E-commerce isn't a gray area under the EAA. A French court just proved it.
On 4 June 2026, a French court ordered Carrefour to make its website and app fully accessible within six months, or pay €500 for every day it's late. The judge rejected Carrefour's defense that meeting "71% of the RGAA criteria was sufficient," ruling that an e-commerce site "cannot just be somewhat accessible, it must be totally accessible." Here's what the European Accessibility Act actually requires from an online store, and how to check yours before someone else does.
Why online stores get extra scrutiny
Two things make e-commerce a higher-priority target for regulators and disability advocacy groups alike.
It's on the list
E-commerce services appear directly in the EAA's list of covered services, alongside consumer banking, e-books, and passenger transport. There's no argument about whether it applies, only about how well you comply.
One broken step blocks the whole purchase
A store can have a beautiful catalog and still fail entirely if the checkout can't be completed with a keyboard or screen reader, which is exactly what the French inspections found: non-compliant checkout flows, not just cosmetic issues.
What this actually means, page by page
Four places accessibility gaps most commonly hide inside an online store.
Product listings & search
- Alt text on every product photo, not just the hero image
- Filters and sort controls operable by keyboard
- Price, stock, and rating info announced to screen readers
Cart & checkout
- Every field has a real, programmatic label, not just a placeholder
- Errors are announced and tied to the field that caused them
- No step that depends on a mouse, hover, or drag gesture
Account & order history
- Order status and tracking readable without relying on color alone
- Downloadable invoices as tagged PDFs, not scanned images
- Returns and refund flows fully keyboard-operable
Customer support
- Text-based support channels alongside phone lines
- Chat widgets that don't trap keyboard focus
- Staff aware of how to help a customer using assistive technology
The first EAA e-commerce ruling in Europe
Europe's first EAA-related lawsuits, filed against four major French retailers, show exactly how this plays out in practice.
- July 2025. French disability organizations sent formal legal notices to Auchan, Carrefour, E.Leclerc, and Picard Surgelés over accessibility gaps in their e-commerce sites and apps.
- November 2025. After the responses proved inadequate, the organizations filed emergency injunctions in French Commercial Court, the first EAA-related lawsuits in Europe.
- 4 June 2026. The judicial court in Caen ruled against Carrefour. The company argued that meeting 71% of France's RGAA accessibility criteria was sufficient, the judge disagreed: an e-commerce site "cannot just be somewhat accessible, it must be totally accessible."
- The penalty. Carrefour has six months to reach full accessibility on its website and app, or pay €500 per day past the deadline. Carrefour has since announced a compliance plan targeting full accessibility by the end of 2026, including user testing with disabled customers.
- The Auchan case was dismissed, not on the merits, but on a revenue threshold: France's 2005 disability law only reaches organizations above a €250 million revenue ceiling for this obligation, and Auchan's e-commerce subsidiary earned €144 million in 2024. A smaller number does not mean immunity everywhere, other member states set their own thresholds.
Source: li.solutions, "European Accessibility Act: first court ruling". Reported for informational purposes, not legal advice, and not a claim about any other named retailer's current compliance status.
The scale of what's still inaccessible
of the world's top websites had at least one detectable WCAG 2 failure. (WebAIM Million, 2025)
the penalty a French court just attached to one company's checkout flow, with more rulings expected across the EU through 2026.
Europeans with disabilities today, all of them potential customers your checkout either includes or excludes. (EAA Impact Assessment)
E-commerce isn't the only sector named
The EAA's service list reaches well beyond online retail. If your organization operates in any of these, the same obligations apply.
See what your checkout actually fails first.
Free automated scan on any URL, WCAG 2.1 AA + EAA in about a minute. For the parts a scanner can't reach, a real screen reader and keyboard pass on your highest-risk page, the Quick Audit covers it in 2 business days. Need ongoing coverage instead? The Weekly Compliance Report re-scans your store automatically and emails you the results. For full-site remediation evidence, the Manual Expert Audit goes deepest.