Czechia accessibility law: Zákon 99/2019 + EAA explained

Who has to comply

Public-sector since 2019; consumer services from 28 June 2025.

Czechia is a solid Central-European market with growing cross-border e-commerce, particularly from German- and Polish-facing sellers who also ship into it. Under the EAA transposition, a foreign store selling to Czech consumers is covered on the country-of-consumption basis, with penalties reaching up to CZK 5 million for repeated consumer-protection breaches. A Czech-language accessibility statement is expected, and cross-border sellers should not assume an English-only statement satisfies the requirement.

What the law actually requires

The technical baseline is WCAG 2.1 Level AA via EN 301 549. EN 301 549 references WCAG 2.1 Level AA in full and adds a few requirements specific to mobile apps and documents. Beyond the technical bar, Czechia requires the following operational items, which auditors check first because they are simple to verify:

• EN 301 549 / WCAG 2.1 AA

• Czech-language accessibility statement

Penalties and how enforcement actually works

Up to CZK 5 million for repeated breach of consumer-protection provisions.

Czechia runs a two-track structure: the Digital and Information Agency (Digitální a informační agentura, DIA) handles the public-sector accessibility regime, while consumer-facing enforcement is coordinated with the Czech Trade Inspection Authority (ČOI). Enforcement is largely complaint- and inspection-driven, and framing non-compliance as a consumer-protection matter through ČOI is what unlocks the higher repeated-breach penalties. The involvement of the trade inspectorate means a foreign seller can face a market-inspection style investigation rather than a narrow accessibility review.

Practical first steps for a Czechia site

If you are starting now and want to land before enforcement, run an automated audit, fix the high-impact issues (contrast, labels, keyboard, focus), publish an accessibility statement, and set up a feedback inbox. That sequence covers 80% of what auditors look for in a first sweep.

• Run a baseline scan to know your current score

• Fix critical and serious issues in priority order — these are the ones cited in complaints

• Publish a public accessibility statement on a stable URL (Czechia regulators expect this discoverable)

• Add a feedback channel and answer within the country-specified window

• Re-scan after every major release; track regressions