Regulations that apply
- European Accessibility Act (EAA)EU
Mandatory for B2C online stores from 28 June 2025; covers all consumer-facing functionality.
- ADA Title IIIUnited States
Applied to commercial websites by US courts; settlements regularly reach $50K–$500K.
- AODAOntario, Canada
WCAG 2.0 AA for any commercial site doing business in Ontario.
The accessibility risks specific to E-commerce
- Inaccessible checkout flow1.3.1, 3.3.2, 4.1.2
Form labels, error identification, payment-method radios, and address autocomplete are top failure points.
- Mouse-only product variant pickers2.1.1
Color and size swatches that ignore keyboard exclude shoppers who cannot use a mouse.
- Search results without status announcements4.1.3
Filter changes update product lists but do not announce result counts.
- Image-driven UI without alt text1.1.1
Product photos, brand logos, and icon buttons frequently ship with empty or filename-as-alt.
E-commerce risks in Certvo scan data
E-commerce risks map to 1.3.1, 3.3.2, 4.1.2, 2.1.1, 4.1.3, 1.1.1. Failure rates below cover all 1,569 sites in the Certvo Web Accessibility Report 2026 (not split by industry).
- WCAG 1.3.1 Info and RelationshipsLevel A
22.4% of sites failed it (#5 of 16).
- WCAG 3.3.2 Labels or InstructionsLevel A
No automated failures recorded; test it by hand.
- WCAG 4.1.2 Name, Role, ValueLevel A
67.0% of sites failed it (#1 of 16).
- WCAG 2.1.1 KeyboardLevel A
6.7% of sites failed it (#7 of 16).
- WCAG 4.1.3 Status MessagesLevel AA
No automated failures recorded; test it by hand.
- WCAG 1.1.1 Non-text ContentLevel A
29.9% of sites failed it (#4 of 16).
A short remediation checklist
- Crawl /, /collections, a representative product, /cart, and /checkout
- Test entire checkout with keyboard only
- Validate every form error is announced
- Audit image alt text in bulk
- Check contrast on sale badges, "Buy" buttons, and out-of-stock states
Scan your homepage plus one E-commerce task flow to see which of the criteria above fail on your own site.
Frequently asked questions
Are small online stores exempt under the EAA?
Microenterprises (<10 employees AND <€2M turnover) selling services are exempt. Product manufacturers are not. Most independent EU online stores fall in scope.
Does an accessibility overlay protect me from lawsuits?
No. US federal courts have explicitly ruled that overlays do not constitute compliance, and overlay vendors themselves have been sued.