EAA 2026 Compliance Checklist: Scope, PDF Audit, WCAG 2.2 AA Documents, Web, and Evidence

The European Accessibility Act has applied since June 28, 2025, and organizations selling or distributing digital products and services in EU markets are subject to active compliance review. This is the single checklist for compliance managers running an EAA readiness assessment or closing audit findings: scope determination, a PDF inventory and 8-point document audit, the WCAG 2.2 AA criteria that apply to documents, web accessibility, the accessibility statement, and the evidence regulators expect.

Step 1 — Determine If Your Organization Is in Scope

The EAA applies to private sector organizations that:

• Have 10 or more employees, or
• Have annual turnover exceeding €2 million
• And sell or distribute digital products or services to consumers in EU member states

Checklist:

• ☐ Confirm headcount and revenue thresholds (micro-enterprises below both thresholds have a 5-year derogation until 2030 for services)
• ☐ Identify all digital products distributed in EU markets (websites, apps, e-books, digital publications, online services)
• ☐ Confirm whether you're a manufacturer, importer, or distributor under EAA — each has different obligations
• ☐ Check your member state's national transposition law (each EU country has its own penalties and enforcement mechanism)

Step 2 — Inventory Your Digital Products

You cannot comply with what you haven't catalogued. Build an inventory of:

• ☐ Public-facing websites and web applications
• ☐ Mobile applications (iOS and Android)
• ☐ PDF documents distributed to EU consumers (annual reports, product documentation, user manuals, e-books, policy documents, marketing materials)
• ☐ E-books and digital publications sold through any channel
• ☐ Self-service terminals and kiosks (physical devices in EU markets)
• ☐ Electronic communications services (customer portals, email services)
• ☐ Banking and financial services digital touchpoints

For each item: note current accessibility status (audited, unaudited, known failures, compliant) and assign a risk priority.

Finding every PDF

You cannot audit what you cannot find, and a report published in 2019 can sit on a download page for years. Crawl the public site for PDF links (no download):

wget --spider --force-html -r -l 3 --accept pdf --no-verbose https://yoursite.com 2>&1 \
  | grep "^--" | awk '{print $3}' | grep ".pdf$" | sort -u > pdf_inventory.txt

echo "Found $(wc -l < pdf_inventory.txt) PDFs"

Then export a PDF-filtered file listing from the CMS or document repository (SharePoint, Confluence, Drupal, WordPress media library). Record for each file: URL, filename, size, last modified, page count and content type (report, form, publication, policy, e-learning).

Prioritize by reach

1. Linked from main navigation or product pages — actively directed to consumers
2. Referenced in marketing emails or customer communications
3. Indexed and ranked in search engines — reachable by anyone
4. Linked deep within the site but publicly accessible
5. In the sitemap but not promoted — archived content, lowest priority

Internal-only documents behind employee authentication are outside EAA scope, though national transposition or sector rules may still apply.

Step 3 — PDF Document Compliance (High Priority)

PDFs are the most common EAA gap for organizations outside the web development space. Most corporate PDF workflows produce non-compliant documents by default.

Why PDFs fail EAA: The EAA requires WCAG 2.2 AA conformance. All fixed-page PDFs fail WCAG 1.4.10 (Reflow) by design. Additionally, most PDFs lack semantic heading structure, correct reading order in multi-column layouts, language declarations, and accessible table markup.

PDF compliance checklist:

• ☐ Inventory all public-facing PDFs actively distributed to EU consumers
• ☐ Prioritize by distribution volume and user-facing importance (annual reports, product sheets, policy documents first)
• ☐ Run an accessibility audit on a representative sample using PAC 2024 or Adobe Acrobat Pro's built-in checker
• ☐ For each non-compliant PDF: determine whether to remediate in PDF (partial fix only) or convert to EPUB3 or HTML (full fix)
• ☐ Convert PDFs to EPUB3 using toolkit.bot — free, browser-based, resolves the majority of WCAG 2.2 AA failures automatically
• ☐ Validate converted EPUB3 files with ACE by DAISY to generate formal accessibility reports
• ☐ For complex or high-stakes documents (legal, regulatory, financial): arrange human expert review — see toolkit.bot Premium Verification
• ☐ Update your document production workflow to generate accessible outputs for all new documents

The 8-point PDF audit

Run these checks on the representative sample. Six of the eight are resolved automatically by conversion to EPUB3; alt text and contrast need source-level fixes either way.

For the 400% zoom test, use a 1280px-wide viewport: content should read in a single column without horizontal scrolling. Then open the PDF with NVDA or VoiceOver and confirm headings are announced at the right level, table cells with their headers, images with alt text, and the language at the start.

Classify each PDF

WCAG 2.2 AA criteria that apply to documents

Not every success criterion applies to a standalone document. These do; use them as the acceptance list for remediated PDFs and converted EPUB3 alike:

• ☐ 1.1.1 Informative images have alt text; decorative images are marked presentational; scanned pages are replaced by OCR text
• ☐ 1.3.1 Heading levels reflect the hierarchy; real list markup; table header cells with scope; labelled form fields
• ☐ 1.3.2 Source order matches visual order; columns read one at a time; footnotes and sidebars do not interrupt body text
• ☐ 1.4.1 Colour is never the only carrier of meaning
• ☐ 1.4.3 Contrast 4.5:1 for normal text, 3:1 for large text
• ☐ 1.4.10 Single column at 320 CSS px / 400% zoom with no loss of content — the criterion almost all PDFs fail
• ☐ 2.4.2 Meaningful document title in metadata
• ☐ 2.4.3 Links and fields reachable by keyboard in a logical sequence
• ☐ 3.1.1 Primary language declared; in-document language changes marked
• ☐ 4.1.2 Every link, button and field has an accessible name; no “click here”

