How EU regulators will fine your site, app, or institution
Websites, apps, banking portals, transit systems, the enforcement mechanics are the same regardless of what you call your product. An investigation is rarely a surprise: by the time a Formal Notice lands, you already had a way to avoid it. Here's how you get flagged, how the fine is calculated, and what it costs, country by country.
how you get flagged
An investigation is almost always kicked off by one of three sources.
Consumer & NGO complaints
Users with disabilities or digital rights groups file a formal report with a national authority.
Competitor reporting
Under unfair competition laws, especially common in Germany, competitors can flag your non-compliance.
Random audits
Dedicated regulatory teams scan high-traffic e-commerce, banking, and transit portals automatically.
the notice & cure period
If an authority finds a violation, an unnavigable mobile checkout, missing technical files, they will not fine you on day one.
Formal notice
The authority details the exact technical violations found.
Cure period
A mandatory window to remediate the code or hardware barriers.
30–90 days · by countryFine calculated
If unresolved, the authority calculates the penalty and it becomes payable.
the real cost, country by country
Penalties must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive, scaled by barrier severity, users affected, and company size. Maximum per-violation penalties below.
| Country | Maximum per violation | Non-monetary sanction |
|---|---|---|
| Germany | Up to €100,000 | Cease-and-desist under Unfair Competition law. |
| France | Up to €250,000 | Confiscation of hardware, business suspension. |
| Spain | Up to €1,000,000 | Total exclusion from public procurement contracts. |
| Italy | Up to 5% of turnover | Public "naming and shaming" disclosures. |
| Ireland | Up to €60,000 | Criminal prosecution, up to 18 months jail time. |
Daily fines & product bans
If an organization ignores a final warning, many member states initiate daily penalties, often up to €1,000/day, that accumulate until a validated patch is shipped. In extreme cases, regulators issue a mandatory market withdrawal order: your app pulled from the stores, or a product line banned outright.
When the stakes are legal, not just automated.
Automated scans catch what a script can see. A manual audit catches what actually gets you fined: the checkout flow a screen reader can't finish, the modal a keyboard can't escape, the exact gaps a Formal Notice above would cite.
You've just seen what the fines above cost. The Quick Audit below is the lowest-commitment way to start closing that gap.
Quick Audit
- Manual review of your single highest-risk page (checkout, login, or homepage)
- Screen reader and keyboard-only pass
- Short punch-list report, top issues ranked by severity
One page or flow. Need more pages or sites? See Manual Expert Audit.
Premium Training Session
- For UI/UX designers, frontend engineers, and product owners
- 60-minute live interactive sprint, not a slide deck
- You bring the core bottleneck; we solve it live
Manual Expert Audit
- Full screen reader (NVDA/VoiceOver), keyboard, and dynamic-states testing
- Risk-prioritised by legal and operational exposure, not just error count
- Regulator-ready report cross-walked to WCAG 2.2 and EN 301 549
Book more than one together and the earlier findings become the next one's working material, mention it in your email for bundle pricing. Replies come from compliance@access-lens.com.