When the European Accessibility Act (EAA, Directive (EU) 2019/882) became enforceable on 28 June 2025 (European Accessibility Act), many online retailers relaxed: “We are a microenterprise” or “We only sell to business customers – this does not concern us.” But the exemptions are narrower than most assume. Anyone who wrongly believes they are exempt risks warnings, fines and the exclusion of entire customer groups. The question “Are we even affected?” is no formality – it determines budget, timeline and liability. This guide shows when the accessibility exemptions really apply to your online shop – and when they do not.
The dangerous myth of a blanket exemption
A widespread misconception goes: “Small companies are exempt from the accessibility law.” It is not that simple. The law has no general size exemption. There is only a narrowly defined exemption for microenterprises providing services (Bundesfachstelle Barrierefreiheit), plus the option to invoke a disproportionate burden in individual cases (European Accessibility Act). Both are to be interpreted restrictively. This terminological blur – “small” is simply not the same as “microenterprise” – is at the core of many misjudgments.
The official application guidelines make clear that accessibility is the rule and exemptions remain the exception (BMAS). So anyone relying on an exemption should know the criteria exactly – not roughly. This is precisely where the expensive misunderstandings arise that we see regularly in e-commerce consulting (project experience). One year after it took effect, the enforcement structures are in place and checks are ramping up – a good moment to clarify your own status honestly. Because a wrong self-assessment rarely shows up immediately; it usually surfaces when a complaint or a competitor brings it to light.
There is no general exemption “for small shops”. Anyone who knows the criteria only vaguely and wrongly assumes exemption bears the full risk – including fines of up to 100,000 euros (European Accessibility Act).
The microenterprise exemption: two thresholds that both count
The only genuine size exemption concerns microenterprises. A microenterprise is defined as a company with fewer than ten employees and an annual turnover of at most 2 million euros or an annual balance sheet total of at most 2 million euros (Bundesfachstelle Barrierefreiheit). The little word “and” is decisive: both conditions must be met together. The employee count refers to the whole undertaking, not to individual shops or brands. Anyone operating across several companies should consolidate the figures cleanly before relying on the exemption.
| Criterion | Threshold | Condition |
|---|---|---|
| Employees | fewer than 10 | must be met together with the turnover/balance limit |
| Annual turnover | at most EUR 2 million | applies only with the employee threshold |
| Balance sheet total | at most EUR 2 million | applies as an alternative to turnover |
Anyone exceeding one of the thresholds – through a tenth hire or turnover growth beyond 2 million euros – loses the exemption status. If your company is growing, plan accessibility in good time rather than facing a deadline crunch once you cross the line. For businesses just below the threshold, a look at staffing and revenue projections for the coming years is worthwhile.
Microenterprises can receive free advice on their obligations from the German Federal Agency for Accessibility (Bundesfachstelle Barrierefreiheit). For the technical implementation in the shop, an individual analysis of your shop helps next.
The crucial catch: the exemption covers services, not products
This is the most frequently overlooked subtlety. The microenterprise exemption applies exclusively to services. Microenterprises that place products on the market remain subject to the law and must make them accessible (Bundesfachstelle Barrierefreiheit). This separation is deliberate: products reach a broad public through retail, which is why the legislator did not want to leave a gap here even for small providers.
What counts as a product, what as a service? The law names both concretely. Products include computers, smartphones, routers, e-book readers and self-service terminals (European Accessibility Act). Services include telecommunications, banking services, e-books – and e-commerce, i.e. the classic online shop (European Accessibility Act).
A practical example illustrates the dual role: a small electronics retailer with its own shop may be exempt as a service provider. But if it also sells a self-imported router, the accessibility obligation still applies to that product – the exemption for the service changes nothing here. The line between running the shop and product responsibility should therefore be clarified early and in writing.
Service (can be exempt)
The online shop itself is an e-commerce service. A genuine microenterprise is exempt for operating the shop.
Product (cannot be exempt)
If you also place a covered product on the market – as a manufacturer, importer or distributor of routers or e-readers – that product area remains covered.
Many retailers are both at once: they run a shop (service) and sell covered products. The exemption then covers only the service, not the product. Anyone placing covered goods on the market should also review parallel obligations such as the EU packaging regulation (PPWR).
The B2B trap: when a shop is truly B2B only
The law protects consumers. It applies to offerings to consumers, that is natural persons buying for private purposes (European Accessibility Act). Pure B2B shops aimed exclusively at businesses therefore fall outside the scope in principle. Sounds like a convenient exemption – but practice is tricky.
