Which WCAG 2.2 AA criteria apply to documents under the EAA?

The key WCAG 2.2 AA criteria for documents under EAA Article 32 are: 1.1.1 (Non-text Content — alt text for images), 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships — heading structure, table headers), 1.3.2 (Meaningful Sequence — correct reading order), 1.4.3 (Contrast), 1.4.10 (Reflow — content must work at 400% zoom without horizontal scrolling), 2.4.2 (Page Titled), 3.1.1 (Language of Page), and 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value for interactive elements). Of these, 1.4.10 Reflow is the one that PDFs structurally cannot satisfy.

Can a tagged PDF satisfy WCAG 2.2 AA under the EAA?

Partially. Tagged PDF (PDF/UA) can satisfy WCAG 1.1.1, 1.3.1, 1.3.2, 3.1.1, and 4.1.2 if the tagging is done correctly. But no tagged PDF can satisfy WCAG 1.4.10 (Reflow). The PDF fixed-page format requires horizontal scrolling at 400% zoom — this is a format limitation, not a tooling gap. No PDF editor, not CommonLook, axesPDF, or Adobe Acrobat, can fix it. EPUB3 satisfies all these criteria including Reflow by design.

What is WCAG 1.4.10 Reflow and why do PDFs fail it?

WCAG 1.4.10 requires that content can be displayed without horizontal scrolling at 400% zoom, equivalent to a 320 CSS pixel-wide viewport. PDFs are fixed-page documents: at 400% zoom, a standard A4 PDF page is roughly six times wider than a typical screen. Users must scroll horizontally to read content. This cannot be fixed by tagging, as it is an inherent property of the fixed-layout PDF format. EPUB3 is reflowable HTML5 and passes WCAG 1.4.10 by design.

How quickly can I convert a PDF document library to accessible EPUB3?

Individual documents: upload to toolkit.bot/pdf2epub and download in ~30 seconds — free, no account required. For libraries of 50+ documents, use the toolkit.bot API to automate conversion. A Python script can batch-process hundreds of PDFs overnight. Each output is EPUB3 with semantic structure, heading hierarchy, and reading order preservation. Validate with ACE by DAISY (free) to generate formal accessibility reports per document.

WCAG 2.2 AA Document Accessibility Checklist for EAA Article 32

The European Accessibility Act entered enforcement on June 28, 2026. Article 32 requires digital documents distributed in EU markets to conform to WCAG 2.2 AA — the same standard embedded in EN 301 549, the harmonized European accessibility norm. For compliance officers, legal teams, and IT managers, this means auditing your document library and remediating anything that doesn’t pass.

This checklist identifies the exact WCAG 2.2 AA success criteria that apply to documents, explains why PDFs fail several of them structurally, and shows how converting to EPUB3 resolves the majority of failures automatically.

Which WCAG 2.2 AA Criteria Apply to Documents?

Not every WCAG success criterion applies to standalone documents. The following are the criteria that document formats must satisfy under EAA Article 32:

1.1.1 Non-text Content (Level A)

☐ All images that convey information have a text alternative (alt text)
☐ Decorative images are marked as presentational (empty alt or role="presentation")
☐ Charts, graphs, and diagrams have descriptive alt text or a linked description
☐ Scanned page images are either replaced with extracted text (via OCR) or supplemented with a full text alternative

1.3.1 Info and Relationships (Level A)

☐ Heading levels (H1–H6) reflect the document’s visual hierarchy — not just visual styling
☐ Lists are marked as ordered or unordered — not simulated with bullets or numbers in plain text
☐ Table header cells are identified with appropriate scope attributes
☐ Form fields have programmatically associated labels

1.3.2 Meaningful Sequence (Level A)

☐ Reading order in the source matches the visual reading order
☐ Multi-column content flows column-by-column, not across columns simultaneously
☐ Footnotes and endnotes do not interrupt main body text in the reading order
☐ Sidebars are positioned correctly in the reading sequence

1.4.1 Use of Color (Level A)

☐ Color is not the only means of conveying information (e.g., a red/green status indicator also uses labels or icons)

1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum) (Level AA)

☐ Normal text: contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 against the background
☐ Large text (18pt+ or 14pt+ bold): contrast ratio of at least 3:1

1.4.10 Reflow (Level AA) — The Critical Failure for PDFs

☐ Content reflows to a single-column layout at 400% zoom without requiring horizontal scrolling
☐ No content or functionality is lost when the viewport is narrowed to 320 CSS pixels

This is the criterion that almost all PDFs fail. See below.

