Knowledge
Website accessibility in the Netherlands.
Since mid-2025, accessibility moved from good practice to legal duty for a large slice of the Dutch web. Here is what the European Accessibility Act asks of your website — and why it pays either way.
Updated 26 July 2026
The short answer
The European Accessibility Act (EAA) applies since 28 June 2025 and covers, among others, webshops and consumer-facing digital services in the Netherlands: their websites and apps must be usable for people with disabilities, in practice measured against the WCAG standard (perceivable, operable, understandable, robust). Microenterprises providing services — fewer than ten staff and at most €2 million turnover — are exempt for services, though the direction of travel is clear for everyone. Accessible sites also convert better and rank better, which makes compliance a quiet upgrade.
What accessibility means in practice
The WCAG principles translate into concrete craft: sufficient colour contrast, text that scales, every image described in alt text, forms with proper labels and clear errors, full keyboard operability, and structure — real headings, real buttons — that screen readers can navigate. Most of it is simply disciplined building; retrofitting is where the cost lives. A site built accessible from the first component carries the duty invisibly.
Who is covered, and why everyone benefits
The EAA targets consumer-facing e-commerce and services (banking, telecom, transport, e-books among them); pure B2B and the smallest service providers sit outside the current scope. The business case reaches further than the law: roughly one in four people experiences some functional limitation, accessible pages are clearer for every visitor, and the same semantic structure that helps a screen reader is exactly what search engines and AI assistants parse best. Accessibility, findability and conversion are one build.
Frequently asked questions
Does the law apply to my small consulting website?
A B2B consulting site sits outside the EAA’s consumer scope, and micro service providers are exempt besides. Building accessible remains the smart default: the audience is larger, the rankings better, and future rules only move one direction.
How do I check my current website?
Start with automated scans (Lighthouse, WAVE) for the measurable layer — contrast, alt texts, labels — then test the human layer: navigate your site by keyboard alone and with a screen reader. The first hour of testing typically surfaces the important eighty percent.
What does making a site accessible cost?
Built-in from the start: close to zero extra — it is simply good construction. Retrofitting an existing site ranges from a focused fix round (contrast, alt texts, forms) to a rebuild for sites with deep structural debt. An audit first makes the price knowable.
Further reading
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