Digital Accessibility: What Are the Legal Requirements for Digital Services?
Key Takeaways
Digital accessibility was initially limited to the public sector. The 2019 European Accessibility Act expanded the scope of application to the private sector. Despite its entry into application on June 28, 2025, the level of compliance of digital services with accessibility regulations remains largely insufficient.
Digital accessibility has become a critical issue for digital service providers. Beyond being a legal obligation, it is a strategic lever for performance and inclusion. In France, accessibility requirements originate in the law of February 11, 2005, and have continued to evolve under the influence of European law.
Digital accessibility was initially confined to the public sector. The 2019 directive on accessibility requirements for products and services (known as the European Accessibility Act) broadened the scope of application to the private sector. Despite an initial entry-into-application date set for June 28, 2025, the level of compliance of digital services with regulatory requirements remains significantly inadequate. *
1. Digital Accessibility: Over Two Decades of Progressive Development
Digital accessibility can be defined as the ability for everyone, with or without disabilities, to access websites and their content, and more broadly any information in digital format,. In practical terms, digital accessibility requires websites to integrate features such as enabling users to increase text size or access audio versions of content.
Legal obligations relating to digital accessibility initially applied only to the public sector, and later to large enterprises. It was only with the 2019 directive on accessibility requirements for products and services that these obligations were significantly extended to the private sector.
1.1 From Public to Private Sector: How the Regulatory Framework Has Expanded
Digital accessibility has been an evolving issue for more than twenty years.
At the international level, the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), a department of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), has worked on digital accessibility since 1997. The WAI regularly publishes recommendations known as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). These guidelines, considered industry standards, set out solutions for developing digital services accessible to all. (1)
The French Law of June 21, 2004 on Confidence in the Digital Economy (LCEN) provides in Article 3 that “the State, regional and local authorities, public institutions, and private entities entrusted with a public service mission shall ensure that access to and use of new information technologies enable their disabled employees and staff to perform their duties.” (2)
The Law of February 11, 2005 (Art. 47) implemented the principle laid down in the LCEN by requiring that online services developed by the administration be accessible to persons with disabilities, specifying that accessibility concerns access to all types of digital information, regardless of the means of access, content, or method of consultation. International accessibility recommendations must be applied.
The Order of October 21, 2009 provided the first version of the General accessibility guidelines for government agencies (Référentiel Général d’Accessibilité pour les Administrations or RGAA). It specifies the technical requirements to be met by the administration. The RGAA is based on existing standards, notably the WCAG 2.0 guidelines. (3)
Yet, despite the requirement since 2012 for all public websites to be accessible and compliant with all RGAA criteria, the situation remains far from satisfactory in 2025.
The regulation on digital accessibility has evolved since the Law of February 11, 2005.
Two European directives were adopted in 2016 and 2019: Directive (EU) 2016/2102 on the accessibility of the websites and mobile applications of public sector bodies, and Directive (EU) 2019/882 on accessibility requirements for products and services (European Accessibility Act).
The European Accessibility Act, applicable to the private sector, was transposed into French law by the Law of March 9, 2023, followed by the Decree and Order of October 9, 2023. (4)
1.2 Regulatory Scope of the Accessibility Directive Following Transposition
The Decree of October 9, 2023 provides that digital accessibility obligations apply to the following products and services (French Consumer Code, Art. D.412-50):
- Products: computers, self-service terminals (banking terminals, transport terminals), smartphones, televisions;
- Services: electronic communications services (telephony, internet), e-commerce websites and applications, audiovisual media services, public transport websites and applications, consumer banking services, e-books, and specialized software.
In this article, we cover only the services part.
2. Implementation of Accessibility Requirements for Digital Services
2.1 Applicable Obligations
The implementation of digital accessibility obligations can be categorized into three groups: technical obligations, disclosure obligations, and organizational obligations.
a) Technical Obligations
Providers are required to deliver services that comply with accessibility requirements, enabling persons with disabilities to use websites and mobile applications in a “predictable and optimal” manner.
The accessibility assessment of digital services provided by private-sector companies is based on the technical requirements specified in the Decree of October 9, 2023.
To comply with accessibility requirements, digital services must be:
- Perceivable: content, including images or infographics, must be capable of being presented in different formats (text, audio) without loss of information or structure. Text must be displayed using font sizes and shapes appropriate for foreseeable conditions of use and with high contrast;
- Operable: users must be able to navigate through the website easily, locate content, and access functionalities using a keyboard;
- Understandable: pages must operate in a predictable manner; and
- Robust: compatibility with current and future technologies should be optimized.
b) Disclosure Obligations
The service provider must supply information assessing how the service meets digital accessibility requirements. Such information must appear in its Terms of Use or an equivalent document (for example, an Accessibility Policy or Statement).
This information must include: (i) a general description of the service in accessible formats; (ii) the descriptions and explanations necessary to understand how the service operates; and (iii) a description of how the service meets accessibility requirements. (French Consumer Code, Art. D.412-57 and its annex).
