Accessibility law, briefly

What the results measure against, who has to comply, and what happens if a site doesn't. Plain language, not legal advice.

What Sigila measures against

Sigila checks pages against WCAG 2.1 level AA, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines published by the W3C. WCAG is the technical yardstick behind the EU's accessibility rules: the European Accessibility Act (Directive (EU) 2019/882), applied from 28 June 2025, and the Web Accessibility Directive (Directive (EU) 2016/2102) for public-sector sites. Both work through the European standard EN 301 549. The version now referenced in the EU's Official Journal, v3.2.1, incorporates WCAG 2.1 AA. A new version, v4.1.1, was published in September 2026 and moves to WCAG 2.2; it becomes the legal reference once the European Commission cites it in the Official Journal. Until then WCAG 2.1 AA remains the working yardstick.

Who has to comply

The European Accessibility Act covers a defined set of private-sector products and services offered to consumers in the EU: for example online shops, consumer banking, passenger-transport ticketing, e-books and telecom services. Micro-enterprises (fewer than 10 people and at most €2 million turnover or balance sheet) providing services are exempt. In Finland the directive is implemented for products by the Act on Accessibility Requirements for Certain Products (102/2023) and for digital services by chapter 3 a of the Act on the Provision of Digital Services (306/2019), applied from 28 June 2025. The same Act already covered public-sector sites and apps and certain other services, such as those of banks and insurers.

What happens if a site doesn't comply

Anyone can give feedback on accessibility to the service provider or complain to the supervisory authority. In Finland the accessibility of websites and apps is supervised by the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom (saavutettavuusvaatimukset.fi), which took over the task from the Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland on 1 January 2025. The authority can give guidance, order the provider to bring the service into line within a set time, and back the order with a conditional fine. Sanctions and their size are set nationally and differ between EU countries.

What Sigila can and cannot tell you

Automated checks cover roughly a third of WCAG 2.1 AA. This is honest guidance, not a compliance certificate.

Automated checks are good at finding missing alternative text, low colour contrast, missing form labels, broken heading structure and similar defects. They cannot judge whether alternative text is meaningful, whether a page makes sense to a screen-reader user, or whether keyboard use is comfortable. A clean Sigila result is a good sign, not a compliance statement, and a list of findings is a good starting point, not a legal assessment.

The accessibility statement

In Finland every service covered by the Act on the Provision of Digital Services (306/2019) must keep an accessibility statement: which parts of the service do not meet the requirements and why, how to get the content another way, an electronic contact for accessibility feedback, and a link to the supervisory authority (section 9). Since 28 June 2025 this also applies to the private consumer services brought in by the European Accessibility Act, such as online shops. In the same statement they add a general description of the service and an explanation of how it meets the Act's additional requirements (section 10 f). Micro-enterprises are exempt.

In other EU countries the form differs: the directive (article 13(2) and Annex V) requires the information in the general terms and conditions or an equivalent document, and each country sets the details. Sigila's report can support the part on what does not yet comply; the statement itself is the site owner's responsibility.

This page is general information, not legal advice. For a legal assessment of your situation, consult a lawyer familiar with accessibility law in your country.