On June 28, 2025, the BARRIER FREITIFITY Act (BAfG) came into force in Austria. It implements the European Accessibility Act (EAA) at the national level and obliges numerous companies to make their digital products and services barrier -free.
Companies with fewer than ten employees or less than two million euros in sales or total assets are excluded from the obligation – however, it applies fully for around 70,800 companies. Anyone who disregards the requirements must expect administrative penalties – and at the same time risk, large parts of the population as customers: interior or users: excluding inside.
A new study by the auditing and advisory organization EY Austria and Riskomonitor.com has therefore examined how well the domestic economy is prepared for the new law- and shows that there is an urgent need for action. Only two percent of the analyzed websites are legally compliant. On average, each start page records 4.42 errors – such as missing alternative texts, inadequate contrasts, non -operable navigations or missing subtitles. Austrian companies are 4.49 errors per homepage above the international average. “Digital accessibility encounters numerous hurdles in Austria. It harbors enormous potential-for more participation and for new markets,” says Anja Hennrich-Huber, Director in the Technology Transformation area at EY Austria. “Young companies in particular show that accessibility can be considered right from the start-this not only improves accessibility, but also the general user experience,” adds Jasmin Löw-Beer, founder and managing director of Risikomonitor.com.
Companies can under https://audit.riskmonitor.cloud Test for free how barrier -free your website is currently – and where there is a specific need for action.
The complete study documents are here available for download.
OTS original text press release with the exclusive in terms of content of the sender – www.ots.at | Eyo