Guide
WCAG vs EAA: what's the difference?
Last updated: 28 June 2026
"WCAG" and "the EAA" get used almost interchangeably, but they're two different kinds of thing: one is a technical standard, the other is a law. Understanding how they relate makes compliance much less confusing — and tells you exactly what to aim for. (This is general information, not legal advice.)
What WCAG is
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are a technical standard published by the W3C — the international body that standardises the web. They describe, in measurable terms, what makes web content accessible: sufficient colour contrast, text alternatives for images, keyboard operability, labelled forms, logical structure, and so on.
WCAG comes in versions (2.0, 2.1, and the current 2.2), each adding criteria, and in three conformance levels — A (minimum), AA (the standard most laws and organisations target), and AAA (the strictest, rarely required wholesale). WCAG itself is not a law. It's the yardstick that laws point to.
What the EAA is
The European Accessibility Act (EAA) is European Union law — Directive 2019/882. It requires a range of products and services sold to consumers in the EU to be accessible, and it has been mandatory since 28 June 2025 for many businesses. Unlike WCAG, it carries legal obligations and is enforced by EU member states, each of which sets its own penalties.
The EAA doesn't reprint WCAG's checklist inside the law. Instead, for the web it relies on a harmonised European standard (EN 301 549), which in turn incorporates WCAG. So in practice, meeting the EAA's web requirements means conforming to WCAG at Level AA.
How they relate (and where the ADA fits)
Think of it as layers:
- WCAG = the technical "how" and the measuring stick.
- EAA = the EU law that says you must be accessible — and effectively points to WCAG to define "accessible."
- ADA = the US law that does much the same thing on the other side of the Atlantic, with WCAG again used as the practical benchmark (see ADA website compliance).
The pattern repeats worldwide: the laws change by region, but they keep converging on the same technical standard — WCAG. That's good news, because it means one body of work satisfies multiple legal regimes.
So what should you actually target?
Aim for WCAG 2.2 Level AA. It's the highest current version at the level the laws expect, and conforming to it covers the practical requirements of both the EAA and the ADA. You don't need to track each jurisdiction separately at the technical level — you need your site to meet WCAG 2.2 AA and to be able to demonstrate it.
How to check where you stand
Start with an automated scan to clear the machine-detectable failures, then do manual testing for the rest (automated tools catch only a portion of WCAG — see is my website WCAG 2.2 AA compliant?). Scan your site free with WCAGwise to see your issues mapped to the exact WCAG criteria, and — when you need to evidence a whole site — WCAGwise Pro is coming. It's an audit aid, not a legal guarantee.