What is the BFSG (Accessibility Strengthening Act)?

The BFSG, short for the German Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz or Accessibility Strengthening Act, implements the European Accessibility Act in Germany and requires certain providers to offer accessible products and services from June 28, 2025. For websites, the key question is whether they are part of an affected digital service.

Who is affected by the BFSG?

The BFSG does not automatically apply to every simple company website. It is especially relevant for certain consumer-facing products and services, including e-commerce services, banking services, electronic communication services, e-books, certain hardware and self-service terminals.

For companies, this means checking whether their digital offer falls within the scope. An online shop, booking flow or digital contract process needs to be assessed differently from a purely informational B2B website. This classification is not legal advice, but it is an important starting point for technical planning.

Exceptions, transition rules and special cases can also matter. The review should therefore not consist only of a technical checklist. Business model, audience, type of service, existing contracts and planned changes may influence the assessment.

Which requirements are behind it?

The BFSG does not simply point to one single checklist. In practice, digital requirements often relate to established standards such as the WCAG and European harmonized standards. For websites and web applications, the practical question is whether content is perceivable, operable, understandable and robust.

This includes keyboard accessibility, sufficient contrast, accessible forms, clear error messages, semantic structure, understandable navigation and compatibility with assistive technologies.

For digital offers, accessibility does not only affect the visible interface. PDF documents, registration processes, payment flows, account areas, email notifications and support paths can also be part of the user experience. Companies should therefore look at complete processes.

What risks arise from non-compliance?

The BFSG provides for market surveillance and possible measures against non-compliant offers. For companies, sanctions are not the only issue. Poor accessibility can lead to abandoned purchases, higher support effort, reputational damage and exclusion of user groups.

Especially in shops and digital completion flows, accessibility is also a conversion and quality factor. If users cannot operate a form, understand error messages or use a payment flow with the keyboard, the offer loses measurable performance.

Time pressure is another risk. Accessibility can only be added at the end to a limited extent in complex websites. If components, colors, forms or editorial processes are unsuitable, retrofitting them becomes more expensive than integrating accessibility early.

How should companies proceed?

A staged review is useful: first clarify whether the offer may be legally affected. Then identify technical and editorial barriers. After that, measures can be prioritized, implemented and tested. Design, development, editorial work and data protection should be considered together.

Implementing accessibility is not a plugin topic alone. Many requirements are located in templates, components, forms, contrast, content structure and processes. Official sources include the BFSG at gesetze-im-internet.de, the BMAS information on the BFSG and EU Directive 2019/882.

For a realistic project plan, critical user journeys should be checked first: navigation, search, product or service pages, forms, cart, login and contact paths. Measures can then be sorted by risk and impact instead of trying to handle everything at once.

For legal details, companies should involve legal counsel. A technical website review can show which barriers exist and how they can be fixed, but it does not replace a binding legal interpretation of the BFSG in an individual case.