The EU Accessibility Act in Hungary for Online Shops
Accessibility (EAA)Selling into Hungary brings your online shop within the European Accessibility Act (EAA). The Act is Directive (EU) 2019/882 and has applied since 28 June 2025. Being a Directive, it takes effect through national law: each Member State transposes and enforces it. Hungary has transposed the Act into Hungarian national legislation, applied in Hungarian and supervised by Hungarian authorities. This guide explains what the Act asks of an e-commerce site and how a Hungary-facing seller can meet it.
The central expectation is that your shop be usable by people with disabilities — those who use screen readers, navigate by keyboard, need larger text or have visual, motor or cognitive impairments. The purchase journey should serve them as well as anyone. For the wider view, see our complete accessibility guide.
What the EAA covers
The Act covers a defined set of products and services, and consumer-facing e-commerce sits among them. For an online shop, that means the full journey — browsing, product information, account creation, basket and payment — must be accessible. A single inaccessible step can put the service at odds with the Act.
The standard: WCAG 2.1 AA
Rather than prescribing every rule, the Act sets accessibility as the goal. Compliance is assessed against the harmonised European standard EN 301 549, which for websites corresponds to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 at level AA. For a Hungary-facing shop, WCAG 2.1 AA is the working target.
In practical terms, that means measures such as:
- a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 between normal text and its background;
- keyboard navigation across the whole shop, without a mouse;
- labelled checkout forms that screen readers can announce correctly;
- descriptive alt text on product images and informative graphics.
The microenterprise exemption
The Act spares the smallest service providers these obligations. A microenterprise providing services — fewer than ten staff and an annual turnover or balance sheet total of no more than €2 million — is exempt from the service duties, e-commerce included. If your shop is above either threshold, the exemption does not apply and you should plan to comply.
Where the exemption applies, accessibility is still worth pursuing on its own merits: it reaches more customers and improves the experience for all of them.
The Hungarian context
Because the EAA is a Directive, the rules that bind you in Hungary are the Hungarian transposition rather than the Directive itself. The substance follows the EU framework, but enforcement is national: Hungarian authorities supervise compliance and handle complaints, and consumer-facing information is expected in Hungarian. Our Hungary country hub offers more on this market.
What Hungary-facing sellers can do now
- Test your shop against WCAG 2.1 AA, prioritising the checkout journey.
- Review contrast, keyboard access, form labels and image alt text.
- Determine whether the microenterprise exemption covers your business.
- Keep Hungarian-language content to the same accessibility standard.
Treat accessibility as a continuous practice, since your catalogue and templates keep changing.
This guide is educational, not legal advice.