5 lessons organisations learned since the European Accessibility Act became enforceable

On 28 June 2025, the European Accessibility Act (EAA) became enforceable across the European Union.

Since then, organisations have audited products, published accessibility statements, fixed issues, and started integrating accessibility into their development processes.

At Abra, we work with organisations across Europe on the accessibility of mobile apps. These are the five most important lessons we have learned.

1. Compliance is not an accessibility audit

One of the biggest misconceptions about the EAA is that compliance starts and ends with an audit.

Audits are important. They identify issues and help organisations understand their current level of accessibility.

But an audit alone does not make an organisation compliant.

Accessibility is an ongoing responsibility. Mobile apps evolve continuously through new releases, new features, operating system updates, and changing teams.

The organisations making the most progress are treating accessibility as a process rather than a project.

2. Demonstrating compliance is often harder than achieving it

Many organisations have invested heavily in accessibility improvements.

What often proves more difficult is demonstrating how accessibility is managed.

Questions that repeatedly come up include:

• How is accessibility tested?

• How often is testing performed?

• Who owns accessibility?

• How are issues prioritised?

• How are accessibility decisions documented?

• How can users report accessibility barriers?

The organisations that answer these questions confidently usually have one thing in common: accessibility is embedded in their processes, not just in their products.

3. Accessibility statements matter more than many teams expect

Early on, many organisations treated accessibility statements as a formality.

Today they have become one of the first things users, procurement teams, and supervisory authorities look at.

A good accessibility statement is:

• Easy to find

• Honest about known limitations

• Clear about testing methods

• Kept up to date

• Clear about how users can report problems

An accessibility statement should reflect reality. It is not a marketing document.

4. Accessible apps are built on four pillars

No single method tells the whole story.

The organisations making the most progress tend to follow the same pattern. They build accessibility on four pillars:

• Accessible foundation — design systems and reusable components prevent issues before they are created.

• Automated testing — identifies common accessibility issues quickly and consistently throughout development.

• Manual testing — validates real user interactions and accessibility requirements that require human judgement.

• Shared ownership and expertise — accessibility is embedded across teams, not isolated to a single specialist.

Each pillar strengthens the others.

Issues prevented in design never need to be tested or fixed. Automated testing helps teams scale accessibility. Manual testing provides context and validation. Shared ownership helps accessibility remain part of everyday development rather than a one-time effort.

The most successful organisations do not ask which testing method is best. They build a process that continuously supports accessibility as their products evolve.

5. Maturity matters more than perfection

The organisations making the most progress are no longer asking:

Are we compliant?

They are asking:

How do we remain compliant as our app evolves?

No mobile app is perfect.

Supervisory authorities understand that.

What matters is whether an organisation has a credible process for finding, fixing, documenting, and preventing accessibility issues.

The strongest organisations typically have:

• Clear ownership

• Defined testing processes

• Accessibility requirements in design and development

• Regular monitoring

• Accessibility statements

• A process for handling feedback and complaints

Accessibility maturity is ultimately what turns compliance from a one-time effort into a sustainable practice.

What we see next

Accessibility is becoming less about individual audits and more about sustainable processes.

The organisations making the most progress are embedding accessibility into design, development, testing, documentation, and monitoring. That shift is exactly why we built the Abra ecosystem: to help teams make accessibility part of everyday development, not a one-time project.

Want to learn more?

Many of the questions organisations struggle with are not technical.

How do you demonstrate compliance? What does a strong accessibility statement look like? How much testing is enough? And how do you keep accessibility from becoming a one-time project?

We cover these topics in our free live session:

EAA Compliance for Mobile Apps.

The session is aimed at decision makers, product owners, legal and compliance teams, and anyone responsible for digital accessibility.