Czech Republic Accessibility Laws and EAA Compliance

What accessibility laws apply in the Czech Republic?

Two national laws form the core of Czech accessibility regulation. Each covers a different part of the market.

Act No. 99/2019 Coll.

Transposes the EU Web Accessibility Directive (2016/2102).

It applies to public-sector bodies — government agencies, public universities, hospitals and other publicly funded institutions. Their websites and mobile applications must meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA.

Act No. 424/2023 Coll.

Transposes the European Accessibility Act, Directive (EU) 2019/882.

It applies to private businesses and covers a defined list of products and services sold to consumers, from e-commerce platforms to banking services.

Sector rules on top

A few sector-specific laws add narrower obligations on top of these two. The Electronic Communications Act, for instance, requires providers of interpersonal communication services to keep emergency communication free and equally accessible to users with disabilities.

None of these sector rules replace the two core laws. They layer additional requirements onto specific industries.

How does the European Accessibility Act apply in the Czech Republic?

Act No. 424/2023 Coll. is what actually puts the EAA into effect domestically. The EU directive sets the minimum standard, but each member state has to pass its own law to make it enforceable. This is the Czech Republic's version, and it came into force on 28 June 2025.

What changed

Before this law, accessibility obligations in the Czech Republic fell almost entirely on public-sector websites under Act No. 99/2019 Coll.

Act No. 424/2023 Coll. extends comparable obligations to private companies selling specific products and services to consumers. That applies whether those products or services are offered for free or for a fee.

New vs existing: the deadlines

New products, services and websites launched from 28 June 2025 onward must meet the requirements immediately. Existing products and services get a longer runway — a transition period running until 28 June 2030.

That grace period isn't unconditional. Any substantive change made to an existing website or service after 28 June 2025 triggers the accessibility obligation right away.

A redesign or a new checkout flow can pull an otherwise-grandfathered site into scope early. Plan changes with that in mind.

Who must comply with accessibility requirements?

Compliance under Act No. 424/2023 Coll. depends on company size, not just industry.

Businesses above the thresholds

Any business with 10 or more employees, or an annual turnover or balance sheet total above €2 million, falls within scope if it offers a covered product or service.

Microenterprises

Businesses below both thresholds are generally exempt. The exemption applies to service providers specifically. Even qualifying microenterprises still benefit from meeting the standard voluntarily — it reduces legal exposure and widens the customer base they can serve.

Fundamental alteration or disproportionate burden

An organization can claim that full compliance would fundamentally change the product or service, or impose a disproportionate burden relative to its size and resources.

Both of those last two exemptions require paperwork, not a simple opt-out. Relying on either one means preparing a documented assessment that justifies the claim — and it has to hold up if a regulator asks for it.

Which products and services are covered?

The law's scope is a defined list rather than a general accessibility mandate. So the first question for any organization is whether what it sells appears on that list at all.

• Computers and operating systems — general-purpose hardware and the software running on it.
• Self-service terminals — ATMs, ticketing machines and check-in terminals used in transport and other consumer settings.
• Consumer telephony and related equipment — smartphones and other devices providing electronic communication services.
• Audiovisual media services — the interfaces used to access television and streaming-style content, including program guides.
• E-books and dedicated e-reader hardware.
• E-commerce services — any online platform selling goods or services to consumers.
• Banking services — consumer-facing banking, including the interfaces used to access accounts and make payments.
• Passenger transport services — air, bus, rail and waterborne transport, specifically the digital interfaces and information systems passengers rely on, such as websites, apps and self-service check-in.

Organizations selling into more than one of these categories need to assess each product or service line separately. Compliance is scoped to the specific product or service, not to the company as a whole.

What accessibility requirements apply to websites and mobile applications?

Websites and apps sit at the center of both Czech laws, but the two frame the requirement differently.

Act No. 99/2019 Coll. treats accessibility as a public-sector transparency obligation with a published statement. Act No. 424/2023 Coll. treats it as a consumer-protection requirement tied to a technical standard. In practice, most organizations end up needing both pieces — a documented statement and a working technical baseline.

Accessibility statement

An accessibility statement is a published document describing how accessible a website or app actually is, where it falls short, and how a user can report a problem. It's required under Act No. 99/2019 Coll. for public-sector sites.

It isn't a certificate of full compliance. It's an honest disclosure. A site that lists known gaps alongside a working feedback channel is doing exactly what the requirement asks for. A statement claiming full conformance with no exceptions listed is more likely to invite scrutiny than one that's specific about what's still being fixed.

Private businesses under Act No. 424/2023 Coll. face a related but distinct obligation. They must be able to provide information demonstrating how their product or service meets the applicable requirements, and in some cases notify the relevant authority before placing a product on the market. The underlying logic is the same in both laws: accessibility has to be documented and checkable, not just asserted.

WCAG 2.1 Level AA

WCAG 2.1 Level AA is the technical benchmark both laws point to for web and mobile content. It covers things like sufficient color contrast, keyboard operability and text alternatives for non-text content.

