On 28.06.2025, a new law will come into force, the Barrier-Free Strengthening Act (BFSG), which will further increase the focus on accessibility on the internet.
The new law is an important step towards more self-determination and participation for people with disabilities such as
- Visual impairments
- Hearing impairments
- motor restrictions and
- cognitive impairments.
The upcoming law aims to make digital services more accessible for people with disabilities or permanent restrictions.
If online offerings are not designed to be accessible, …
significant problems arise for these user groups:
For blind and visually impaired people:
- Missing or insufficient alternative texts for images:
Screen readers cannot "see" images. Without a stored text description (alt text), the information of the image remains hidden for blind users. - Elements that cannot be operated using the keyboard:
If important functions such as buttons, links and forms cannot be operated using the keyboard, users who cannot use a mouse (e.g. blind people or people with motor impairments) are excluded. - Unclear or missing heading structures:
Screen readers use headings to capture the structure of a page. If these are missing or not correctly labeled, navigation becomes extremely difficult.
- Inaccessible forms:
Missing labels or an illogical order of the input fields make it impossible to fill out forms. - Videos without subtitles or audio description:
Hearing-impaired and blind people cannot or only partially understand the content of videos.
As an ablefy provider, are you affected by this law?
The law applies to you if:
- you sell the products and electronic services specified in the law (see below)
- you sell them in the EU
- to consumers and
- your online offers and websites do NOT fall under the so-called "microenterprise" exemption for services.
The exception for so-called “services”
The law is not relevant for so-called "micro-enterprises" that only offer services as defined in the law.
Important! This has nothing to do with the tax classification as a small business.
According to § 2 No. 17 BFSG , a company is considered a "microenterprise" if it
- employs fewer than ten people and
- either has an annual turnover of no more than EUR 2 million or whose annual balance sheet total does not exceed EUR 2 million ."
For example, if you are a solopreneur or have a company with fewer than 10 employees and an annual turnover of 500,000 euros and your offers fall under the heading "services", you / your company are not subject to this law. In this case, you can breathe a sigh of relief.
Use the official check to see if you are affected by the law.
Which services and websites are affected?
The law distinguishes here between products and services.
The relevant products are certain hardware such as self-service terminals, payment terminals, eBook readers, which are listed in full in Section 1 (2) BFSG and are not relevant for most online providers on our platform.
§ Section 1 (3) then explains the topic of services. Most products offered via our platform such as eBooks, webinars, license codes, download products, online courses, member areas and eTickets fall under Section 2 No. 26 BFSG under point 5 "Services in electronic commerce".
This also applies to your websites, online stores and e-commerce (even if the products sold themselves do not fall within the scope of the BFSG) and websites that offer the conclusion of a contract online, i.e. online bookings such as hotel and travel bookings, voucher orders.
What does it mean to you if you are affected by the law?
Then you should convert your website, store page and offers that you publish after 28.06.2025 to accessibility before the launch and familiarize yourself with the various regulations and checklists.
However, if these were published before 28.06.2025 , there is a transitional period until 2030 to make these offers accessible. Only if you make significant changes do they have to be made accessible immediately.
If you have a blog or website that you no longer maintain and only use as an archive, these are also not covered by the law.
This applies to both free and fee-based offers.
The timeline for converting your content to accessibility
If you are affected by the law, your offers that you launch from June 28, 2026 , must immediately be fully accessible.
You have until 2030 to convert your online products and websites that you launched before June 28, 2025, provided you do not make any significant changes .
If you make "significant changes" to existing products / pages, these must be made accessible immediately. It is not clearly regulated whether accessibility is only necessary for the changed content or, for example, for the entire shop/your online course.
To be on the safe side, you should make your offers completely accessible in the event of "significant changes" or seek legal advice.
It remains to be seen how the courts will interpret the legal requirements.
What does it mean if your pages and offers are not accessible?
If your pages and offers fall under this law but you do not implement it, this harbors some dangers.
Examples
- Exclusion of part of your potential clientele.
- Negative user experience and frustration among those affected.
- Legal consequences of the new Accessibility Reinforcement Act (warnings, injunctions, fines of up to 100,000 euros, warranty claims for defects)
- Damage to your image as a non-inclusive company.
Examples of necessary changes to your pages / online offerings:
- Alternative texts for images and files:
All images and files must have so-called alternative text, e.g., the logo and avatar for your shop, images, and file attachments. The alternative text must provide some information about the content. There are different levels of this. For example, a purely decorative image does not need to have alternative text, while an infographic with important content requires more extensive help text. You can find help with this at w3.org. - Subtitles for all videos:
Videos must contain subtitles (captions) in the language of the page on which they are embedded.
The provider decides whether the subtitle is always displayed and cannot be switched off (closed caption) or can be switched on when required. - sufficient contrast:
Make sure your pages and images have sufficient contrast between text and background. - Structured content:
Logically structure your content on your pages, courses, and documents with clear headings, sections, and lists. Headings shouldn't just be bold; they also need the H1–H6 tags in HTML so that screen readers can read them.
- Documents:
If you provide documents such as Word, Excel, or PDF files, they require some information such as metatext and language information so that they can be read by the screen reader.
- Easy-to-understand course materials:
Use simple language and clear instructions. Provide additional explanations or glossaries for complex topics. - Keyboard usability:
Make sure that custom buttons, forms, embedded iFrames and your website can be operated using the keyboard.
- Correct naming of links :
To prevent screen readers from reading out cryptic, incomprehensible web addresses and to make it clear to users what content is behind a link , set the link to a descriptive term (and not to “Here”) and ideally select that it opens in a new window. - Accessibility statement for store and website:
You need an accessibility statement that can be easily found and accessed from the start page and every other page of the web content or can be found when downloading a mobile app. You can add this to your terms and conditions, for example. If you have an ablefy account, you can configure this with us.
If you are affected by the law, you should start converting the relevant pages and products as soon as possible.
What adjustments havewe made so that you can make your pages and products accessible?
- Provision of subtitles (captions) for videos newly uploaded via ablefy Video
- Field for the alt texts for images
- Keyboard operability of the platform for buyers
- Feedback link in the footer of your pages where visitors can report to you if parts are not accessible. This feedback mechanism is required by law.
- Accessibility declaration for your pages. If you are subject to the law, you can configure this accordingly. The link to the accessibility statement will then appear in the footer of your pages.
Where can you find out more about the law and the requirements for implementation?
There are various official sources to help you with the implementation.
You can find the law itself at https://bfsg-gesetz.de/.
There are also FAQs, e.g. on calculating the number of employees in accordance with the exception for services and a check to see whether you are affected.
There are also implementation aids, e.g. for documents, tables and alt texts.
There are also various checklists for different types of media.
Familiarize yourself with these regulations and start implementing them in good time if you are affected by the law.
If you use ablefy as a platform, you will soon find more information in our help section.
We hope this article has informed you well about these legal changes and given you an overview of whether or not you are affected.
Disclaimer:
This article does not constitute legal advice. Familiarize yourself with the official information and observe any changes to it.
