Kept Record

EN 301 549: the European standard that turns "accessible" into a checklist, and where it stands under the Accessibility Act.

A European standard for the accessibility of information and communication technology, published by ETSI with CEN and CENELEC. For websites it points at WCAG. It is what an EU law means when it says a website should be accessible, once the law's harmonised standard is cited in the Official Journal.

What it is

A standard is not a law. EN 301 549 is a technical document that a law can point at: an EU directive gives a business a presumption of meeting its requirements if the business meets a harmonised standard cited in the Official Journal. The standard covers hardware, software, documents and web content; the part that matters for a website is the chapter that carries WCAG into European law.

Version 3.2.1, published in March 2021, is built on WCAG 2.1.

The present document reflects the content of the W3C WCAG 2.1 Recommendation ETSI EN 301 549 V3.2.1, Introduction, March 2021.

For a web page, version 3.2.1 asks for WCAG 2.1 conformance at Level AA.

it shall satisfy all the following five WCAG 2.1 conformance requirements at Level AA ETSI EN 301 549 V3.2.1, clause 9.6, March 2021.

Version 4.1.1 was adopted on 24 August 2026 and published in September 2026. It was written to the European Commission's standardisation request for the Accessibility Act.

Date of adoption of this EN: 24 August 2026 ETSI EN 301 549 V4.1.1, Foreword, September 2026.

Version 4.1.1 is built on WCAG 2.2, and for a web page asks for WCAG 2.2 conformance at Level AA.

shall satisfy all the following five WCAG 2.2 conformance requirements at Level AA ETSI EN 301 549 V4.1.1, clause 9.6, September 2026.

Who it applies to

Nobody is bound by a standard directly. A business is bound by a law, and the law may point at the standard. Two EU laws do, in different ways.

Under the Web Accessibility Directive, which covers public sector bodies, version 3.2.1 is the harmonised standard cited in the Official Journal.

amending Implementing Decision (EU) 2018/2048 as regards the harmonised standard for websites and mobile applications Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2021/1339, title, 11 August 2021.

Under the Accessibility Act, which covers online shops and other consumer services, a business that meets a harmonised standard cited in the Official Journal is presumed to meet the Act's requirements.

shall be presumed to be in conformity with the accessibility requirements of this Directive Directive (EU) 2019/882, Article 15(1), 17 April 2019.

As of the date this page was last checked, no version of EN 301 549 had been cited in the Official Journal under the Accessibility Act. The new version is not yet the legal reference, and the reference in use remains version 3.2.1.

the current reference remains EN 301 549 v3.2.1 (2021) AccessibleEU Centre (European Commission), news, 7 September 2026.

The Commission's index of harmonised standards lists, under accessibility, only the standard for public sector websites and apps.

Websites and mobile applications of public sector bodies European Commission, harmonised standards index, Accessibility, read 16 September 2026.

In the United Kingdom the public sector regulations once reached the standard through the Official Journal. Since October 2022 they point at WCAG directly, at Levels A and AA as amended from time to time, and no longer name EN 301 549.

Level A and AA Success Criteria as set out in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines SI 2018/952, regulation 9, as amended, revised text, 3 June 2025.

What it requires, in practice

For a website, meeting the standard means meeting WCAG at Level AA in the version the standard names: 2.1 under version 3.2.1, 2.2 under version 4.1.1. The standard adds requirements for other technology, for documents, and for support services, and the Accessibility Act's own annex adds requirements that WCAG does not carry, such as passing on accessibility information about the products sold. A page that meets WCAG is most of the way there and not all of it.

Who enforces it, and what the penalties are, is a question about the law that points at the standard, not about the standard. See the pages on the Accessibility Act and the UK Equality Act.

The standard is explicit that the presumption of conformity under the Accessibility Act arrives only when the standard is cited in the Official Journal.

Once the present document is cited in the Official Journal ETSI EN 301 549 V4.1.1, Foreword, September 2026.

Sources

Every source on this page was fetched and its quotation confirmed on 18 September 2026, today. That date is written by the script that checked, not by a person.

A directive binds member states, who write it into national law. The national act can name a different authority, set a different penalty, or add duties. The sources here are the directive and three national acts; yours may differ.

Nothing on this page is about a product. The record a business keeps of its own site is its own affair, and no tool makes a site meet a law.

This page describes the law as it is written in the sources cited. It is not legal advice, it does not cover every case, and national law can add to what a directive requires. It has not been reviewed by a lawyer.

This page describes what the system does, written by the people who built it. It has not yet been reviewed by a lawyer, and it will be before anything on this site can be bought.