Additionally, companies with annual revenue equal to or exceeding EUR 250 million are required to publish an online accessibility statement including the following elements: a link to the multi-year accessibility plan, the current accessibility status of the online public communication service, the evaluation elements demonstrating compliance with accessibility requirements, the list of non-accessible content. The home page of the online service must specify whether or not it complies with accessibility requirements. (5)
c) Organizational Obligations
Finally, bringing services into compliance with digital accessibility requirements also includes obligations relating to the internal organization of the companies concerned. These obligations include:
- establishing procedures to monitor accessibility compliance;
- implementing corrective measures in the event of non-compliance. The supervisory authorities must be informed immediately;
- providing all information necessary to demonstrate that the service complies with the applicable technical and disclosure requirements;
- documenting the service’s compliance with accessibility requirements and retaining the results for a period of five years.
In addition to these obligations, service providers must raise employee awareness of digital accessibility and provide appropriate training for software developers.
2.2 Exceptions to the Compliance Obligation
The regulations provide several exceptions to the obligation to comply:
- Third-party content: digital accessibility requirements do not apply to content provided by third parties on e-commerce platforms when such content is not under the control of the service operator (e.g., marketplace sellers).
- Small and micro-enterprises: micro-enterprises with fewer than 10 employees and annual revenue below EUR 2 million are not required to implement these obligations in order to avoid disproportionate burdens on their activity.
- Disproportionate burden or significant modification: certain companies may be exempt where implementing the requirements would result in a significant modification of the product or service, or impose a disproportionate burden relative to the type of service provided (French Consumer Code, Art. L.412-13). Where applicable, the reasons justifying the exemption must be documented.
2.3 Entry into Application
The obligation to comply came into effect on June 28, 2025, for new consumer services, such as new electronic communications services, access to new audiovisual media services, transport services (such as a new mobile application), etc.
Services already available in 2025 benefit from a transitional period to achieve compliance, until June 28, 2030.
Similarly, service contracts concluded before June 28, 2025 may continue without modification until they expire, and no later than June 28, 2030.
3. Compliance Oversight and Sanctions for Non-Compliance
3.1 Competent Supervisory Authorities
Instead of creating a new supervisory authority specifically for digital accessibility, compliance monitoring is allocated among existing authorities according to their respective areas of competence. Thus the DGCCRF is the competent authority for monitoring the compliance of public-sector websites and mobile applications (together with DINUM), as well as e-commerce services; ARCOM is the competent authority for online public communication services, including audiovisual media services; ARCEP is the competent authority for electronic communications services, including telephony; and ACPR is the competent authority for banking services.
3.2 Applicable Sanctions in the Event of Non-Compliance
Sanctions may be imposed by supervisory authorities not only where a service does not meet accessibility requirements, but also in the event of failure to provide users with information on digital accessibility or failure to provide required information to supervisory authorities.
For public-sector entities, private entities entrusted with a public service mission, and companies with annual revenue exceeding EUR 250 million, administrative fines of up to EUR 50,000 for non-compliance with accessibility requirements and up to EUR 25,000 for non-compliance with disclosure obligations may be imposed.
For private-sector entities, fines amount to EUR 7,500 per violation, rising to EUR 15,000 in the event of repeated infringements.
Although France is estimated to have more than 10 million persons with disabilities and over 7 million people aged over 75, digital accessibility remains overlooked or underestimated by a large number of companies. Despite the investment required to bring digital services into compliance with accessibility requirements, many digital service providers still fail to recognize that accessibility and, more broadly, consideration of diversity, should be an important component of their commercial strategy and systematically integrated into their CSR approach.
* The French version of this article was published in Revue des Directions Juridiques et Conformité, issue #108 (Oct-Nov 2025)
(1) The W3C Consortium website is available at: https://www.w3.org/ WAI publications are available at: https://www.w3.org/WAI/
(2) Law No. 2004-575 of June 21, 2004 on Confidence in the Digital Economy (LCEN); Law No. 2005-102 of February 11, 2005 on equal rights and opportunities, participation, and citizenship for persons with disabilities (as amended by Ordinance No. 2023-859 of September 6, 2023), in particular Articles 47 and 48; see the website https://design.numerique.gouv.fr/accessibilite-numerique/
(3) The WCAG are regularly updated. The new version under development as of the date of this article is WCAG 3.0 (https://www.w3.org/TR/wcag-3.0/)
(4) See Decree No. 2019-768 of July 24, 2019 on accessibility for persons with disabilities to online public communication services; Order of September 20, 2019 establishing the Référentiel Général d’Amélioration de l’Accessibilité (RGAA).
(5) Decree No. 2023-931 of October 9, 2023 on accessibility of products and services for persons with disabilities. The decree amends the French Consumer Code by adding Articles D.412-49 to D.412-62 and R.451-4; Order of October 9, 2023 establishing accessibility requirements applicable to products and services (see Articles 8 to 10 for services).
Bénédicte DELEPORTE
Avocat
Deleporte Wentz Avocat
www.dwavocat.com
October 2025