Web Accessibility Act: Who It Applies To and How to Test Your Website in 30 Minutes

Your website or online store must comply with accessibility rules unless you are a microenterprise and sell exclusively to other businesses. This requirement was established by Act No. 424/2023 Coll., on accessibility requirements for certain products and services, effective June 28, 2025.

Over the past year, a wave of alarmist emails has been circulating about this law. They threaten fines, fail to mention exemptions, and end with an offer to conduct an audit. Yet most of them are targeted at companies that aren’t affected by the law at all.

Let's break this down. We'll go over whether this requirement applies to you, what exactly your website needs to meet, how you can check this yourself in half an hour, and how much it costs to hire an expert.

What Is Web Accessibility?

Web accessibility is a feature that allows people with visual, hearing, mobility, or cognitive impairments to use your website. This is typically achieved with the help of a screen reader, a keyboard alone, or significant magnification.

It is measured according to international methodology WCAG 2.1 Level AA, as referenced in the harmonized European standard EN 301 549. The methodology is based on four principles:

• Perceptible: The user must record the content. If the information is only in an image, a blind person cannot access it. That is why this issue is being addressed alt text and video captions.
• Controllable: Everything must be operable without a mouse—that is, using the keyboard.
• Easy to understand: Both the text and the error messages must make sense. This is where accessibility meets UX Writing and Microcopy.
• Stable: The website must function properly with assistive technologies and not break when zoomed in.

Accessibility is often confused with usability. The difference is simple. Usability addresses whether a website is easy to use to anyone. Accessibility determines whether it can be used at all, when a person has certain limitations. The connection with UX and UI Design It's simple: most accessibility improvements will also enhance the website for regular visitors.

Does the Accessibility Act apply to you as well?

Act No. 424/2023 Coll. is the Czech transposition of European Directive 2019/882, known as the European Accessibility Act. For the first time, it extends accessibility requirements from the public sector to the commercial sector.

However, this does not apply across the board. It applies to a specifically listed set of services and has two major exceptions.

What Is a Microenterprise?

A microenterprise is a business that employs fewer than 10 people and at the same time his annual revenue or total assets on the annual balance sheet do not exceed 2 million EUR, or roughly 50 million crowns. Both conditions must be met simultaneously. If you meet them, the obligations under this law apply to you as a service provider do not arise.

The legal form is irrelevant. The law treats sole proprietors and limited liability companies the same; the decision is based solely on economic criteria.

Watch Out for Affiliated Companies

Are you part of a group of affiliated or partner companies? If so, the values used for the assessment are added together. Dividing your business into several smaller entities will not automatically qualify you for the micro-enterprise exemption.

If you're operating close to the limits or have ownership ties to other companies, this is an issue worth discussing with a lawyer.

Do you sell to consumers or businesses?

The law applies to services provided consumers. This does not apply to purely B2B sales.

Do you sell to both groups? The situation here is less clear-cut, and there is currently no official guidance on this combination. In that case, focus first and foremost on verifying whether you qualify for the microenterprise exemption.

Which services are listed in the law?

For websites and online stores, the following categories from Section 3 of the Act are particularly important:

• e-commerce services, i.e., distance sales to consumers via a shopping cart or order form
• financial services, such as certain consumer loans, investment services, and payment services
• electronic communications services
• services providing access to audiovisual media services
• sale of e-books and related software
• air, rail, water, and scheduled transportation services

Do you run a standard corporate website without a shopping cart, and don’t fall into any of these categories? You are not directly required to comply with this law. However, that doesn’t mean accessibility is unnecessary—we’ll come back to this in the section on SEO.

„I received an email saying I might be fined.“ Is there any truth to this?

Since mid-2025, e-shop operators have been receiving unsolicited offers claiming that the law applies to anyone who has a shopping cart or online payment option on their website. This is misleading. The presence of a shopping cart is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition. A microbusiness with a B2C shopping cart is not subject to this requirement.

There is usually only one thing that is true about these emails: the date of June 28, 2025, and the existence of sanctions. Everything else—especially the exemption for micro-enterprises and the transitional provisions—is systematically omitted from them.

