries.

Shopify and Accessibility: What the Platform Offers (and Doesn’t)

Shopify includes some basic accessibility features, but they’re not enough to guarantee full EAA compliance. 

You’ll need to understand where the platform helps—and where it doesn’t.

Does Shopify support EAA compliance out of the box?

Shopify offers a decent starting point:

• Merchants can add alt text and edit code.
• Some default themes follow basic accessibility guidelines.
• The admin dashboard has partial keyboard accessibility.

But these features are not consistent across all themes, apps, or customer-facing experiences. 

Many third-party apps introduce new accessibility problems. 

Even Shopify’s own checkout flow has areas that are difficult to use with a screen reader or keyboard.

Limitations of Shopify Accessibility Features

Across hundreds of audits, common issues continue to appear:

Keyboard Navigation

Many themes have broken tab order or trap keyboard focus. 

Dropdown menus and modals often fail to function without a mouse, making the site unusable for people who rely on keyboards or assistive devices.

Color Contrast

Default color schemes in popular themes often fail minimum contrast ratios. 

Light text on light backgrounds, or low-contrast buttons, are difficult to read—especially on mobile.

Alt Text

Shopify allows you to add alt text to images, but doesn’t enforce it. 

As a result, many merchants skip it or use non-descriptive alt tags that don’t help screen readers. Decorative images are often incorrectly labeled, while important visuals go untagged.

Responsive Design

Not all Shopify themes scale well across devices. 

Text can become too small, layouts break when zoomed, and some elements disappear entirely on smaller screens. This impacts users with low vision or motor impairments.

User Personalization

Shopify doesn’t provide built-in controls for users to change font size, toggle contrast modes, or reduce motion. 

These features can be added using third-party tools, but require careful implementation.

Checkout Barriers

The checkout experience includes form fields that are unlabeled or inaccessible to screen readers. 

Error messages aren’t properly linked to fields, making it hard for users to recover from mistakes. 

Some payment gateways have their own accessibility issues, which can cause abandonment.

Shopify Accessibility Summary

How to Build an EAA-Compliant Shopify Store

Building an EAA-compliant Shopify store requires more than just good intentions—it takes careful planning, the right tools, and ongoing maintenance to meet the Accessibility Act’s requirements by 2025.

Step 1: Audit your online store’s accessibility

Start with an audit. 

Run your store through automated tools like WAVE, axe DevTools, and Lighthouse. These detect issues like missing alt text, low contrast, or incorrect headings.

But don’t stop there. Automated tools catch only about 30% of real-world issues. 

You need manual testing too.

• Navigate your site using only a keyboard.
• Try using a screen reader like NVDA or VoiceOver.
• Attempt to browse, search, and check out—can you complete the journey without a mouse?

Use WCAG 2.1 AA checklists to document what works and what needs fixing. This becomes your action plan.

Mistake to Avoid: Relying on one audit tool or skipping manual testing. You’ll miss real-world issues every time.

Step 2: Implement accessible design

Design plays a major role in accessibility. 

Start by selecting a theme that supports accessibility. Test the demo with keyboard navigation and check for basic compliance.

Pay attention to:

• Font size (at least 16px for body text)
• Color contrast (4.5:1 for text)
• Spacing between interactive elements (at least 44x44px for tap targets)

Use semantic HTML with proper heading structure. Every page should have one H1, followed by logical subheadings. Don’t skip heading levels.

A clean, structured layout helps everyone—including search engines and users with cognitive disabilities.

Reminder: Better design = better UX = better conversions.

Mistake to Avoid: Choosing a visually cool theme with broken navigation or poor contrast. Function beats flair every time.

Step 3: Optimize content

Write in plain language. Break up long blocks of text. Use short sentences and clear calls to action.

For images:

• Add meaningful alt text to product images.
• Use empty alt tags for decorative graphics.
• Provide long descriptions for complex images like charts or infographics.

All videos should have captions. If videos are essential for product understanding, consider providing a text-based transcript as well.

ARIA roles help screen readers understand your site’s structure. Use them thoughtfully to label navigation menus, interactive filters, and dynamic elements.

Reminder: Alt text = better accessibility and better SEO.

Mistake to Avoid: Stuffing alt text with keywords or skipping it altogether. Both hurt more than they help.

Step 4: Ensure accessible navigation

Navigation must work for all users, including those who rely on screen readers or keyboards.

Make sure your DOM order matches the visual order. Don’t use CSS to rearrange content. Add skip links that let users jump to main content.

Custom focus indicators help keyboard users understand where they are on the page. Use contrasting outlines or animations.

Touch targets should be large enough and spaced apart to prevent accidental taps. On mobile, this is especially important.

