Digital Accessibility in France

France has one of the most developed digital accessibility frameworks in Europe. Accessibility obligations have been embedded in French law since 2005, and the regulatory environment has grown significantly in scope and enforcement since then. With the transposition of the European Accessibility Act (EAA) into French law in June 2025, accessibility requirements now extend beyond the public sector to a much wider range of private sector organisations.

Specifically, any organisation with more than 10 employees and annual revenue exceeding €2 million that provides products or services within the EAA's defined categories must now meet French accessibility standards. Organisations that fail to comply face financial penalties of up to €50,000 per non-compliant service, renewable every six months.

What is the Loi Handicap 2005?

The Loi Handicap (Law No. 2005-102 of 11 February 2005), formally titled the Law for Equal Rights and Opportunities, Participation and Citizenship of People with Disabilities, is the foundational piece of French disability legislation. Enacted on 11 February 2005, it established the principle that people with disabilities have equal rights and opportunities across all areas of life, including access to digital services.

Article 47 of the Loi Handicap explicitly mandated web accessibility for public sector bodies, making France one of the first countries in Europe to establish a legal basis for digital accessibility. The law requires public sector websites and online services to be accessible to people with disabilities and provides the legal authority for the RGAA as the technical standard organisations must meet.

The Loi Handicap applies to:

• State administrations and government bodies

• Local authorities including regional and municipal governments

• Public institutions and establishments

• Organisations carrying out a public service mission

Organisations that fail to provide an accessible digital experience may face financial penalties and reputational consequences, as well as complaints brought by disability advocacy organisations.

What is the Loi pour une République Numérique?

The Loi pour une République Numérique (Law for a Digital Republic), enacted in October 2016, significantly expanded the scope of digital accessibility obligations in France. Most notably, Article 106 of the law extended accessibility requirements beyond the public sector to large private sector companies, specifically those with annual revenues exceeding €250 million.

The law requires organisations within its scope to:

• Comply with the RGAA accessibility standard

• Publish an accessibility statement (déclaration d'accessibilité) explaining their level of compliance

• Display their conformance level on their homepage

• Produce a multi-year accessibility plan (schéma pluriannuel) detailing the steps they are taking to reach full compliance

• Provide a mechanism for users to report accessibility issues

The Loi pour une République Numérique was a significant expansion of French accessibility law, bringing large private enterprises into the same compliance framework as public bodies for the first time. Since June 2025, the EAA transposition has extended these requirements further, covering a wider range of private sector organisations regardless of revenue threshold, provided they fall within the EAA's defined product and service categories.

What is the RGAA?

The RGAA (Référentiel Général d'Amélioration de l'Accessibilité, or General Framework for Improving Accessibility) is France's official technical standard for digital accessibility. Published and maintained by DINUM (the Direction interministérielle du numérique, France's inter-ministerial digital directorate), the RGAA defines the specific criteria and testing methodology that organisations must use to assess and demonstrate compliance with French accessibility law.

The current version is RGAA 4.1.2. Version 5 is in development and expected to be published in late 2026.

The RGAA is built directly on WCAG 2.1 Level A and AA success criteria and is aligned with EN 301 549, the harmonised European standard for ICT accessibility. A defining feature of the RGAA is its inclusion of specific unit tests for each accessibility criterion, providing a clear and objective methodology for auditing websites and determining their conformance level. This makes the RGAA more prescriptive than WCAG alone, giving organisations and auditors a consistent basis for assessment.

The RGAA covers:

• Websites and web applications

• Mobile applications

• Non-web documents including PDFs, Word files, and spreadsheets published after 23 September 2018

• Intranets and extranets

Organisations subject to the RGAA must classify their sites as fully compliant, partially compliant, or non-compliant, and display this status on their homepage alongside a link to their full accessibility statement.

Stylized web browser with a pop-up of a bulleted list; a magnifying glass over the accessibility symbol is in the right corner. Icons of gears are faded in the background.

What are the Requirements for French Accessibility Laws?

French accessibility law, as implemented through the RGAA, requires organisations to meet the success criteria of WCAG 2.1 Level AA. These criteria address the most significant barriers that users with disabilities encounter and are organised around four core principles: Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust (POUR).

Key requirements include:

• Captions for video content: All pre-recorded video content must include accurate captions. This enables users who are Deaf or hard of hearing to access audio information and benefits users in situations where audio cannot be played.

