EAA vs UK Equality Act 2010: which applies to your online store?

Most UK online stores are potentially subject to both laws, not one or the other. The Equality Act 2010 has applied to UK service providers, including websites, since 2010, has no size exemption, and requires "reasonable adjustments" on an anticipatory, ongoing basis. The EAA is newer (enforceable since 28 June 2025), applies specifically because you sell to EU consumers, and does have a size-based exemption for genuine microenterprises. If you sell to UK customers, the Equality Act already applies to you today, regardless of your size. If you also sell to EU customers, the EAA applies on top of that, unless you qualify for its microenterprise exemption.

The short version

The Equality Act: already in force, no size exemption

The Equality Act 2010 makes it unlawful for a service provider to discriminate against someone by failing to provide them with a service. Section 20 sets out the duty to make "reasonable adjustments," and, critically for any online business, this duty is anticipatory: you're expected to think about accessibility barriers in advance, not wait until a disabled customer complains and then react.

This has applied to UK organisations providing goods, facilities or services to the public since 2010, and it applies regardless of your size. The Equality and Human Rights Commission's own Code of Practice for Services, Public Functions and Associations is explicit on this point: "no service provider is exempt from duties under Part 3 because of size." A one-person online shop and a national retailer are, in principle, under the same legal duty, the difference is only in what counts as "reasonable" for a business of that size, not whether the duty applies at all.

Courts have already found the anticipatory duty breached in physical-access cases, for example, a bank in Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc v Allen was ordered to install wheelchair access and pay compensation. No UK court has yet ruled on a website or app case specifically, but the duty is understood to extend to digital services in the same way it does to physical premises, and the absence of a decided digital case is not the same as an absence of legal risk.

The Act doesn't name a specific technical standard the way the EAA does. In practice, WCAG (increasingly WCAG 2.2 Level AA) is what regulators, courts, and accessibility professionals point to as the practical benchmark for meeting the reasonable adjustments duty online, it's not written into the statute by name, but it's the closest thing to a working definition of "accessible enough" that currently exists.

The EAA: newer, narrower trigger, but a real size exemption

The EAA applies to your online store specifically because e-commerce is a named category under the Directive, it applies if you sell to consumers in the EU, regardless of where your business is registered. Unlike the Equality Act, it does carry a genuine size-based exemption: if you're a microenterprise providing services (fewer than 10 employees and turnover or balance sheet total not exceeding €2 million), you're exempt from its service accessibility requirements. We cover that test in detail in our guide on the EAA microenterprise exemption.

The two laws also differ in their technical reference points, even though both ultimately point toward the same practical work. The EAA anchors to EN 301 549, the European standard, which itself incorporates WCAG as its web-content baseline. The Equality Act doesn't cite a standard by name at all, WCAG is simply the benchmark practitioners and regulators use in practice to judge what's "reasonable."

Why most UK stores need to think about both, not pick one

Here's the scenario that trips up a lot of UK ecommerce owners: they read about the EAA, check whether they qualify for the microenterprise exemption, conclude they're too small to worry about it, and stop there. But qualifying for the EAA's microenterprise exemption says nothing about the Equality Act, which has no such exemption and has applied to every UK service provider, of any size, for over a decade.

In practice, this usually breaks down as:

• Selling only to UK customers, any size: Equality Act applies. EAA doesn't (no EU sales, so no trigger).
• Selling to UK and EU customers, genuine microenterprise: Equality Act applies in full. EAA's service requirements don't, because of the exemption, though the Act's product-side requirements would still apply if you also sell EAA-covered hardware.
• Selling to UK and EU customers, above the microenterprise thresholds: Both apply.

For the large majority of UK ecommerce SMEs, busy running a shop, not studying EU directives, the practical takeaway is simple: being exempt from the EAA doesn't mean you're exempt from anything. The Equality Act's anticipatory duty has been sitting there since 2010, applies at any size, and is enforceable through the courts today.

What this means in practice

Neither law hands you a checklist and says "do exactly this." Both point, in practice, toward the same broad standard: WCAG-aligned accessibility across your site, keyboard operability, screen reader compatibility, sufficient contrast, clear labelling, and a checkout that actually works for disabled customers. Working toward WCAG 2.2 AA addresses the practical substance of both laws at once, rather than treating them as two separate projects.

Not sure where your site stands?

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to comply with both laws, or just one?

It depends on who you sell to. If you sell only to UK customers, the Equality Act applies and the EAA doesn't. If you also sell to EU consumers, the EAA applies too, unless you qualify for its microenterprise exemption, in which case only the Equality Act's requirements remain in force for you.

I'm a microenterprise exempt from the EAA, does that mean I don't need to do anything?

No. The Equality Act's reasonable adjustments duty has no size exemption and has applied since 2010. Being exempt from the EAA only removes the EAA's specific requirements; it doesn't touch your obligations under the Equality Act.

Which law is stricter?

They're not really comparable that way, the EAA sets out defined accessibility requirements referencing a named technical standard (EN 301 549 / WCAG), while the Equality Act sets a broader legal duty ("reasonable adjustments") without naming a specific standard. In practice, working to WCAG 2.2 AA is the most direct way to address both.

Has anyone in the UK actually been taken to court over an inaccessible website under the Equality Act?

Not to a full court judgment, as far as public records show, the anticipatory duty has been tested in physical-access cases (such as a bank ordered to install wheelchair access), but no UK website or app case has yet reached a full judgment. Some accessibility disputes are understood to be settled privately before reaching court. The absence of a landmark digital case doesn't mean the duty doesn't apply online, it's understood by regulators and legal commentators to extend to digital services in the same way it applies to physical premises.

Who enforces the Equality Act for UK businesses?

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) in England, Scotland and Wales, with the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI) holding equivalent powers in Northern Ireland. Individual disabled customers can also bring claims through the county courts.

If I only sell to UK customers with no EU sales at all, do I need to worry about the EAA?

No, the EAA applies based on where your consumers are. If you genuinely have no EU consumer sales, the EAA doesn't apply to you regardless of your size. The Equality Act still applies, though, since it's triggered by providing a service to the UK public, not by EU sales.