Forms need real labels—not just placeholders. Use fieldsets and legends for grouped fields, and make sure error messages are tied to the correct input.

Reminder: Accessible navigation isn’t just for screen reader users—it improves the experience for everyone.

Mistake to Avoid: Using fancy dropdowns or modals that trap keyboard focus. These are accessibility killers.

Step 5: Create and publish an accessibility statement and contact point

The EAA requires transparency. Publish an accessibility statement that:

• Outlines your accessibility efforts
• Notes current limitations and plans to fix them
• Provides multiple contact options for support (email, form, phone)

Keep this page updated as you improve your site. A well-written statement shows commitment and reduces legal risk.

Reminder: Accessibility is a journey. Show customers you’re on it.

Mistake to Avoid: Copy-pasting a generic statement. It’s obvious—and it won’t cover you legally.

Speed as an Accessibility Feature

As you work toward EAA compliance, there’s something most merchants overlook: accessibility isn’t just about alt text or screen reader support—it’s also about performance.

Page load speed directly affects users with cognitive disabilities, visual impairments using screen readers, and those relying on keyboard navigation. Heavy accessibility widgets, poorly optimized themes, and custom scripts can bog down your site—ironically making it less accessible despite good intentions.

This is where tools like Hyperspeed come in. Hyperspeed helps Shopify merchants optimize performance by intelligently deferring scripts, cleaning up bloated code, and speeding up the entire browsing experience—without breaking critical accessibility features.

Faster load times mean smoother interactions, especially for users on assistive tech or mobile devices with slow connections. In short, speed isn’t just about SEO—it’s about usability for everyone.

Accessibility and performance go hand-in-hand. As you improve compliance, don’t forget the role performance plays in delivering a truly inclusive experience.

Tools and Resources for Shopify Accessibility

The right tools save time, reduce guesswork, and make EAA compliance more manageable.

Here’s what works best for Shopify stores:

Shopify-specific accessibility apps

• EqualWeb – Offers automatic fixes, monitoring, and assistive tech compatibility. Adds features like text resizing and keyboard navigation improvements.
• Accessibly – Adds a customizable accessibility widget for text size, contrast, and display options. Also generates basic reports.
• All-in-One Accessibility – Combines overlays with real fixes. Adds ARIA roles, keyboard support, and progress tracking.

General testing tools

Use these to validate your compliance:

• Easy Checks by W3C – Simple tests for page titles, alt text, headings, and keyboard access.
• axe Pro / WAVE Pro / Siteimprove – Full WCAG scans with detailed reports.
• Browser Plugins – axe DevTools, WAVE, Lighthouse for hands-on testing.

Finding accessible Shopify themes

Look for themes that come with accessibility documentation:

• Ask for a VPAT or Accessibility Conformance Report.
• Contact developers and ask if they test for screen reader and keyboard use.
• Run demos through accessibility scanners before purchase.

Test how the theme handles ecommerce features—filters, variant selectors, reviews, and checkout. Some themes break down in real use.

Training and Maintenance

Anyone touching your site should understand accessibility basics.

• Train on how to write alt text, check color contrast, and structure headings.
• Make accessibility part of onboarding.
• Share stories about how fixes improved sales or customer satisfaction.

Maintaining ongoing compliance

• Schedule automated scans weekly.
• Run manual tests quarterly.
• Keep a changelog of fixes.

Recruit users with disabilities to test your store and provide feedback. Pay them for their time. Their insights are often more valuable than automated reports.

Follow updates to WCAG and regional laws. Assign an accessibility lead to own the process.

Accessibility Laws Beyond the EAA

The European Accessibility Act (EAA 2025) is a major milestone, but it’s not the only accessibility law affecting Shopify merchants. If your online store serves customers globally, you may also need to comply with other regional legislation like the ADA, AODA, or Section 508.

ADA (United States)

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) applies to U.S.-based businesses and any store serving U.S. customers. While originally focused on physical spaces, courts now interpret it to include websites and ecommerce.

Common violations include:

• Inaccessible checkout flows
• Missing or incorrect alt text
• Broken keyboard navigation

Lawsuits are frequent and costly. The same accessibility issues that violate the EAA will likely violate the ADA, too.

AODA (Canada)

The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) requires WCAG 2.0 Level AA compliance for businesses serving customers in Ontario.

Key notes:

• Applies to ecommerce and digital services
• Enforcement currently targets larger orgs, but expands over time
• Includes rules for customer service and information access

Section 508 (United States)

Section 508 is a U.S. federal law requiring accessible tech and digital content for government agencies and contractors.