Before you respond to an offer like this, review the criteria listed above. Take your time and don't rush.

What exactly must a website meet?

This is where things get the most confusing. Most articles on the Czech internet stop at the sentence „the website must comply with WCAG 2.1 AA“ and don’t go any further. The specific threshold values, however, look like this:

• The contrast between the text and the background must be at least 4.5:1. For large text—that is, 18-point or larger, or 14-point bold—a 3:1 ratio is sufficient. The same ratio applies to controls and graphics that convey information.
• The entire website must be navigable using only the keyboard. For an online store, this means the entire process—from selecting a product to adding it to the cart and completing the payment—without ever having to touch the mouse.
• The text must be able to be enlarged to 200 % without losing any content or functionality.
• The content must fit within a width of 320 px without a horizontal slider. This requirement is called "reflow" and is closely related to whether you have responsive website.
• Every image that conveys information needs a text alternative. Decorative images, on the other hand, should have an empty alt attribute so that the screen reader skips them.
• Form fields must have a label. Error messages must explain what is wrong and how to fix it. „Invalid input“ is not enough.
• The element that is the focus must be clearly distinguished. Deleting the default outline without replacing it is one of the most common mistakes of all.
• Videos need subtitles, and for pre-recorded content, an audio description as well.

Some good news to wrap things up: most of these issues are handled in the template, not on individual pages. By updating the template, you can manage thousands of product pages at once.

Test accessibility yourself in 30 minutes

Before you pay someone to conduct an audit, do your own quick test. You don't need to know how to program to do this.

1. Use the Tab key to navigate through the order. Put your mouse away in a drawer and try navigating from the homepage all the way to placing an order. See if you can tell where you are at any given moment. If you get lost, so will a customer using a screen reader.
2. Enlarge the page to 200 % (Ctrl + / Cmd +) and try completing your purchase again. Are any elements overlapping? Did the button disappear?
3. Resize the browser window to 320 px. Did a horizontal slider appear? That's quite a find.
4. Launch Lighthouse. It's built into Chrome DevTools under the Accessibility tab and will give you a score and a list of issues in just a few seconds.
5. Install the axe DevTools or WAVE extension and test at least the homepage, category list, product detail page, shopping cart, and checkout page.
6. Check the contrast in the WebAIM Contrast Checker. Just enter the text and background colors.
7. Turn on the screen reader. VoiceOver is built into macOS (Cmd + F5), and NVDA is available as a free download for Windows. Close your eyes and try to find one product. This test tends to be the most challenging—and the most useful.

One important caveat: Automated tools detect about one-third of the issues. They can identify missing alt text or low contrast, but they can’t tell if the alt text reads „image123.jpg“ or if a button label doesn’t make sense. You’ll only find the rest by manually reviewing the page and testing with real users.

What You Need to Include in Addition to the Code

This part is often overlooked, even though it can be completed in an afternoon. The law requires that the general terms and conditions or a similar document included information on how the service meets accessibility requirements, including a description of each requirement. The statement „our website is accessible“ is not enough.

In addition, there are three details you won't find anywhere else:

• Upon request, you must also provide this information in audio format. It's a good idea to have a recording ready in advance—or at least a plan for how to make one quickly.
• The information must be made public throughout the entire period during which the service is provided and they must be accessible on their own.
• It is also necessary to add General Description of the Service and the explanations needed to understand how it works.

Beyond what the law requires, we recommend publishing contact information where users can report accessibility issues. It takes just one line in the footer and helps prevent misunderstandings.

Exceptions and Transition Periods Without Tolls

Transitional provisions are the area where errors are most commonly found in articles on the Czech internet. Here they are, exactly as stated by the Czech Trade Inspection Authority:

• A contract entered into no later than June 27, 2025. You may continue to provide the service in its current form until the contractual obligation expires, but no later than June 28, 2030.
• Outdated content. The law does not apply to websites and apps whose content has not been updated or modified in any way after June 28, 2025. But be aware: Any update triggers the obligation. Adding a single product to the catalog or editing the text on the homepage is enough. With a live e-shop, you can't rely on this exception.
• Pre-recorded media and office documents. These requirements do not apply to pre-recorded media files with a time dimension or to office application file formats published through June 27, 2028. This date is often cited incorrectly in Czech articles, usually shifted to 2025. It’s worth keeping an eye on it.
• Maps. Map content and the associated online map service are exempt if basic navigation information is provided in an accessible digital format.
• Third-party content. Content that does not belong to you, that you do not finance or create, and over which you have no control is not subject to this obligation.

