European Accessibility Act · SaaS

Is your SaaS accessible?

The European Accessibility Act applies to SaaS sold to consumers — B2C and B2B2C / prosumer products — since 28 June 2025, measured against WCAG 2.1 AA. SaaS fails it in specific places: the sign-up and onboarding flow, dashboards and complex data tables, filter and sort controls, modal dialogs, and focus management in single-page apps. Pure B2B-only tools may fall outside consumer scope — but most SaaS has consumer or prosumer users.

SaaS & the EAA at a glance

Law
European Accessibility Act — Directive (EU) 2019/882
In force
28 June 2025
Applies to SaaS
yes — B2C and B2B2C / prosumer; pure B2B-only may be out of scope
Standard
EN 301 549 → WCAG 2.1 Level AA
Highest-risk areas
sign-up, dashboards, data tables, modals, SPA focus
Exemption
microenterprises (under 10 staff AND under €2M turnover)

Where does a SaaS product fail WCAG 2.1 AA?

The failures cluster in the parts of an app a marketing site doesn't have:

  • Sign-up & onboarding: inputs without programmatic labels, validation errors shown only in colour and never announced, multi-step wizards with no progress semantics.
  • Dashboards: no landmark regions, illogical tab order, widgets that can't be reached or operated by keyboard.
  • Data tables: missing <th> scope, no caption, and sortable columns that don't announce their sort state.
  • Filter & sort controls: custom dropdowns and comboboxes built from <div>s with no ARIA, unusable without a mouse.
  • Modals: focus not trapped, background still reachable, and focus not returned to the trigger on close.
  • Charts & data-viz: canvas/SVG charts with no text alternative or data table fallback.
  • Session timeout: sessions that expire with no warning and no way to extend — a WCAG 2.2.1 problem that hits long dashboard sessions hardest.

Does the EAA apply to B2B SaaS?

The EAA covers services provided to consumers. Clearly in scope: B2C apps and B2B2C / prosumer tools where individuals (freelancers, sole traders, end users of your customers) sign up and use the product. A pure B2B-only product with no consumer-facing surface may fall outside consumer scope — but check honestly: a public self-serve sign-up, a free tier, or prosumer users usually pull a tool back in. We don't advise over-claiming an exemption you can't defend.

What breaks in single-page apps (React, Vue, Angular)?

SPAs introduce failures a server-rendered site doesn't have. Client-side route changes don't move focus or update the accessibility tree, so screen-reader users are left on a stale page with no announcement — fix it by moving focus to the new view's heading and announcing the change via an ARIA live region. Custom widgets frequently create keyboard traps or lose focus when content re-renders. Content injected asynchronously (toasts, loaded rows) must be exposed to assistive tech, not just painted to the DOM.

How do you audit a SaaS product behind a login?

An automated scan only sees public pages, so it catches a fraction of the problems. We combine it with a manual audit of the authenticated flows — sign-up, onboarding, the core task flows, key dashboard and settings screens — using a screen reader (NVDA / VoiceOver) and keyboard-only navigation, with test credentials or a staging environment you provide. You get developer-ready fix tickets and a dated compliance certificate. Start with the free scan below.

Is your app compliant?

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Your app, checked against WCAG 2.1 AA.

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FAQ

Does the EAA cover my SaaS app?

If consumers or prosumers can sign up and use it, yes — since 28 June 2025, against WCAG 2.1 AA. B2C and B2B2C products are in scope. A pure B2B-only tool with no consumer-facing users may be outside consumer scope, but a public self-serve sign-up or free tier usually brings it back in.

Our app is behind a login — is that still covered?

Yes. The obligation covers the whole service, including authenticated flows. In practice the login-gated screens (onboarding, dashboards, settings) are where most failures live and where enforcement risk is highest.

What are the most common SaaS accessibility failures?

Unlabelled form fields and colour-only validation errors, keyboard-inoperable custom dropdowns and modals, data tables without header semantics, and single-page-app route changes that never move focus or announce the new view.

How do you test flows behind authentication?

With test credentials or a staging environment you provide, we manually drive the real authenticated journeys with a screen reader and keyboard — the ~2/3 of issues no automated scanner can find — and deliver fix tickets plus a dated certificate.