1. Accessibility statement – what you must publish
The Directive (EU) 2019/882 (Chapter 4) states:
Service providers shall… explain how the services meet the applicable accessibility requirements. The information shall be made available to the public in written and oral format, including in a manner which is accessible to persons with disabilities.
In practice, this means you need:
- Written format: A public accessibility statement describing how your service meets accessibility requirements.
- Oral format: Customer support staff trained to answer questions about accessibility from users.
Your accessibility statement should be easy to find, written in plain language and updated regularly.
Here are some examples of accessibility statements to draw inspiration from:
- IKEA’s Accessibility Statement.
- In-depth article about accessibility statement for the EAA.
- BankID’s Accessibility page.
- Eric Eggert’s long list of accessibility statement examples.
2. Reporting accessibility issues to authorities
The same chapter also states:
Where the service is not compliant with applicable accessibility requirements, service providers shall immediately inform the competent national authorities of the Member States in which the service is provided, to that effect, giving details, in particular, of the non-compliance and of any corrective measures taken.
In other words, if you find an accessibility problem, you need to report it promptly. Some countries have already created online forms for this. For example:
Expect more countries to follow with similar systems.
What if you don’t report?
Technically, you can skip it — but it’s risky.
Authorities are expected to issue fines if reporting obligations aren’t met, even if you haven’t had a chance to fix the issues yet.
Proper documentation is likely to be treated as a compliance requirement on its own.
If you operate in multiple countries?
You’ll need to report separately to each country where you offer services. There’s no unified system (yet), so your internal process needs to adapt to each country’s reporting requirements.
While the forms are similar, they’re not identical. For instance:
-
Finland asks for a date for corrective actions
-
The Netherlands asks for an estimated number of affected consumers
A good practice is to create a central reporting template that can easily be customized for each country.
How leading companies handle reporting
Companies that are ahead of the curve have built accessibility reporting into their normal workflows. Here’s how they typically do it:
-
Tag accessibility issues in their issue tracking system (for instance using “accessibility” as a tag in Jira).
-
Every ~14 days, an accessibility lead or consultant reviews new issues and adds them to a pre-prepared reporting template.
-
The template includes estimated timelines per priority level – for instance “High – 4 weeks”, “Medium – 8 weeks” and so on.
-
They submit the report to each relevant national authority.
This approach keeps reporting manageable and ensures nothing slips through the cracks.
Final thoughts
Yes — this reporting requirement may feel a bit annoying at first. But there’s a silver lining: it nudges companies to do the things they should already be doing to make accessibility part of everyday work.
It pushes teams to:
-
Build regular testing, issue tracking and reporting processes
-
Increase internal know-how about accessibility
-
And most importantly, take accessibility seriously rather than treating it as an afterthought
In the long run, these steps don’t just help you comply with the law — they help you deliver better, more inclusive products and services.
Want our help with EAA reporting or accessibility strategy?
We’ve guided many organisations through this process before and can make it a whole lot easier for you too. Check out our accessibility consulting services or just drop us a message at hello@axesslab.com – we’re happy to help!