What Is EN 301 549?

Since June 28, 2025, the European Accessibility Act (EAA) has applied to a wide range of products and services sold to consumers in the EU, from e-commerce sites to banking apps. For most teams, the EAA itself is familiar by now. But the standard behind it? Less so.

That standard is EN 301 549. The EAA mandates that products and services must be accessible, and EN 301 549 spells out what that means. And it covers far more than websites, from mobile apps and software to documents, hardware, and support services. Here’s how it works and where it fits alongside the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and EU law.

Who Publishes EN 301 549? 

The standard is published jointly by ETSI(opens in a new tab), CEN, and CENELEC, Europe’s three standardization bodies. 

It was first published in 2014 to help public bodies buy accessible ICT, in response to European Commission Mandate 376. Because it’s a standard rather than a law, EN 301 549 doesn’t carry penalties on its own. It gains legal weight when EU laws point to it, which we’ll cover in more detail below.

How Does EN 301 549 Relate to WCAG?

For web content, EN 301 549 v3.2.1 incorporates WCAG 2.1 Level AA, so meeting these standards meets EN 301 549’s web requirements. 

WCAG and EN 301 549 aren’t interchangeable, but they’re closely connected. WCAG, published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), sets accessibility guidelines mainly for web content. EN 301 549 takes those guidelines and goes further. It applies them to documents and software, too, and adds requirements for technologies that WCAG doesn’t address, such as hardware and two-way communication.

More simply, the EAA sets accessibility principles, and EN 301 549 incorporates WCAG to turn them into testable requirements for digital content. 

For a deeper look at how the law and guidelines differ, see our post on EAA vs. WCAG.

How Does EN 301 549 Relate to the EAA and the Web Accessibility Directive?

Two EU laws rely on EN 301 549: the Web Accessibility Directive(opens in a new tab), which covers public sector websites and apps, and the European Accessibility Act, which covers private businesses. Neither law spells out technical requirements in detail; instead, both point to EN 301 549 as the way to show you’ve met them through a legal concept called presumption of conformity. 

What is a Presumption of Conformity?

A presumption of conformity means that meeting an official EU standard counts as meeting the law. For example, if your website meets EN 301 549, it’s assumed to meet the accessibility requirements the standard covers. 

For a standard to count, the European Commission has to formally list it in the Official Journal of the European Union, the EU’s official publication for laws and legal notices. You can show compliance in other ways, but meeting the listed standard is the most straightforward route.

The Web Accessibility Directive

The Web Accessibility Directive applies to public-sector websites and mobile apps, including those run by government agencies and other public bodies. Since August 2021, EN 301 549 v3.2.1 has been the officially listed standard for this law. In other words, a public sector website that meets EN 301 549 is assumed to meet the directive’s accessibility requirements.

The European Accessibility Act

The EAA applies to businesses, including products and services such as online stores, banking apps, and phone and internet services. For websites and apps, the EAA requires them to be perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. These are the same four principles WCAG is built on.

The newest version of EN 301 549, v4.1.1, is the first one written specifically with the EAA in mind. But until the European Union officially lists it, the earlier version, v3.2.1, remains the version organizations should measure against for both laws. Once v4.1.1 is listed, meeting it will give organizations a presumption of conformity under both the EAA and WAD.

Who Needs to Follow EN 301 549?

Public sector bodies under the Web Accessibility Directive and businesses selling covered products or services in the EU under the European Accessibility Act look to EN 301 549, including companies based outside the EU.

In practice, that includes:

• Public sector bodies in EU Member States, for their websites and mobile apps.

• Private businesses offering EAA-covered services to consumers in the EU, such as e-commerce, consumer banking, and electronic communications, wherever they’re headquartered. For covered products such as computers, smartphones, and payment terminals, obligations also apply to EU importers and distributors that bring them to market.

• Suppliers bidding on EU public contracts, since EN 301 549 began as a procurement standard.

How Do You Meet EN 301 549’s Web Requirements?

For websites and apps, meeting EN 301 549 starts with conforming to WCAG 2.1 Level AA, then keeping that conformance as your content changes.

A practical approach has four parts:

1. Audit. Test against WCAG 2.1 Level AA using automated scanning plus expert testing, since automation alone can’t catch every issue. Automation covers your content at scale while expert testers using assistive technology catch the issues that need human judgment. 

2. Fix. Prioritize issues by user impact and fix them at the source.

3. Document. Record how your site or app meets the requirements. Public sector bodies must publish an accessibility statement under the Web Accessibility Directive, and the EAA asks providers to explain how their services meet its accessibility requirements.

4. Monitor. Re-test with every release so new content doesn’t fall out of conformance. Adding the WCAG 2.2 criteria to your testing now will make the move to v4.1.1 easier.

Make EN 301 549 Part of Your Accessibility Program

The EAA tells you that your digital products need to be accessible. EN 301 549 is how that gets judged. Knowing the standard is the difference between hoping you’re compliant and being able to show it. It also reaches further than most teams expect. Because it covers apps, software, documents, and more, it can shape how teams across your organization build, buy, and test technology.

Wherever you’re starting from, the first step is knowing where your websites and apps stand today. AudioEye helps you get there and stay there by pairing AI-powered automation at scale with Expert Audits for issues that require human judgment. With Active Monitoring, your sites stay conformant even as they change and standards evolve.

Find out where your websites and apps stand today. Scan your site for free or talk to an expert.