Austria Accessibility Legislation: Scope, Fines & Reporting

Austria regulates digital accessibility through the Austrian Accessibility Act — the Barrierefreiheitsgesetz. The Act was enforced in June 2025, and the most recent amendment to the regulation on record is dated 28 October 2021.

Supervision sits with the Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection (Bundesministerium für Soziales, Gesundheit, Pflege und Konsumentenschutz), which oversees compliance.

Scope of application

The Act reaches from general-purpose computer hardware to a wide range of electronic services, covering both products and services offered to consumers.

Products covered:

• General-purpose consumer computer hardware and operating systems.
• Specific self-service terminals, including payment terminals, ATMs, ticket machines, check-in machines and interactive information terminals — excluding those integrated into vehicles.
• Consumer terminals with interactive capabilities for electronic communications and audiovisual media services.
• E-book readers.

Services covered:

• Electronic communications services, excluding emergency calls and machine-to-machine transmission.
• Services enabling access to audiovisual media.
• Elements of passenger transport services — excluding urban, suburban and regional transport — including:
  • Websites and mobile device services.
  • Electronic tickets and travel information, limited to interactive screens within the EU.
  • Interactive self-service terminals, excluding those integrated into vehicles.
• Banking services.
• E-books and related software.
• Electronic commerce services.

Exceptions

Not every product, service or piece of content falls inside the obligations. The Act carves out:

• Sections of the Copyright Act and EU regulations on the cross-border exchange of accessible formats for blind, visually impaired or print-disabled persons.
• Micro-enterprises with fewer than ten employees and an annual turnover or annual balance sheet total of no more than €2 million.
• A transitional period of up to five years for certain obligations. Self-service terminals already in use may continue to operate until 28 June 2040, or for up to 20 years after first use.

Content on websites and mobile applications is exempted where it consists of:

• Recorded time-based media and office application formats released before 28 June 2025.
• Online maps, as long as essential navigation information is accessible.
• Third-party content not financed, developed or controlled by the operator.
• Archived content not updated after 28 June 2025.

Fines and penalties

Non-compliance with the Austrian Accessibility Act may result in fines of up to €80,000.

• Where micro-enterprises (under Section 3(19)) or small and medium-sized enterprises (under Section 3(20)) are involved, the fine can be up to €50,000.
• The Federal Minister for Agriculture, Regions and Tourism has the authority to restrict or prohibit electronic communications networks and services, in whole or in part, under Article 52(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) — with sufficient justification and notification to the European Commission.

In practice the exposure is not limited to a single fine: a barrier that stays unfixed stays reportable, which is why continuous monitoring matters more than a one-off audit.

Reporting

Austria follows the EU-wide mandate for accessibility statements on public sector websites and digital services. These statements are essential for maintaining transparency and accountability.

Companies must submit regular reports covering:

• Service quality, accessibility and compliance with the applicable regulations.
• Efforts to enhance accessibility for people with disabilities, and adherence to the European Accessibility Act (EAA).
• Any non-compliance issues and the actions taken to correct them, so that regulatory bodies have a transparent picture.

Penalties may apply for failure to comply with reporting obligations, so the reporting duty is enforceable in its own right, separately from the accessibility of the product or service itself.

Complaints

Regulatory oversight and citizen inquiries are handled by the Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection, specifically through the Ministry of Social Affairs, Department I/B/9 (Citizens’ Service):

• Email: post@sozialministerium.gv.at
• Website: sozialministerium.gv.at

Getting compliant with QualiBooth

Meeting the Austrian requirements takes two things: evidence that your products and services conform, and reporting that holds up to scrutiny.

QualiBooth scans continuously against WCAG success criteria, so issues surface before they reach a report, and manual audits by people with disabilities cover what automation cannot. When it is time to publish, our accessibility statement generator produces a statement with the exemptions, feedback route and remediation information the regime expects.

For the latest and most accurate information on Austrian digital accessibility requirements, refer to the official documentation published by the Austrian government.