The key point: a shop is only “B2B only” if consumers effectively cannot buy. A note in the terms is not enough if the ordering flow lets anyone through. Many shops declared as B2B are, on closer inspection, not:
- Anyone can register and order without proof of business status
- Prices are shown including VAT and with consumer right-of-withdrawal notices
- There is no effective access restriction to verified business customers
- Marketing and landing pages visibly address end customers too
- The checkout does not distinguish between business and private purchases
Anyone who seriously wants to claim the B2B exemption must consistently exclude consumer access, both technically and legally – not just add a sentence to the terms and conditions.
XICTRON consulting team
If a private individual can realistically order, the exemption does not apply. When in doubt, a legal assessment of your own sales structure is advisable before relying on “B2B only”. A clean customer-group separation can be implemented technically in modern systems such as Shopware or WooCommerce. Implementing the separation consistently not only avoids compliance risks but often also improves the data quality of your customer base and the clarity of the checkout.
Disproportionate burden: the most misunderstood exemption
Besides the microenterprise rule, the law allows deviating from individual requirements where compliance would cause a disproportionate burden or require a fundamental alteration of the product or service (European Accessibility Act). This exemption is often misunderstood as a convenient way out – wrongly so. It is also not a blanket exemption for the whole shop but always concerns only the specific requirement whose implementation would be unreasonable in the individual case.
Because anyone invoking it must document and justify the disproportionality themselves, inform the competent market surveillance authority and reassess the judgment regularly (BMAS). It is not a permanent free pass but a justified, verifiable case-by-case decision. For many businesses, the effort of a solid justification ends up being greater than a pragmatic implementation of the key criteria.
- Ratio of effort to benefit for people with disabilities
- Size, resources and nature of the enterprise
- estimated costs and benefits relative to the business volume
- Documentation duty: the assessment must be recorded in writing and produced on request
“Too expensive” alone does not carry the exemption. What matters is the relation between effort and benefit – and it must be evidenced. Without documentation, the basis for the exemption falls away.
Who cannot rely on an exemption
For clarity, the counter-check. In these typical constellations no exemption usually applies, and the accessibility obligation exists in full. They also show how thin the line is between supposed and actual exemption:
Ten or more employees
Anyone exceeding the staff or turnover threshold is no longer a microenterprise – regardless of how “small” the business feels.
Selling to consumers
As soon as private individuals can realistically order, the shop is B2C and thus covered – a note in the terms alone is not enough.
Covered products in the range
Anyone placing routers, e-readers or other covered products on the market is obligated for that area, even as a microenterprise.
In all these cases, relying on gut feeling helps little. If you are unsure, record the status in writing and document the basis for the classification. This not only protects you in the event of a check but also creates internal clarity about which areas are actually covered and which are not. In growing shops in particular, this line shifts over time.
Common misconceptions in a reality check
In practice, a few persistent assumptions circulate that do not hold up when it matters. The following comparison sorts out the most common errors and shows what really counts legally:
| Common assumption | What actually applies |
|---|---|
| “We are small, so we are exempt.” | Only microenterprises with fewer than 10 employees and at most EUR 2 million are exempt – and only for services (Bundesfachstelle Barrierefreiheit). |
| “Our terms say B2B only.” | What matters is actual consumer access, not the wording in the terms and conditions. |
| “A tool gave us a green light.” | Automated tests cover only around 25–35 % of problems (WebAIM); manual review remains necessary. |
| “Accessibility is too expensive, so it is unreasonable.” | A disproportionate burden must be documented and justified – cost aversion alone is not enough (BMAS). |
| “No one checks us anyway.” | The state market surveillance body is responsible and acts on complaints (MLBF). |
If any of these assumptions sounds familiar, a look at the facts is all the more worthwhile. The safest path is not hoping for an exemption but reliably clarifying your own status – ideally documented, so it is comprehensible if a check ever comes.
Who enforces it – and what violations cost
Enforcement rests with the market surveillance authorities of the federal states, bundled in the joint market surveillance body for the accessibility of products and services, based in Magdeburg (MLBF). They act on complaints but can also carry out spot checks. A trigger can be a consumer complaint just as much as a tip from associations or the authority's own market monitoring.
