Accessible Websites: Who Is Required to Comply — and Who Isn't

Since the end of June 2025, the German Accessibility Act — the Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz (BFSG) — has been in force in Germany. Ever since, the claim has been circulating that every website now has to be accessible. As a blanket statement, that is not true — and for most small businesses the actual situation is more relaxed than the headlines suggest.

The short version: the BFSG primarily concerns offers to consumers through which contracts can be concluded online — meaning online shops, booking flows, and binding order processes. Pure information websites without such functions and pure B2B offers are generally not covered. Many micro-enterprises additionally benefit from exemptions.

More important than "Do I have to?", though, is the question "Why not, actually?": accessibility pays off even where it is not mandated — for solid business reasons. Most of this article therefore shows what you can concretely improve.

Note: This article is general guidance, not legal advice. Whether your specific offer falls under the BFSG is a question for official bodies — such as Germany's federal office for accessibility (Bundesfachstelle Barrierefreiheit) — or for a legal review.

The legal situation in brief

The BFSG implements a European directive — the European Accessibility Act — which creates uniform accessibility requirements for certain products and services across the EU. For websites, what matters most is electronic commerce with consumers: if end customers can buy something, make a binding booking, or place a paid order through a website, that path must be usable without barriers — in essence: perceivable, operable, understandable, and technically robust, including for people using a screen reader, working without a mouse, or living with impaired vision.

That leads to a rough classification, which always remains subject to case-by-case review:

• Typically covered: online shops for end customers, binding booking and reservation flows, order processes that conclude a contract.
• Typically not covered: pure information websites (services, opening hours, non-binding contact form) and offers aimed exclusively at business customers.
• Exemptions: for many micro-enterprises, the law provides relief for services. Whether and how these apply in your specific case is not something to derive from blog posts — clarify it with official bodies or legal counsel.

The boundaries are not always sharp — a website with online appointment booking can fall on either side of the line depending on how it is built. When in doubt: have it reviewed, in both directions. No more legal theory is needed at this point, because the practical answer is the same for almost everyone.

Why accessibility makes sense for every website

Even if your website does not fall under the BFSG, four reasons speak for building it with low barriers:

• More reachable customers. A substantial share of the population lives with impairments in vision, hearing, or motor skills — permanently or age-related. A website that locks these people out gives up real customers, often without noticing.
• Overlap with SEO. Much of what accessibility demands also helps search engines: clean heading structure, alt texts for images, understandable link texts, stable pages. Building with low barriers means building search-engine-friendly almost automatically — a connection that also counts for local visibility on Google.
• Better usability for everyone. Good contrast helps anyone using their phone in the sun. Large tap targets help every thumb. Clear language helps every reader in a hurry. Accessibility is not a special path — it is simply good craftsmanship.
• Future-proofing. Across Europe, the trend is toward more binding requirements. Build cleanly today and you won't have to retrofit expensively tomorrow.

The six most important practical basics

Accessibility is not an all-or-nothing project. These fundamentals deliver the biggest effect and, in a cleanly built site, cost no extra effort:

1. Sufficient contrast. Text must stand out clearly from the background — as a proven rule of thumb from the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text. Light gray on white fails, even if it looks "modern".
2. Alt texts for images. Every image that carries content needs a short text description saying what is shown. Purely decorative images are marked as such so that screen-reading software skips them.
3. Full keyboard operation. Everything that works with a mouse must also be reachable via the Tab key and Enter — including a visible focus outline so you can see where you currently are. Dropdown menus and image galleries are the usual offenders here.
4. Clear structure. Exactly one main heading per page, logically nested subheadings, meaningful link texts instead of "click here". That helps screen readers and search engines alike.
5. Readable font sizes. Body text no smaller than 16 pixels, sufficient line spacing, and the text must scale to 200 percent without the layout breaking.
6. Labeled forms. Every input field needs a visible, technically linked label. Error messages must appear as text — a red outline alone is invisible to a blind user, and to a colorblind one too.

Three self-tests without any tools

You can roughly assess the state of your website yourself in five minutes:

• The Tab test: put the mouse aside and operate the page only with Tab, Shift+Tab, and Enter. Can you reach every menu, every link, every form field? Can you always see where the focus is?
• The zoom test: enlarge the browser view to 200 percent. Does everything stay readable and usable without elements overlapping?
• The squint test: squint your eyes or turn the screen brightness down. Can you still tell headings, body text, and buttons apart? If not, the contrast is too weak.

If your website fails two out of three tests, that is no reason to panic — but a clear sign that the next update should involve more than a new photo.

The right moment: the relaunch

Patching accessibility into an old website after the fact is laborious; building it in from the start costs almost nothing extra. If your website is getting on in years anyway, a relaunch is the natural moment to handle both together — we broke down what that costs in the article on website modernization costs. On all websites we build, contrast, alt texts, keyboard operation, and clean structure are standard — you'll find examples in the Showroom.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does my business website have to be accessible since 2025?

Not automatically. The BFSG targets consumer offers with electronic commerce — above all shops and binding booking flows. A pure presentation website with a contact form is generally not covered. Since the line depends on the individual case, borderline cases should be assessed by official bodies or legal counsel.

I run a small business — do exemptions apply to me?

The law provides relief for many micro-enterprises, especially for services. Whether your business qualifies depends on criteria that cannot be answered seriously in a blanket way — don't rely on blog articles for this, but on official bodies or legal advice.

What happens if a covered website is not accessible?

Compliance is supervised by the authorities; violations can lead to remediation orders and fines, alongside the usual risk of competition-law complaints. Concrete consequences depend on the individual case.

Is a retrofitted accessibility overlay enough?

Assistive tools that change contrast or font sizes via script are widely regarded by experts as insufficient, because they don't fix structural flaws in the code. Real accessibility is created in how the page itself is built — in structure, contrast, and operability.

Does an accessible website cost more?

For a new build, hardly: contrast, alt texts, keyboard operation, and clean headings are standard craftsmanship, not an add-on. It only gets expensive when a badly built website has to be reworked afterwards — one more reason to do it right at the next relaunch.