The European Accessibility Act Applies to US Companies Too (And Most Don’t Know It)

Table of Contents

• A Law Most US Companies Have Never Heard Of
• What the EAA Actually Covers
• Why US Companies Are Affected at All
• The Scale of Exposure
• Penalties Don’t Care Where You’re Headquartered
• The Common Gap: Compliance Teams That Only Track Domestic Law
• What US Companies Should Actually Do
• The Mistakes That Widen Exposure
• Exposure Checklist
• FAQ
• Regard d’Expert
• Références

A Law Most US Companies Have Never Heard Of

Ask a US-based e-commerce or SaaS company about their EU regulatory exposure, and GDPR comes up immediately. The European Accessibility Act rarely does, despite having been enforceable since June 2025 and applying just as broadly to any organization selling covered products or services into the EU market, regardless of where that organization is headquartered.

What the EAA Actually Covers

The EAA sets accessibility requirements for many consumer products and services sold in the EU, referencing WCAG 2.1 Level AA through the EN 301 549 standard. Covered sectors explicitly include e-commerce, banking, telecommunications, and consumer products, sectors where US companies have significant, direct EU customer bases without necessarily having any EU legal entity.

The EAA’s applicability was never limited to companies physically based in the EU.

Why US Companies Are Affected at All

The EAA applies to any organization selling products or services into the EU market, including companies based in the US. This isn’t an edge case or an aggressive interpretation, it’s the plain scope of the directive. A US e-commerce platform, SaaS product, or digital service with EU customers is covered the same way an EU-headquartered competitor would be.

The Scale of Exposure

Total US exports to the EU, goods and services combined, approach $710 billion, with services exports alone nearing $295 billion. That’s the scale of commercial activity potentially touching EAA scope, and it’s a figure that puts the regulation’s relevance to US business well beyond a niche compliance footnote.

Hundreds of billions in US-EU digital commerce sit within the EAA’s practical scope.

Penalties Don’t Care Where You’re Headquartered

Fines vary by EU member state, from roughly €60,000 in Ireland to approximately €900,000 in Sweden, with large companies in Italy facing penalties up to 5% of annual turnover. None of these frameworks carve out an exemption for foreign headquarters, enforcement targets the market where the product or service is sold, not the nationality of the seller.

The Common Gap: Compliance Teams That Only Track Domestic Law

US legal and compliance functions are typically well structured around ADA requirements and domestic accessibility litigation risk. The EAA falls into a genuine blind spot: it’s foreign law, it doesn’t map cleanly onto existing ADA compliance programs, and it rarely gets flagged until a specific EU enforcement action or customer complaint forces the issue.

What US Companies Should Actually Do

The starting point is the same as for any EU-based organization: a structured audit against EN 301 549, prioritizing the highest-risk EU-facing user journeys. For US companies specifically, this also means explicitly adding EAA exposure to existing compliance mapping, rather than assuming ADA compliance programs already cover it, the standards overlap substantially but aren’t identical.

The Mistakes That Widen Exposure

• Assuming EU regulation only applies to companies with EU legal entities or offices.
• Treating ADA compliance as automatically sufficient for EU accessibility requirements.
• Never mapping EAA exposure explicitly in compliance frameworks that default to domestic law.
• Waiting for an EU enforcement action or complaint before assessing exposure.

Exposure Checklist

• Does the company sell covered products or services to EU-based customers?
• Is EAA exposure explicitly mapped in compliance frameworks, separate from ADA tracking?
• Has a structured audit against EN 301 549 been run on EU-facing digital properties?
• Is there awareness of which EU member states’ enforcement and penalty frameworks apply?

FAQ

Does the EAA apply even without an EU office or subsidiary?
Yes, applicability is based on selling covered products or services into the EU market, not on having a physical or legal presence there.

Is ADA compliance enough to satisfy the EAA?
Not automatically, the standards overlap substantially but aren’t identical, a dedicated EN 301 549 assessment is the reliable way to confirm alignment.

How would a US company even be identified for enforcement?
Through customer complaints, market surveillance by EU regulators, or civil society organizations filing formal notices, the same mechanisms used against EU-based companies.

Is this only relevant for large US enterprises?
Any organization selling covered products or services into the EU is in scope, though enforcement priorities and penalty scale often correlate with company size.

Regard d’Expert

Having worked across multi-country digital transformation programs spanning European and North American markets, I consistently see the same blind spot: compliance frameworks built around domestic law that quietly miss foreign regulation with real teeth. The EAA is exactly that kind of gap for many US organizations right now.

Written by Steeve Vignissy, Senior Digital Transformation Consultant at Notoriti.

👉 Contact Notoriti to assess your EAA exposure.

Références

• The Washington Times, The critical European Accessibility Act just turned 1, July 2026
• Level Access, European Accessibility Act (EAA) — Compliance Overview, 2026