5 Accessibility Mistakes That Will Cost You €100,000 Under EAA
Real-world accessibility violations that triggered EAA fines in 2025, plus how to check if your site is making the same mistakes.
5 Accessibility Mistakes That Will Cost You €100,000 Under EAA
In the first six months of EAA enforcement, regulators across the EU have already begun issuing fines and remediation orders. Here are the five most common violations — and the quick fix for each.
1. Images without alt text
Why it matters: Screen readers cannot describe images to blind users. Every meaningful image on your site needs a short, descriptive alt tag.
Real-world impact: A major German retailer was hit with a €45,000 fine in April 2025 after a consumer group found 312 product images with missing or useless alt text.
Quick fix: Open your homepage. For each image, ask: "If I could not see this image, what would I need to know?" If the answer is "nothing," use an empty alt (`alt=""`). Otherwise, write 5–10 words.
2. Low color contrast
Why it matters: WCAG 2.1 AA requires a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for body text and 3:1 for large text. Anything below that is unreadable for users with low vision.
Real-world impact: A French bank was fined €80,000 in March 2025 after auditors found that 38% of its dashboard text failed contrast checks.
Quick fix: Use the WebAIM Contrast Checker on your primary CTA color, body text, and any colored backgrounds behind text. If the ratio fails, darken the text or lighten the background.
3. Form fields without labels
Why it matters: Screen readers announce form fields by their label. A field with placeholder text only is unusable for screen-reader users.
Real-world impact: An Italian e-commerce site received a €25,000 fine in February 2025 because their checkout form used placeholders instead of labels on the shipping address fields.
Quick fix: Every form input needs a `<label>` element tied to it. Placeholder text does not count.
4. Keyboard traps
Why it matters: Users who cannot use a mouse (motor disabilities, blind users, power users) navigate by Tab key. If your site hides focus or traps keyboard users in a widget, they cannot escape it without refreshing.
Real-world impact: A Dutch airline was forced to issue a public correction and pay €60,000 in May 2025 after their booking widget trapped keyboard users mid-flow.
Quick fix: Press Tab through your entire site. Every interactive element should have a visible focus indicator (outline), and you should be able to Tab forward and Shift+Tab backward through the entire page without getting stuck.
5. Auto-playing video and audio
Why it matters: Auto-playing media is disorienting for screen-reader users and harmful for users with vestibular disorders or photosensitive epilepsy.
Real-world impact: A Spanish news site received a €15,000 fine in January 2025 for autoplay video ads without mute controls.
Quick fix: Never autoplay video with sound. If you autoplay muted video, make sure the user can pause it easily and it does not flash more than 3 times per second.
How to check your own site
The five mistakes above account for roughly 70% of all EAA violations. You can check for them in under 30 seconds using the free scanner at [growifysupport.online/compliance/scan](https://growifysupport.online/compliance/scan/).
It runs the same axe-core checks that professional auditors use, and gives you a score plus a list of fixes. No signup, no credit card.
If your score is below 8/10, we offer founding-client EAA audits for €197 (normally €2,000+) through Q3 2026. Book a call to see if you qualify.
The regulators are not sending warnings anymore. They are sending invoices.
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