• Sufficient colour contrast: Text and images of text must have a colour contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 against their background. Large text requires a minimum ratio of 3:1. This ensures readability for users with low vision or colour vision differences.

• Keyboard accessibility: All website functionality must be operable using a keyboard alone, without requiring a mouse or other pointer device. Keyboard focus must be visible at all times and must not become trapped within any component.

• Compatibility with assistive technologies: Websites and applications must be compatible with screen readers, braille displays, voice control software, and other assistive technologies. This includes correct use of semantic HTML, ARIA roles, and programmatic labelling of all interface elements.

• Text alternatives for non-text content: All images, icons, and non-text elements must include accurate text alternatives (alt text) so that users who cannot see them can still access the same information via a screen reader.

• Descriptive labels and instructions: Form fields, buttons, and interactive elements must have clear, descriptive labels. Error messages must be specific and explain how users can correct the issue.

• Accessible documents: PDFs and other documents published as part of a digital service must be tagged and structured so they can be read by assistive technologies. This requirement applies to documents published after 23 September 2018.

• Published accessibility statement: Organisations must publish and maintain a déclaration d'accessibilité that states their level of conformance, lists known barriers and when they will be resolved, and provides a contact method for users to report issues.

For a complete list of RGAA criteria and testing methodology, the full standard is published at accessibilite.numerique.gouv.fr.

These are just some of the success criteria included in WCAG 2.0. For a more detailed list, check out our WCAG 2.0 checklist.

Benefits of Complying with French Accessibility Laws

Beyond legal obligation, there are significant practical reasons for organisations to prioritise digital accessibility in France.

• Avoid financial penalties and enforcement action. Non-compliance with French accessibility requirements can result in fines of up to €50,000 per non-compliant service, renewable every six months if the issue persists. An additional fine of €25,000 applies for failure to publish an accessibility statement or multi-year plan. Organisations can also face discrimination complaints with penalties reaching up to €300,000 in serious cases. Enforcement is carried out by ARCOM for public sector and large private organisations, and by the DGCCRF for products and services within the EAA's scope.

• Reach a larger audience. More than 12 million people in France live with a disability, representing approximately 18% of the population. An accessible digital experience opens your products and services to this audience and to the millions more who benefit from accessible design, including older users and those with temporary impairments.

• Strengthen your brand and demonstrate commitment to inclusion. Accessibility compliance signals that your organisation takes inclusion seriously. In France, where public discourse around disability rights is well established, this matters to customers, employees, and partners alike.

• Meet procurement and partnership requirements. Public sector procurement in France increasingly requires suppliers to demonstrate accessibility compliance. Organisations bidding for government contracts or partnering with public sector bodies are expected to meet RGAA standards as a baseline condition.

• Build a stronger digital product. Accessible websites and applications are more usable for everyone. The improvements required for RGAA compliance, including clear navigation, descriptive labels, and structured content, directly improve the user experience across your entire audience.

Meeting French Accessibility Requirements: Your Next Steps

France's digital accessibility framework is comprehensive and becoming more strictly enforced. Whether you are a public sector body, a large private company already subject to the Loi pour une République Numérique, or a private sector organisation newly brought into scope by the EAA, the technical requirements are consistent: WCAG 2.1 Level AA conformance, assessed against RGAA criteria, with published accessibility statements and multi-year compliance plans.

Some of the practical steps organisations need to take include:

• Auditing their websites, mobile apps, and digital documents against RGAA 4.1.2 criteria

• Fixing identified barriers, prioritising those with the most significant impact on users with disabilities

• Publishing a déclaration d'accessibilité with an accurate conformance level

• Producing a schéma pluriannuel (multi-year plan) setting out remaining actions and timelines

• Establishing an ongoing process for monitoring accessibility as content and features change

The good news is that less than 10% of French websites currently meet their accessibility obligations. Organisations that invest in accessibility now are not just meeting a legal threshold; they are building a competitive advantage in a market where accessible digital experiences remain rare.

At AudioEye, we can help you meet RGAA, WCAG, and EAA accessibility standards with our Automated Accessibility Platform. Leveraging both automation and the knowledge of accessibility experts, we help you detect and fix more accessibility issues than any other provider.

To get started, use our Website Accessibility Scanner. The scanner looks for common accessibility issues on your current site, giving you a deeper understanding of how accessible your site is and where improvements are needed.