The BFSG has applied since June 2025. Does your site meet the basics?
We check the parts that can be checked automatically from outside: whether an accessibility statement is linked, whether controls are labelled, whether contrast is sufficient, and whether the site can be used without a mouse.
PASTE YOUR SITE'S ADDRESSThe Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz has applied since 28 June 2025. It does not hit every website, mainly services in electronic commerce: sites where consumers buy, book or conclude a contract. An online shop is covered, a booking form too, a plain business-card page with no way to conclude anything is not.
There is a micro-enterprise exemption for services: fewer than ten employees and at most two million euros in annual turnover or balance sheet total. It does not apply to products. A one-person operation running a small service is usually outside, but should not rely on that blindly.
Those covered need, among other things, an accessibility statement (§ 14 BFSG) and must meet EN 301 549, which for websites comes down to WCAG 2.1 level AA.
Roughly a third of the criteria can be checked automatically: missing alternative text, controls without a label, insufficient contrast, missing language declaration, form fields without an associated label, focus that disappears while tabbing. Those are what we check.
The rest cannot, and it is the more important part: whether an alternative text actually describes the image, whether the tab order makes sense, whether an error message is understandable, whether a checkout can really be completed with a screen reader. Anyone taking this seriously tests with real people. Any tool that sells you a green "compliant" badge is lying, ours included.
Accessibility statement present and reachable, page language declared, controls and form fields labelled, alternative texts, contrast ratios in visible text, visible keyboard focus, and a skip link to the content.
These are technical observations with a pointer to the relevant rule, not an assessment of your case and not legal advice.
If you sell online, German law (BFSG) expects an accessibility statement. We check whether one is linked. General information.
If nothing can be bought or booked through it, generally no. If it can, it turns on the micro-enterprise exemption: under ten employees and at most two million euros in turnover or balance sheet total for services. Whether you fall under it is a question for a lawyer.
The market surveillance authorities of the federal states are responsible. They can find defects, set deadlines and in the worst case prohibit the service; fines up to 100,000 euros are provided for. In practice it almost always starts with a complaint and a request.
No. The statement is mandatory but it does not replace accessibility. A statement claiming compliance while the site cannot be operated by keyboard makes the position worse, not better.
Partly. Generated pages are often reasonably marked up but regularly fail on contrast, on icon buttons without labels, and on visible focus, because it was designed away.
Everything legal on this page is general information with a pointer to the rule it comes from. Deckproof does not assess your individual case and does not give legal advice.