Even if it doesn’t apply directly to your store:

• It sets a strong precedent in the U.S. market
• It aligns with WCAG 2.1 Level AA, just like the EAA
• Many companies adopt it to future-proof their accessibility practices

How global laws interact with Shopify’s platform

Most accessibility laws—whether it’s the EAA, ADA, or AODA—reference the WCAG 2.1 Level AA standard. That’s good news: building your Shopify store to meet this standard covers most major legal requirements across regions.

The key is to align with the highest standard that applies to your business. In most cases, that’s the EAA. If you comply with it, you’re in a strong position globally.

That said, enforcement varies:

• The U.S. sees frequent civil lawsuits
• The EU relies on market surveillance and penalties
• Canada mixes reporting requirements with phased enforcement

Watch trends in your target markets. Staying proactive helps you avoid last-minute compliance scrambles—and the legal mess that follows.

Why global accessibility compliance futureproofs your ecommerce business

More countries are adopting accessibility laws. 

Getting compliant now prepares your store for future regulations. It also makes your store usable by a larger, often underserved market segment.

Accessibility supports SEO, improves UX, and increases conversions. It’s no longer a bonus—it’s part of doing business well.

The Real Opportunity Behind Compliance

The EAA isn’t just another regulation to survive—it’s a chance to transform your Shopify store. While others scramble to avoid penalties, smart merchants use accessibility to unlock growth, trust, and long-term advantage.

Accessibility isn’t just legal—it’s strategic

When you make your store accessible, you don’t just help people with disabilities—you improve the experience for everyone.

• Better navigation reduces friction and boosts conversions
• Clear content lowers support tickets
• Inclusive design brings in loyal customers who’ve been left out for years

Touch targets help mobile users. High contrast helps older customers. Even keyboard navigation benefits busy parents with one hand on the stroller and the other on the keyboard. 

Accessibility = good UX.

And once you meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA, you’ll start to see a ripple effect:

• SEO improves through better structure and alt text
• Abandoned carts drop with clearer, more usable forms
• Customer satisfaction climbs—and so does retention

Inclusive ecommerce = better UX + SEO + customer trust

Search engines love accessible sites. Proper headings, fast load times, and meaningful alt text all improve search rankings—and image visibility.

Customers notice too. Accessibility sends a signal: everyone’s welcome here. That builds brand loyalty, sparks word-of-mouth, and draws in a broader audience—including the massive disability community often underserved in ecommerce.

Accessible stores also just work better—on slow connections, outdated devices, and in unexpected browsing conditions. This kind of resilience isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s an edge.

Your next steps: Make a plan, use the tools, avoid the fines

Compliance isn’t a single fix. It’s a process. But it’s one you can start today.

1. Audit your store—identify the biggest gaps
2. Fix the essentials—navigation, product pages, checkout
3. Use the right tools—combine automation with real testing
4. Train your team—bake accessibility into your content workflow

The stores that thrive after 2025 will be the ones that saw accessibility not as a checkbox, but as a competitive advantage. Your store can be one of them.

One Last Thing: Don’t Let Accessibility Slow You Down

Adding accessibility widgets, apps, and custom code can unintentionally slow your Shopify store—hurting both UX and compliance.

Site speed is an accessibility issue too—especially for users on assistive tech or mobile connections.

That’s why tools like Hyperspeed matter. It helps you keep your store fast, lean, and inclusive—without compromising your accessibility upgrades.

Because what’s the point of being compliant… if no one can load the page?

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Does the European Accessibility Act apply to Shopify stores outside the EU?

Yes. The European Accessibility Act (EAA) applies to any Shopify online store that offers ecommerce services to EU customers. Compliance is mandatory regardless of where the business is based, and non-compliance can lead to fines or enforcement by market surveillance authorities.

What are the key accessibility requirements under the EAA 2025?

Under the EAA, Shopify merchants must meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA accessibility standards, which include alt text, keyboard navigation, clear labels, and accessible navigation across their online store, checkout process, and support systems to ensure usability for people with disabilities.

Are micro enterprises or small businesses exempt from EAA compliance?

Only micro enterprises (fewer than 10 employees and under €2M turnover) offering digital services may be exempt. However, they must still publish an accessibility statement, identify limitations, offer a contact point, and prove that meeting accessibility requirements is a disproportionate burden.

How can Shopify merchants check their store’s accessibility status?

Merchants should use both automated audit tools and manual testing to evaluate their online store against WCAG 2.1. Check for missing alt text, broken keyboard navigation, poor color contrast, and ensure screen reader compatibility across all ecommerce touchpoints.

What are the risks of not complying with the European Accessibility Act?

Non-compliant Shopify ecommerce stores face legal requirements enforcement through market surveillance, which can result in penalties, fines, takedown notices, or being blocked in EU markets. Compliance also reduces risk of lawsuits and supports inclusive digital services.