Ireland
IrelandThe European Accessibility Act in Ireland: what it means for your website
Since 28 June 2025, Irish law requires many services provided to consumers, including e-commerce, to be accessible to people with disabilities. Here is who is concerned, who checks compliance, and what it means in practice for an online shop.
From a European directive to Irish regulations
The European Accessibility Act is Directive (EU) 2019/882. It sets common accessibility requirements for a list of products and services across the European Union, so that people with disabilities can use them on an equal basis with others.
Ireland transposed it with the European Union (Accessibility Requirements of Products and Services) Regulations 2023, S.I. No. 636 of 2023. Since 28 June 2025, the date from which the directive's requirements apply, the covered products placed on the market and the covered services provided to consumers must meet the accessibility requirements.
Which services are covered
The directive, and the Irish Regulations that transpose it, list the services concerned when they are provided to consumers:
electronic communications services;
services providing access to audiovisual media services;
several elements of air, bus, rail and waterborne passenger transport services, including their websites and mobile applications;
consumer banking services;
e-books and dedicated software;
e-commerce services.
For most of our clients, the relevant line is the last one. An online shop that sells to the public, whatever it sells, provides an e-commerce service. Its website, its product pages, its basket, its checkout and its customer account are all part of it.
The rules cover services provided to consumers. A website that only sells to other businesses, or a brochure website that sells nothing online, is not an e-commerce service to consumers in this sense. Making it accessible remains good practice, and it may be expected by your clients, but that is a different question.
The microenterprise exemption
Services provided by a microenterprise are exempt from the service accessibility requirements. The directive defines a microenterprise as an enterprise that employs fewer than 10 persons and has an annual turnover not exceeding 2 million euros or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding 2 million euros.
Both conditions matter: fewer than ten people, and a turnover or balance sheet under the threshold. A small team with a fast-growing turnover can leave the exemption. The exemption also concerns services only: products follow their own rules.
Even an exempt shop gains from accessibility. Contrast, keyboard navigation and clear forms help every customer finish a purchase, not only people with disabilities.
Who checks, and what is at stake
The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) is the authority that checks compliance for e-commerce services in Ireland. The other services covered have their own authorities.
The Regulations give the authorities enforcement powers and provide for penalties, as the directive requires of every member state. The exact procedures and amounts are set out in S.I. No. 636 of 2023: if your shop is concerned, read them with your adviser.
The directive also provides transitional measures. Service contracts agreed before 28 June 2025 may continue unchanged until they expire, but no longer than five years from that date, and products lawfully used to provide a service before 28 June 2025 may continue to be used until 28 June 2030. These measures do not cover a new website or a new shop.
What an accessible online shop looks like in practice
The Regulations describe accessibility requirements in functional terms: the service must be perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. For websites, the usual technical reference is the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 at level AA, published by the W3C, which turn those principles into testable criteria. On an online shop, the most frequent obstacles we find are:
text or buttons with insufficient contrast;
menus, filters, product options or checkout steps that cannot be used with a keyboard alone;
images of products or promotions without a text alternative;
form fields without labels, and error messages that are not announced or not explained;
time limits, carousels or pop-ups that the visitor cannot pause or close;
third-party components, such as payment or chat widgets, that were never tested.
The directive also requires service providers to publish information on how their service meets the accessibility requirements, in their general terms and conditions or an equivalent document. In practice, this is an accessibility statement that describes the service and its accessibility features in an accessible format.
How we help
Our accessibility audit covers a representative sample of pages, templates and purchase journeys agreed at the start. It combines automated tools (axe DevTools, WAVE, Lighthouse) with manual checks of the criteria that tools cannot detect, and delivers a report with a criterion-by-criterion grid, a prioritised correction plan and a draft accessibility statement based on the results.
Because we build websites and online shops, we can then apply the technical fixes directly on your Shopify or WooCommerce shop or on your website, on a separate quote based on the defects found. On the websites we build, accessibility is part of the design from the start rather than added afterwards.
What we deliver is technical work, not legal advice. The audit covers the agreed sample rather than every page, and it is neither a guarantee of legal compliance nor an official certification. Whether your business falls within the Regulations, or within the microenterprise exemption, is a question for you and your adviser.
Prices are on our pricing page, and you can describe your shop to us on our contact page.
For your country
Frequently asked questions
Is my small online shop exempt?
It is if your business is a microenterprise within the meaning of the directive: fewer than 10 persons, and an annual turnover or balance sheet total not exceeding 2 million euros. Both conditions must be met.
Who enforces the rules for online shops in Ireland?
The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) is the compliance authority for e-commerce services under S.I. No. 636 of 2023.
Does an accessibility overlay or widget make a shop compliant?
No tool added on top of a site can fix a checkout that does not work with a keyboard or a form without labels. The obstacles have to be corrected in the theme and the content, and checked by hand as well as with automated tools.
Can you guarantee that my shop complies?
No. We audit an agreed sample, fix the defects found on a separate quote and draft the accessibility statement, but this is neither a guarantee of legal compliance nor a certification, and we do not give legal advice.