For products and services under the EAA, the more precise reference point is EN 301 549. That European standard builds on WCAG but extends into non-web requirements like hardware and self-service terminals.

The standard is currently in flux

EN 301 549 is under revision by the European Commission, specifically to align it with the newer requirements in the EAA. The updated version isn't expected until 2026.

Until it's finalized, organizations are working against an older version that doesn't map perfectly onto everything Act No. 424/2023 Coll. now covers. That creates genuine ambiguity about edge cases.

WCAG 2.1 AA remains the safest baseline to build toward in the meantime. It's the one constant across both the current and the forthcoming standard.

Which authorities enforce accessibility compliance?

Enforcement is split across several regulators rather than centralized in one body. Which one applies depends on the sector.

• Czech Trade Inspection Authority (Česká obchodní inspekce) — general oversight of e-commerce websites and consumer-facing retail services. This is the authority most private businesses under Act No. 424/2023 Coll. will deal with directly.
• Czech Telecommunications Office — enforces accessibility for electronic communications services, including telephony and internet access providers.
• Council for Radio and Television Broadcasting — covers audiovisual media services, including streaming platforms and broadcast-related digital interfaces.
• Sector transport regulators — oversee accessibility for air, rail, bus and waterborne transport information services specific to their mode of transport.
• Digital and Information Agency — monitors public-sector website and mobile-app compliance under Act No. 99/2019 Coll., separate from the private-sector enforcement above.

Enforcement combines market surveillance with complaint handling. Regulators can act on their own monitoring or in response to a consumer complaint. Non-compliant products or services can be listed publicly on a regulator's website as part of the process.

What happens if organizations do not meet accessibility requirements?

Non-compliance under Act No. 424/2023 Coll. is a fineable offense. The amount scales with how serious the violation is, rather than a single flat penalty.

Reported fine tiers

• From roughly CZK 1 million — documentation and record-keeping failures.
• Up to CZK 10 million — serious violations, such as failing to identify a non-compliant product in the supply chain.
• Up to CZK 50 million — under the separate Electronic Communications Act, for failing to keep emergency communication accessible.

Exact figures depend on the specific offense and the size of the entity involved. Treat these as the statutory range rather than a fixed number.

Corrective measures come first

A fine is rarely the first step. Regulators typically start by requiring corrective measures — a concrete plan and timeline to fix the specific violation — before escalating to a financial penalty.

Repeated inaction or an absent remediation plan is what tends to push a case toward the higher end of the fine range. Non-compliant products and services can also be published on a public list, which carries its own reputational cost independent of any fine.

How do accessibility laws benefit people and organizations?

For persons with disabilities, these laws turn accessibility from something a company might voluntarily choose to do into something they can rely on and, when it's missing, formally report. A documented complaint channel and a regulator with real enforcement power change what happens after someone hits a barrier — compared to a good-faith request a company can simply decline.

Market reach

Disability affects a meaningful share of any customer base, and that share grows as a population ages. An inaccessible checkout or booking flow is turning away paying customers, not just an edge case.

Legal exposure

With an active regulator and a defined complaint process now in place, the risk of a fine or a public non-compliance listing is no longer theoretical the way it was before June 2025.

Cost

Building accessibility in from the start is cheaper than retrofitting it later — especially once a design system or component library is already shipping the same inaccessible pattern across dozens of pages.

Accessible design also tends to help a wider range of users than the requirements strictly target. Captions help someone watching in a noisy environment as much as someone who is deaf. Clear focus states help someone with a temporary wrist injury as much as someone with a permanent motor impairment. The legal requirement is written around disability, but the practical benefit usually extends past it.

How can organizations prepare for accessibility compliance?

Preparing for compliance is a sequence, not a single project. The order matters — testing before scoping, or fixing before testing, tends to waste effort on the wrong things.

Accessibility audit

An audit comes first because it answers the question everything else depends on: where does the product fall short today, against WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549 as applicable.

The output that matters isn't a pass/fail verdict. It's a prioritized list of specific findings, each tied to a criterion and a location in the product, that a team can plan work around.

Accessibility testing

Testing verifies and expands the audit's findings. It needs both automated and manual coverage to be reliable.

Scanners catch a meaningful slice quickly — missing alt text, insufficient contrast. They can't evaluate whether a focus order makes logical sense, or whether an error message is understandable read aloud by a screen reader. That gap is why manual testing with real assistive technology matters.

Remediation

Not every finding deserves the same urgency. An issue that blocks a core task completely — a checkout button unreachable by keyboard, a login form with no visible focus indicator — should be fixed immediately. There's no workaround for the person hitting it.

An issue that creates friction but has a workaround can be scheduled into a normal development cycle instead.

Once the initial backlog is cleared, remediation isn't finished. New features and design changes keep reopening the question, which is why accessibility checks belong in the ongoing development workflow — not in a one-time project that ends when the backlog hits zero.