The typical process: complaint or check, request to remedy defects with a deadline, and only if there is no response, fine proceedings within a range of up to 100,000 euros (European Accessibility Act). In the early phase, guidance and deadlines take priority; but anyone who stays inactive after a request risks the full procedure. There is a second lever: competitors and qualified associations can issue warnings for violations. Anyone wrongly assuming exemption can thus be hit two ways.
| Trigger | Body | Possible consequence |
|---|---|---|
| Complaint / check | State market surveillance body | Request to remedy, then fine up to 100,000 euros |
| Competition violation | Competitors / associations | Warning, injunction, cost reimbursement |
| Exclusion of users | Affected customers | Lost revenue, reputational damage |
Accessibility check: how to clarify your actual status
Instead of guessing, clarify your status in a structured way. This keeps you from relying on an exemption that does not hold up when it matters. Our accessibility check follows a clear sequence you can align with the decision diagram above:
- Determine company size: cleanly establish employees and annual turnover or balance sheet total – also with a view to the coming years
- Classify the offering: service (shop) or also a product placed on the market?
- Check B2B honestly: is consumer access really excluded technically and legally?
- Gap analysis if covered: review against WCAG 2.1 AA and the harmonized standard EN 301 549, prioritize defects
- Document if exempt: justify the status, secure evidence and weigh up voluntary accessibility
Important: automated testing tools typically detect only around 25–35 % of accessibility problems (WebAIM). A reliable assessment therefore also needs manual review by experts. A well-structured, semantically clean shop is at the same time the foundation for the broader accessibility requirements of the law and for new machine access channels – accessibility pays off twice here.
Accessibility as a growth lever, not just an obligation
Even those rightly relying on an exemption should weigh up voluntary implementation. In Germany, around 7.9 million people have a severe disability, that is 9.3 % of the population (Statistisches Bundesamt). Across the EU, the underlying directive addresses around 87 million people with disabilities (European Accessibility Act), and worldwide around 1.3 billion people, 16 % of the world's population (WHO).
Excluding this audience means leaving revenue on the table. An accessible shop is also usually better structured for search engines, easier to operate and more robust – advantages that benefit all users. Anyone approaching implementation strategically combines legal certainty with better conversion. Related compliance topics such as the NIS2 Directive for online retailers can be considered in the same step.
Accessibility is thus less an annoying duty than an investment in reach and quality. Anyone who builds cleanly today saves themselves later rework under time pressure and is prepared for future tightening of the legal framework. An honest status assessment is the first step – whether the outcome is an exemption or implementation.
Whether exempt or not: an accessible, cleanly built shop reaches more people, ranks better and looks more professional. Our accessibility optimization combines review, implementation and documentation – so you are on the safe side.
This article draws on: Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz (BFSG) and the EU-Richtlinie 2019/882 (European Accessibility Act) including definitions, covered products and services and the fine range; Bundesfachstelle Barrierefreiheit (microenterprise exemption, service/product distinction, free advice); Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales (BMAS) (application guidelines, disproportionate burden); Marktüberwachungsstelle der Länder für Barrierefreiheit (MLBF); Statistisches Bundesamt (people with severe disabilities in Germany); WHO (people with disabilities worldwide); WebAIM (limits of automated testing). The figures cited may change over time and by survey.
No. There is no blanket size exemption. There is only a narrow exemption for microenterprises (fewer than 10 employees and at most EUR 2 million turnover or balance sheet total) that provide services (Bundesfachstelle Barrierefreiheit). Whether it applies should be checked case by case.
Usually not. The exemption concerns services. Microenterprises placing covered products on the market remain obligated for those products (Bundesfachstelle Barrierefreiheit). A shop can therefore be exempt as a service but still covered in the product area.
Typically not. What matters is whether consumers can actually buy. Without an effective access restriction to verified business customers, a shop usually stays within the scope of the law. A legal review of the sales structure is advisable.
It allows deviating from individual requirements where compliance would be unreasonable relative to the benefit (European Accessibility Act). It must be documented, notified to the market surveillance authority and reassessed regularly – it is not a permanent free pass.
The state market surveillance body based in Magdeburg is responsible (MLBF). The fine range reaches up to 100,000 euros (European Accessibility Act). In addition, competition-law warnings are possible.
As a rule, yes. Around 9.3 % of people in Germany have a severe disability (Statistisches Bundesamt). An accessible shop reaches this audience, is usually better structured for SEO and easier to operate. The investment typically pays off across several channels.
This article is for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. The thresholds, deadlines and fine ranges mentioned are based on current legislation. For a binding assessment of your individual situation, please consult a lawyer specializing in IT law.