An unreasonable burden is not self-service

Section 15 of the law allows you to waive this requirement if doing so would result in a fundamental change to the service or place an unreasonable burden on you. However, this isn’t something you can just declare on a whim. Here’s how the process works:

1. You will prepare a written assessment, specifically for each individual requirement regarding accessibility. An exception for one requirement does not exempt one from the obligation to comply with the others.
2. The assessment is based on the criteria set forth in Annex 4 of the Act.
3. About the Exception You must notify the supervisory authority. For e-shops, this is the regional office of the Czech Trade Inspection Authority corresponding to the company’s registered office, and the notification is sent via data box.
4. In the report, include the company ID number, a description of the service, the requirements to which the notification relates, the reason for non-compliance, and the date of the assessment, and attach a sworn statement.

An unreasonable burden is therefore a legitimate option, but it is administratively burdensome. For minor changes, it’s usually cheaper to just make them.

Who Monitors This, and What Are the Risks?

Supervision of online stores and most services is carried out by Czech Trade Inspection Authority. Electronic communications services are supervised by the Czech Telecommunications Office; audiovisual media services by the Council for Radio and Television Broadcasting; and transportation by the relevant transportation authorities. The Ministry of Industry and Trade is responsible for administering the Act and serves as the authority for its interpretation.

A fine may be imposed for an offense a fine of up to 10,000,000 CZK, and for less serious offenses, up to 2,000,000 CZK.

Realistically, however, the authorities have so far taken a more explanatory approach. The upper limit of the fine is intended for repeated and deliberate violations, not for an e-shop with poor contrast in its footer.

Accessibility Helps Both SEO and Visibility in AI

This argument is rarely mentioned in discussions about accessibility. Yet for most companies, it’s more compelling than the threat of a fine.

Search engines and language models are, in essence, highly sophisticated blind users. They cannot see images, colors, or layouts. They read the structure.

A logical hierarchy of headings, image captions, semantic HTML, and content accessible without JavaScript are therefore also the foundation Technical SEO It’s also a prerequisite for AI models to be able to read your content at all. When you make your website accessible, you gain three benefits at once: legal compliance, better conditions for organic search, and a higher chance of appearing in ChatGPT responses or Google AI Overviews. We wrote about this in more detail in an article on GEO, AIO, and AEO.

And then there’s the simple economics of it. More than a million people with disabilities live in the Czech Republic, and the population is aging. An inaccessible online store is one where some customers will leave with a full shopping cart because they can’t complete the payment.

How much does an accessibility audit cost?

The price depends on the number of so-called template pages, i.e., unique templates. Homepage, category list, product details, shopping cart, checkout, blog, contact. A typical e-shop has ten or more of these.

Approximate prices on the Czech market in mid-2026, based on suppliers' public price lists:

The figures listed are for reference only, based on the public price lists of Czech providers, and do not constitute a price quote. The actual price always depends on the scope of the website, the condition of the template, and whether you want just a report or also the implementation.

When is an audit worthwhile, and when isn't it? If your website is waiting redesign Over the course of a year, it’s cheaper to build accessibility right into the new design. Otherwise, you’ll end up paying twice: once for an audit of the old version and again for fixes that you’ll end up discarding anyway. If the website is staying up, start with an audit.

What the platform will handle for you—and what it won't

Off-the-shelf e-commerce platforms work on accessibility and will save you some of the work. However, none of them can solve everything, because they don't have insight into your content.

