Denmark accessibility law: Tilgængelighedsloven explained

Who has to comply

Public-sector since 2018; consumer-facing private services from 28 June 2025.

Denmark is a small but affluent, highly digitised market where MitID and card commerce are ubiquitous, and Danish consumers expect accessible public and private services. A foreign seller reaching Danish consumers is covered under the Tilgængelighedsloven on the country-of-consumption basis. Because Danish enforcement is built around public transparency, a cross-border store that appears on a monitored-sites list with a poor conformance level is immediately visible to Danish buyers, which is a stronger reputational pressure than the fine itself for many sellers.

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, Denmark requires the following operational items, which auditors check first because they are simple to verify:

• EN 301 549 / WCAG 2.1 AA

• Danish-language accessibility statement

• Annual self-assessment for public sector; periodic for private

Penalties and how enforcement actually works

Penalty payments and corrective orders; Digitaliseringsstyrelsen publishes a list of monitored sites.

Denmark's Digitaliseringsstyrelsen (Agency for Digital Government) runs an active monitoring programme and, distinctively, publishes a list of monitored organisations alongside their conformance levels. The Danish model is transparency-led: rather than relying purely on individual complaints, the agency samples and names, and expects a Danish-language accessibility statement and self-assessment. Penalty payments and corrective orders back this up, but the public listing is the primary lever, making visible non-compliance costly even before formal sanctions.

Public-sector obligations

Denmark also has a separate public-sector law: Tilgængelighedsloven for offentlige websteder, in force since 2018. It predates the EAA and remains in force for government and public-funded sites. Public bodies must publish a conformance statement and re-audit periodically.

Practical first steps for a Denmark 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 (Denmark regulators expect this discoverable)

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

• Re-scan after every major release; track regressions