What to check in converted EPUB3 output

• ☐ Run ACE by DAISY and review any remaining violations
• ☐ Confirm the heading structure reflects the document hierarchy (ACE reports this)
• ☐ Add alt text for images the source PDF lacked, in an EPUB editor, for priority documents
• ☐ Screen-reader test critical documents (NVDA + Firefox, or VoiceOver + Safari) before distribution
• ☐ Publish the EPUB3 beside the PDF, linked clearly from the same page

Step 4 — Website and Web Application Compliance

Websites and web apps must conform to WCAG 2.2 AA. Key checks:

• ☐ Run automated scans with axe DevTools, WAVE, or Deque axe — these catch roughly 30-40% of WCAG failures automatically
• ☐ Manual testing: keyboard-only navigation, focus management, skip links, visible focus indicators
• ☐ Screen reader testing: NVDA+Firefox and VoiceOver+Safari minimum
• ☐ Color contrast: confirm 4.5:1 for normal text, 3:1 for large text and UI components
• ☐ Form accessibility: all inputs labeled, error messages associated with fields, required fields identified
• ☐ Images: alt text on all meaningful images, decorative images marked as presentational
• ☐ Video/audio: captions on all video content (WCAG 1.2.2), audio descriptions where required (WCAG 1.2.5)
• ☐ Accessible name for all interactive elements (buttons, links, inputs)
• ☐ Mobile accessibility: touch target size (WCAG 2.5.8 requires 24×24 CSS pixels minimum in WCAG 2.2)

Step 5 — Accessibility Statement

The EAA requires organizations to provide an accessibility statement for digital products, describing:

• ☐ Which accessibility standard is being targeted (WCAG 2.2 AA)
• ☐ The conformance status (fully conformant, partially conformant, non-conformant)
• ☐ Known non-compliant elements and planned remediation timeline
• ☐ Contact mechanism for users to report accessibility issues or request alternative formats
• ☐ Enforcement procedure (link to the relevant national accessibility body)

An accessibility statement does not grant immunity from enforcement, but it demonstrates good-faith compliance effort — which affects how national enforcement bodies respond to complaints.

Step 6 — Establish Ongoing Compliance Processes

One-time remediation is not enough. EAA compliance requires ongoing maintenance:

• ☐ Integrate accessibility testing into your design and development workflow (shift-left testing)
• ☐ Require accessibility sign-off before launching new digital products or significant updates
• ☐ Set accessibility requirements for third-party vendor contracts (procurement standard)
• ☐ Designate an internal accessibility lead or compliance owner
• ☐ Schedule annual accessibility audits for high-priority digital products
• ☐ Establish a process for users to request accessible alternatives (particularly for PDF documents)
• ☐ Train content authors on producing accessible documents (heading styles, alt text, link text)

Step 7 — Documentation for Regulatory Purposes

National enforcement bodies may request evidence of compliance efforts. Maintain:

• ☐ Audit reports for each major digital product (dated, identifying the standard tested against)
• ☐ ACE by DAISY reports for EPUB3 documents (generated automatically after conversion)
• ☐ Remediation logs showing what was fixed and when
• ☐ Accessibility statements (maintain historical versions)
• ☐ Records of user accessibility complaints and how they were resolved

Per-document audit record (spreadsheet or tracker): inventory date and method (crawl, CMS export, manual); check results (PAC report, reflow outcome, screen-reader notes); classification; remediation action, date and owner; ACE report reference for each EPUB3 produced; publication location of the accessible version.

What an auditor or enforcement body expects to see after a finding: an accessible version of each flagged document (EPUB3 with EPUB Accessibility 1.1 metadata qualifies), a clear link to it from the original document's location, an updated accessibility statement noting the remediation date and method, and for high-priority documents an ACE by DAISY or EPUBCheck report.

Immediate Actions for Non-Compliant Organizations

If your organization is currently non-compliant and enforcement is already active, prioritize in this order:

1. Audit and inventory: Know what you have before committing to remediation timelines
2. Remediate high-volume, public-facing PDFs first: These carry the highest complaint risk — convert to EPUB3 using toolkit.bot
3. Fix critical website failures: Missing form labels, keyboard traps, and missing alt text are the highest-priority WCAG failures
4. Publish an accessibility statement: Even if compliance is incomplete, a published statement with a remediation roadmap demonstrates good faith
5. Establish a complaint handling process: Users who cannot access content need a route to request accessible alternatives

If an audit has already flagged your PDFs

Most first internal EAA audits flag the same four findings on PDFs: WCAG 1.4.10 Reflow, 1.3.2 Meaningful Sequence (multi-column reading order), 2.4.6 / 1.3.1 missing heading structure, and 3.1.1 undeclared language. PDF remediation can close the last three. It cannot close 1.4.10: if the finding cites Reflow and the document is a PDF, format conversion is the only resolution. Convert the flagged documents, run ACE, publish the EPUB3 beside the PDF, and record the date and method in your accessibility statement before the next audit cycle.

For accessibility teams managing EAA compliance workflows, see our dedicated guide at toolkit.bot/for/accessibility-teams →

Related guides

• PDF accessibility audit checklist for EAA 2026
• How to test PDF accessibility for WCAG 2.2 AA
• EAA 2026 enforcement is now active — what organizations need to do immediately
• How PDF-to-EPUB3 conversion satisfies the European Accessibility Act
• EAA 2026: what publishers must do about PDFs