2.4.2 Page Titled (Level A)

☐ Each document section has a meaningful title in the document metadata

2.4.3 Focus Order (Level A)

☐ Interactive elements (links, form fields) are reachable and operable by keyboard in a logical sequence

3.1.1 Language of Page (Level A)

☐ The document’s primary language is declared in its metadata
☐ Language changes within the document are marked where they occur

4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (Level A)

☐ All interactive elements (links, buttons, form fields) have an accessible name
☐ Link text is descriptive — not “click here” or “read more”

Why PDFs Structurally Fail WCAG 1.4.10 — And Why Tagging Cannot Fix It

WCAG 1.4.10 (Reflow) requires content to display without horizontal scrolling at 400% zoom, equivalent to a 320px-wide viewport. For documents, this means the layout must be inherently responsive — text must wrap, columns must collapse, and nothing must overflow.

PDF is a fixed-layout format. Each page has a fixed width and height. At 400% zoom on a standard screen, a PDF page is roughly six times wider than the screen — content extends beyond the right edge and requires horizontal scrolling. Tagged PDF addresses reading order and heading structure, but it cannot change the fixed-page geometry. There is no PDF specification feature that enables the kind of reflow WCAG 1.4.10 requires.

This is not a tooling problem. It is a format problem. No PDF editor — not Adobe Acrobat, not CommonLook, not axesPDF — can make a PDF pass WCAG 1.4.10, because the criterion requires dynamic reflow that the PDF format cannot provide by design.

Multi-column PDFs — common in academic papers, legal documents, financial reports, and government publications — compound the problem. Screen readers on multi-column PDFs routinely read across columns (left column line 1, right column line 1, left column line 2…) rather than down each column in sequence, failing WCAG 1.3.2 as well.

EPUB3: The EAA-Compliant Alternative

EPUB3 is built on HTML5, CSS3, and XML — the same technology stack as the accessible web. Reflowability is inherent to EPUB3: text wraps at any viewport width or zoom level, and WCAG 1.4.10 passes by design.

An EPUB3 file produced by a good converter satisfies the checklist above without manual remediation:

1.3.1: HTML heading tags, list elements, and table header markup map directly from the source document structure
1.3.2: HTML source order determines reading order — no ambiguity for multi-column or footnote content
1.4.10: Satisfied by default — EPUB3 content is reflowable HTML5
3.1.1: EPUB3 package metadata requires a language declaration
4.1.2: HTML link and button semantics are directly accessible to assistive technology

The EPUB Accessibility 1.1 specification (W3C standard) formalizes how to declare and verify WCAG 2.2 AA conformance in EPUB3 metadata — enabling automated checkers and procurement systems to verify compliance programmatically.

How to Convert Your Existing PDF Library

Manual conversion (1–10 documents)

Go to toolkit.bot/pdf2epub
Upload your PDF (up to 50 MB per file). No account required on the free tier.
Download the EPUB3 in approximately 30 seconds. The converter extracts text, detects heading structure, handles multi-column layout, and produces semantic HTML5.
Validate output with ACE by DAISY to generate a formal WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility report. Keep the ACE report for your compliance documentation.

Automated bulk conversion (50+ documents)

Use the toolkit.bot API to automate conversion at scale. The API accepts PDF uploads and returns EPUB3 downloads — integrable into any document management workflow via a simple HTTP call. Batch pricing starts at $9/month for unlimited conversions.

What to check in the output

☐ Run ACE by DAISY on the EPUB3 — review the report for any remaining WCAG failures
☐ Verify heading structure reflects the document hierarchy (ACE reports this)
☐ Check alt text on images: if the source PDF had no alt text, the EPUB3 will flag missing alternatives — add them in an EPUB editor (Sigil, free) for high-priority documents
☐ Test with a screen reader (NVDA + Firefox, or VoiceOver + Safari) for critical documents before distribution

Start converting your document library to EAA-compliant EPUB3 — free for up to 5 files/month, no account required.

Convert a PDF Free → API for bulk →

EAA Article 32 Timeline and Scope Reminder

EAA enforcement is active from June 28, 2026. In scope: private sector organizations with 10+ employees or >€2M annual turnover that distribute digital products or services to EU consumers. Documents distributed as part of a covered digital service — including e-books, digital publications, online reports, and downloadable policy documents — are covered. Micro-enterprises below both thresholds have a 5-year derogation for services (until 2030), but products are covered from day one.