The European Accessibility Act (EAA) is an EU directive that focuses on digital accessibility. The aim of the directive is to make products and services more accessible to people with disabilities.
The directive has an impact on your company: As of the 28th of June 2025, all online shops and websites selling in the European Union must ensure that their digital products comply with the new requirements.
What impact does the EAA have on my website?
In order for your website to meet the requirements of the EAA, it must be designed in such a way that it is accessible to all users. This means that all interactive elements, texts and media can also be used by people with disabilities. This especially applies to:
- usability: Websites must also be usable without a mouse, e.g. by using a keyboard or a screen reader.
- readability: Texts and content must be understandable and visually adaptable, e.g. through sufficient colour contrasts and variable font sizes.
- alternatives for both visual and audio content: Images, videos or audio content require text or subtitle alternatives.
- distinct interaction elements: Forms, buttons and navigation elements must be easy to understand and use.
Your Trusted Shops Products such as the Trustbadge®, the Trustcard or the widgets are integrated into your website and are used by end consumers. They must therefore also be accessible and meet the requirements of the European Accessibility Act.
What steps does Trusted Shops take?
We are aware of the requirements of the European Accessibility Act and have been preparing for it for some time. Therefore, Trusted Shops Products aimed at end customers will comply with the requirements of the EAA by 28 June 2025.
Trusted Shops Products aimed at end consumers include, for example:
- the Trustbadge®
- the Trustcard
- the following widgets: Trusted Stars, Review Carousel, Customer Voice, Full Review List, Mini Stars
- the company profile
- the questionnaire for consumers to submit a review
- the review invite
- additional emails addressed to end consumers
We are currently making the following adjustments to these products: We’re
- ensuring the alternative usability of our products, e.g. via keyboard or screen reader.
- enhancing existing colour contrasts.
- enabling the font size to be adjusted without losing content or functionalities.
- providing descriptive alt texts for images used.
We are also working to ensure that our products are not only compliant by the deadline, but are continually updated and improved to meet evolving standards.
Do I have to do anything?
No, generally, you don't have to do anything.
The adjustments to comply with the European Accessibility Act will be taken over by us and rolled out in good time. You can continue to use the Trusted Shops Products you use without any concerns and at the same time benefit from improved accessibility.
Nevertheless, we would like to give you two tips:
1. Are you still using an older widget like the Shop Review Sticker?
Some older widgets for incorporating reviews are no longer being developed further and are not part of the adjustments to the EAA.
If you use such a widget, we recommend that you switch to our new accessible widgets. This will put you on the safe side - both legally and with a view to a modern, inclusive user experience.
The following overview helps you to identify whether you are using an older widget and which widget you should switch to in this case:
| Older widget | New widget |
|
Shop Review Sticker
|
Review Carousel |
|
Product Review Sticker |
Full Review List |
|
Product Star Ratings |
Mini Stars |
You can find out how to integrate the new widgets in these articles:
2. Have you adjusted the colour of the star ratings in your widgets?
In our new widgets, you can customise the colour of the star ratings to suit your design. This can be done in the widget configuration in the eTrusted Control Centre.
Please note the following: If you adjust the colour, we do not automatically check if the colour contrast is as specified. To meet the EAA, you should therefore make sure that your chosen colour has sufficient contrast to the background.
To audit your colour contrast, we recommend tools like the WebAIM Contrast Checker.