• Shoptet and Upgates They are updating their templates to comply with WCAG 2.1 and offer settings for colors, contrast, and alt text in the admin panel. If you have an older template or a partner template with customizations, you cannot rely on this; you must review it separately.
• WordPress and WooCommerce Their accessibility depends heavily on the chosen template and plugins. „Accessibility overlay“ add-ons, which promise to fix the problem with a single script, do not solve the issue and have long been rejected by the professional community.
• Tailor-made solutions It provides the greatest control, but also the greatest responsibility. Accessibility must be part of the scope of work from the start, not an afterthought.

If you're still deciding what to build on, you can find a comparison of the various platforms in the article about Choosing an e-commerce platform.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does my website have to comply with accessibility standards?

Yes, if you sell to consumers and are not a microenterprise. A microenterprise is a company with fewer than 10 employees and an annual turnover or balance sheet total of up to 2 million EUR, provided that both conditions are met. at the same time. If you sell exclusively to businesses, you are not required to do so.

What are the legal requirements for website accessibility in the Czech Republic?

Commercial entities are subject to Act No. 424/2023 Coll., effective as of June 28, 2025, which transposes EU Directive 2019/882. Technically, it refers to WCAG 2.1 Level AA through the harmonized standard EN 301 549. For the public sector, the older Act No. 99/2019 Coll. applies.

What are the main web accessibility issues, and how can they be fixed?

The most common issues include low text contrast, missing or nonsensical alt text, the inability to navigate an order using the keyboard, an invisible focus indicator, and form fields without labels. Most of these issues can be fixed in the template, so a single change will fix the entire website at once.

What are the most commonly used web accessibility testing tools?

The most common tools are Lighthouse (built into Chrome DevTools), the axe DevTools and WAVE extensions, WebAIM Contrast Checker for contrast, and screen readers such as NVDA on Windows or VoiceOver on macOS. However, automated tools detect only about one-third of the issues.

How much does a professional website accessibility assessment cost?

An audit of a smaller website with up to five standard pages starts at around 5,000 CZK on the Czech market; for an e-shop with a comprehensive report in accordance with WCAG 2.1 AA, prices range from roughly 9,000 to 15,000 CZK. Subsequent fixes for a smaller website start at 35,000 CZK, while for a larger e-shop they typically range from 75,000 to 200,000 CZK.

Where can I order a comprehensive website accessibility audit?

Audits are offered by specialized firms as well as web agencies. At Apador, we address accessibility as part of our technical audits and redesigns of websites and online stores. Get in touch with us, and we’ll work with you to determine whether the law applies to you at all—before you commit to any payments.

How to Choose a Platform for Building an Accessible Online Store?

Check whether the template provider actively addresses accessibility and whether the platform allows you to adjust colors, contrast, and alt text without modifying the code. Both Shoptet and Upgates are WCAG 2.1-compliant; with WordPress, it depends primarily on the template you choose.

How can we improve website accessibility for screen reader users?

Use semantic HTML and a logical heading hierarchy, describe images with descriptive alt text, pair each form field with a label, and ensure that link and button text makes sense even when taken out of context. A link that says „click here“ tells the screen reader nothing.

What are the basic principles of the WCAG standards?

WCAG is based on four principles: content must be perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. Each principle is divided into specific success criteria across three levels: A, AA, and AAA. The law requires Level AA.

What to Take Away From This

Web accessibility is neither the catastrophe that alarmist emails make it out to be, nor is it a waste of time. It’s a legal requirement for some companies and a pretty good investment for everyone else. An accessible website is easier to find, is better understood by language models, and doesn’t lose customers who are unable to complete a purchase on it.

The process is simple. First, check to see if you qualify for the micro-enterprise exemption. Then take the 30-minute test described above. Only after seeing the results should you decide whether you need an audit or just a few adjustments to the template.

Not sure where you stand? Contact us and we'll go over your website together. We'll tell you right away whether the law applies to you and what needs to be done—without scaring you with fines.

Just like website accessibility, a cookie banner is also part of standard technical best practices. To find out when a website needs one and what fines may apply if it doesn’t have one, see the article on cookies on the website.

Before you make major changes to your website for accessibility purposes, it's a good idea to have a recent backup on hand. In article on backing up a website You'll find out how often to back up your data and what the backup should include so that you can quickly restore a working version in case of problems.