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The EU Accessibility Statement That Actually Holds Up: Template, Country Variations, Common Mistakes

France fines €25,000/year for a missing accessibility statement. Most EU sites either don't have one or have a meaningless one. Here is the template that holds up legally — annotated, with country-specific notes.

9 May 2026

11 min read

Ravid, Webply

What a statement must legally contain

Different EU member states have slightly different lists, but the common set across the EAA-transposition acts is:

• Conformance level — fully compliant, partially compliant, or non-compliant. (Honestly. False claims of full compliance are themselves a violation.)
• Standard referenced — typically EN 301 549 v3.2.1 (which adopts WCAG 2.1 Level AA for web content).
• Scope of the statement — which website(s) and applications it covers, plus what is explicitly excluded (e.g. third-party content, archived PDFs, embedded social media).
• Method of evaluation — automated tools used, manual review processes, who conducted them.
• Identified non-conformities — known gaps with descriptions and a timeline for remediation.
• Disproportionate burden exceptions — content excluded on the basis of disproportionate burden, with the assessment.
• Contact information — an email address and (where applicable) a postal address for accessibility-related queries.
• Enforcement / complaints procedure — pointer to the relevant national escalation route if the user is not satisfied with your response.
• Date of last review — when the statement was last verified.
• Date of preparation / publication — when this version was published.

The template below gives you all of these, in order.

The template (annotated)

Copy the block below to a new page on your site at /accessibility (or local equivalent). Replace bracketed placeholders. Read the annotation lines underneath each section.

Country-specific variations for the "Enforcement" paragraph

🇫🇷 France

Si vous n'êtes pas satisfait de notre réponse, vous pouvez contacter le Défenseur des droits (defenseurdroits.fr) ou saisir l'autorité administrative compétente. La déclaration d'accessibilité est requise par le décret n° 2023-931 du 9 octobre 2023.

For more on the French enforcement landscape — including the November 2025 actions — see our RGAA / EAA France guide or the France EAA fines page for fine ranges and the enforcement authority.

🇩🇪 Germany

Wenn Sie mit unserer Antwort nicht zufrieden sind, können Sie sich an die Schlichtungsstelle nach §16 BGG bei der Bundesfachstelle für Barrierefreiheit wenden (schlichtungsstelle-bgg.de). Diese Erklärung wird gemäß Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz (BFSG) bereitgestellt.

For more on the German enforcement landscape — including the Abmahnung dynamic — see our BFSG Abmahnung post or the Germany EAA fines page.

🇦🇹 Austria

Wenn Sie mit unserer Antwort nicht zufrieden sind, können Sie sich an das Sozialministeriumservice (sozialministeriumservice.at) wenden, das nach §14 BGStG ein kostenloses Schlichtungsverfahren anbietet. Diese Erklärung wird gemäß Barrierefreiheitsgesetz (BaFG) bereitgestellt.

See our BGStG Austria guide or the Austria EAA fines page for fine ranges and the enforcement authority.

🇳🇱 Netherlands

Als u niet tevreden bent met ons antwoord, kunt u contact opnemen met het College voor de Rechten van de Mens (mensenrechten.nl) of een melding doen bij de Autoriteit Consument en Markt (ACM). Deze verklaring wordt verstrekt overeenkomstig de Implementatiewet Toegankelijkheidsvoorschriften.

🇧🇪 Belgium

Als u niet tevreden bent met ons antwoord (Si vous n'êtes pas satisfait de notre réponse / Wenn Sie mit unserer Antwort nicht zufrieden sind), kunt u contact opnemen met het Centrum voor Gelijke Kansen (Unia) via unia.be / unia.be/fr. Deze verklaring wordt verstrekt overeenkomstig de federale wetgeving ter omzetting van Richtlijn (EU) 2019/882.

Note Belgium is a trilingual market — your statement should ideally be available in Dutch, French, and German for the relevant regions. Failures across language versions count as separate violations under Belgian enforcement.

🇮🇪 Ireland

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may refer the matter to the National Disability Authority (nda.ie) or, in serious cases, to the relevant authorities under the European Union (Accessibility Requirements of Products and Services) Regulations 2023.

Common mistakes that turn the statement into a liability

Three mistakes I see repeatedly when reviewing live statements on European sites:

1. Claiming "fully compliant" without supporting evidence. This is the worst possible posture. If a complaint is filed and an audit demonstrates non-compliance, the statement itself becomes evidence of a misleading claim — which is independently actionable in some jurisdictions. The honest "partially compliant with documented exceptions and a roadmap" position is far stronger legally.

2. Listing zero non-conformities. Almost no real website has zero issues. A statement that lists no non-conformities suggests either dishonesty or no actual evaluation. Either reads badly. List the real issues with a real timeline. This signals diligence.

3. No date, or a date older than 12 months. A statement from 2024 still showing on a 2026 site signals neglect. Update the "last reviewed" date even if nothing else changed — it shows you ran the review.

Putting it on your site

Placement matters. Three rules:

• Footer link on every page. The link text should be "Accessibility" or "Accessibility statement" — not "Accessibility info" or "Inclusion" or anything cute.
• Stable URL. Common conventions: /accessibility, /accessibility-statement. Pick one and don't change it. If you change it, redirect.
• In every language version of your site. A French-language site needs a French-language statement. A Belgian site needs Dutch + French + (often) German.

If you only have an English statement on a multilingual site, you're treating the legal requirement as an afterthought — and regulators reading the statement notice.