Paper Self Assessment Return Deadline
Sales Tax Economic Nexus Check for Online Sellers
Why this matters.
The European Accessibility Act, Directive (EU) 2019/882, has applied across all EU member states since 28 June 2025 through national laws such as Germany’s Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz. It requires certain products and services sold to consumers in the EU to be accessible to people with disabilities, including e-commerce services, consumer banking, e-books and e-readers, electronic communications, passenger transport booking websites and apps, computers, smartphones, and self-service terminals such as ATMs and ticket machines. The accessibility requirements are set out in Annex I and, in practice, are met by following the harmonised standard EN 301 549, which reflects WCAG 2.1 level AA for websites and apps. Service providers must also publish information on how their service meets the requirements, usually in their general terms and conditions or an accessibility statement (Annex V), and businesses outside the EU are covered when they sell into the EU.
Each member state enforces the Act through market surveillance authorities and sets its own penalties under Article 30, which can include fines and orders to withdraw a product or stop a service. Microenterprises (fewer than 10 people and annual turnover or balance sheet of no more than €2 million) providing services are exempt under Article 4(5), but microenterprises making or selling covered products are not. Businesses can rely on a “disproportionate burden” or “fundamental alteration” exception only after a documented assessment under Article 14, which must be kept and reviewed. Transitional rules in Article 32 allow existing service contracts to continue for up to five years and existing self-service terminals to stay in use until the end of their economic life, but new or substantially changed websites and apps must comply now.
