The EAA requires your ebooks to be accessible.
Your PDF-origin EPUBs probably aren’t.

The Regulatory Context

E-book publishers are explicitly named in the EAA. The European Accessibility Act (Directive 2019/882) Annex I, Section X explicitly covers e-book publishers and e-reading software. This is not an extrapolation — publishers distributing ebooks commercially in the EU are directly regulated.

The technical standard: EPUB Accessibility 1.1. EPUB Accessibility 1.1 (W3C/DAISY, 2023) is the accessibility specification for ebooks. It incorporates WCAG 2.1 AA — including WCAG 1.4.10 Reflow, the criterion that fixed-layout content fails at 400% zoom.

EN 301 549 Clause 11 applies to non-web documents with user agents — which includes ebook readers and EPUB viewing software. EPUB Accessibility 1.1 is the implementation path.

The ACE by DAISY validator is the reference conformance tool. An EPUB3 that passes ACE with zero Reflow failures, correct heading structure, and proper image alt text is compliant with EPUB Accessibility 1.1 and WCAG 2.1 AA.

The PDF Problem in Publishing

Most publisher workflows generate print-ready PDFs first. The EPUB is often derived from the same file — but PDF-to-EPUB workflows frequently produce EPUBs that fail accessibility checks.

Common failures in publisher EPUBs:

• Fixed-layout EPUB that fails WCAG 1.4.10 (same problem as PDF)
• Heading structure absent or incorrect
• Images without alt text
• Reading order not matching visual order
• No EPUB table of contents for section navigation

A reader with low vision using Thorium Reader or Apple Books who cannot zoom to readable text, or who cannot navigate by chapter, has an accessibility failure — and a complaint route under the EAA.

toolkit.bot produces reflowable EPUB3 with correct structural markup. ACE by DAISY validation confirms WCAG 2.1 AA conformance.

Document Types in Scope

For Trade Publishers

New titles: Integrate toolkit.bot at the point where the print PDF is finalised. Generate accessible EPUB3 alongside the print PDF — no manual accessibility remediation step.

Backlist: A publisher with 1,000 backlist PDF titles can convert the full catalogue via API:

• API plan: $29/month, 100 requests/hour
• 1,000 titles: ~10 hours of processing
• Cost: $29 (one month of API access)
• vs. accessibility remediation agencies: typically $150–800 per title

Distributor requirements: Ingram, Kobo, Apple Books, and major distributors are beginning to require EPUB Accessibility 1.1 metadata and conformance. ACE by DAISY reports provide the evidence for distributor submission.

For Academic Publishers

Journal articles: The two-column PDF format standard in academic journals is one of the worst performers on WCAG 1.4.10. At 400% zoom, column text spans thousands of pixels; horizontal scrolling required. EPUB3 produces single-column reflowable output with direct section navigation.

Conference proceedings: PDFs submitted by authors typically have inconsistent accessibility. toolkit.bot standardises accessible EPUB3 output with structural headings and reflowable text.

Institutional access: University libraries are beginning to require accessible formats for licensed content. EN 301 549 Clause 10 applies to documents distributed to higher education institutions subject to the Web Accessibility Directive.

API Workflow for Publishers

import httpx, pathlib

def generate_accessible_epub(pdf_path: str, output_dir: str) -> str:
    # Convert publisher PDF to accessible EPUB3
    with open(pdf_path, "rb") as f:
        resp = httpx.post(
            "https://toolkit.bot/api/convert",
            headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {API_KEY}"},
            files={"file": (pathlib.Path(pdf_path).name, f, "application/pdf")},
            timeout=120
        )
    resp.raise_for_status()
    epub_path = str(pathlib.Path(output_dir) / pathlib.Path(pdf_path).stem) + ".epub"
    pathlib.Path(epub_path).write_bytes(resp.content)
    return epub_path

Validate with ACE by DAISY:

npm install -g @daisy/ace
ace --outdir ./ace-report ./book.epub

The ACE report confirms WCAG 1.4.10 Reflow, heading structure, image alt text, reading order, and EPUB Accessibility 1.1 conformance: all pass.

Metadata and Distributor Submission

toolkit.bot EPUB3 output includes EPUB Accessibility 1.1 conformance metadata in the OPF — required for Ingram Accessibility Checker compliance and Apple Books accessibility certification:

<meta property="schema:accessibilitySummary">
  This publication conforms to EPUB Accessibility 1.1 and WCAG 2.1 Level AA.
</meta>
<meta property="schema:accessMode">textual</meta>
<meta property="schema:accessMode">visual</meta>
<meta property="schema:accessModeSufficient">textual</meta>
<meta property="dcterms:conformsTo">
  EPUB Accessibility 1.1 - WCAG 2.1 Level AA
</meta>

Representative use cases

The following are representative examples based on typical conversion scenarios — not named customer testimonials.