Frameworks & Standards
BarrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetzBFSG
Germany's Accessibility Strengthening Act — the national implementation of the European Accessibility Act, in force since 28 June 2025 for consumer-facing products and services including e-commerce.
The Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz transposes the European Accessibility Act into German law. Since 28 June 2025, covered products and services — from self-service terminals to online shops and consumer banking — must be accessible, in practice measured against EN 301 549 and the WCAG criteria behind it. Service providers must also describe publicly, in an accessible form, how their service meets the requirements (BFSG § 14 with Anlage 3).
The law's scope is consumer-facing: services offered exclusively business-to-business are not covered, and microenterprises — fewer than ten employees and at most two million euros annual turnover — are exempt for services (not for products they place on the market). Market surveillance authorities of the federal states supervise compliance. Many organisations outside the mandatory scope nonetheless follow the BFSG's benchmark voluntarily, because public-sector clients are bound by parallel rules and expect it of their partners.