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Guide

The EU Accessibility Act in Poland for Online Shops

Accessibility (EAA)

If your online shop sells to consumers in Poland, the European Accessibility Act (EAA) applies. The Act — Directive (EU) 2019/882 — has applied since 28 June 2025 and requires consumer-facing e-commerce to be accessible to people with disabilities. As a directive it is given effect through national Polish transposition and enforced by Poland’s designated authorities.

This guide explains what the EAA requires of an online seller supplying the Polish market and how the Polish framework fits around it. For the wider picture, see our European Accessibility Act law page and the complete accessibility guide.

What the EAA requires

The EAA treats a consumer webshop as a covered service that must be accessible. The technical reference is EN 301 549, which for web content aligns with WCAG 2.1 level AA. That is the benchmark a Polish-facing shop is measured against.

What that looks like in day-to-day terms:

  • Colour contrast of at least 4.5:1 for normal text.
  • Keyboard navigation across the whole browse-and-buy path.
  • Labelled checkout forms, with each field associated with a visible label.
  • Alt text on meaningful images.

National transposition in Poland

Poland has transposed the EAA into national law, turning the directive’s requirements into binding obligations and designating the authorities that supervise them. For a consumer e-commerce service the substantive duty is the same as across the EU — accessibility to EN 301 549 / WCAG 2.1 AA — with the national text providing the procedural and enforcement detail.

The framework operates in Polish

The Polish legislation, official guidance and any dealings with the supervising authority are conducted in Polish. The accessibility standard is uniform EU-wide, but an international seller should plan for the national terminology and correspondence to be in the language.

The microenterprise exemption

The EAA exempts the smallest service providers. A microenterprise — fewer than 10 staff and turnover or balance-sheet total of no more than €2 million — is outside the service obligations, and an online shop is a service for this purpose. You must meet both conditions; exceed either and the exemption is lost.

The standard is EU-wide, but in Poland the EAA is delivered through national transposition — enforced by Polish authorities and administered in Polish.

Enforcement

Enforcement is carried out by the national authorities Poland has designated. They can assess whether a covered service meets the requirements and act where it does not. For a shop, the practical takeaway is to treat accessibility as a standing operational requirement of trading with Polish consumers.

A practical checklist for the Polish market

  • Confirm whether you qualify for the microenterprise exemption (under 10 staff and ≤€2m).
  • Test your storefront and checkout against EN 301 549 / WCAG 2.1 AA.
  • Fix colour contrast to at least 4.5:1 for text.
  • Make the purchase path fully keyboard-operable and label every checkout field.
  • Add alt text to meaningful images.

If you would like a structured review of how your store performs for disabled customers in Poland, our PrestaShop compliance audit checks your storefront and checkout against the applicable accessibility criteria.

This article is educational and does not constitute legal advice.