BFSG: accessibility for companies in Germany since 28 June 2025

Who does the BFSG apply to?

The BFSG (Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz, Accessibility Strengthening Act) applies to certain products placed on the market after 28 June 2025 and to certain services provided to consumers after that date (§ 1(2) and (3) BFSG). It entered into force on 28 June 2025 (Art. 3 sentence 1 of the Act of 16 July 2021); § 3(2), § 3(3) sentences 2 and 3, § 13(3) and § 17(6) BFSG already entered into force on 23 July 2021 (Art. 3 sentence 4 of that Act). The BFSG transposes Directive (EU) 2019/882. The obligations fall on economic operators. A service provider is anyone who provides or offers a service to consumers on the Union market (§ 2 nos. 4 and 15 BFSG).

Germany

The catalogue of services in § 1(3) BFSG covers five groups:

For online shops and other offerings via websites and apps, no. 5 is the key provision. It refers to digital services within the meaning of § 1(4) no. 1 of the German Digital Services Act (Digitale-Dienste-Gesetz, DDG) that are offered via websites and apps and provided electronically at the individual request of a consumer with a view to concluding a consumer contract (§ 2 no. 26 BFSG). According to recital 43 of the Directive, these requirements are intended to apply to the online sale of any product or service.

A consumer is any natural person who buys or receives for purposes that cannot predominantly be attributed to their commercial or self-employed professional activity (§ 2 no. 16 BFSG). The product catalogue in § 1(2) BFSG lists consumer computers with their operating systems, payment terminals, ATMs, ticketing and check-in machines, interactive information terminals, consumer terminal equipment for telecommunications and audiovisual media services, and e-book readers.

Austria

Austria does not apply the BFSG but the Barrierefreiheitsgesetz (BaFG). The details are set out in the article BaFG for companies in Austria.

Which content does the BFSG exclude?

The BFSG excludes five types of content on websites and in mobile applications (§ 1(4) BFSG). For documents, nos. 2, 4 and 5 matter most.

The exception in no. 2 depends on the publication date. A PDF that you newly publish after 28 June 2025 is not covered. An older document that you update or edit after that date in any event loses the archive exception under no. 5. The glossary explains what counts as an office file format. Public sector bodies are subject to different rules and deadlines; see the guide to accessible PDFs.

Are micro-enterprises exempt from the BFSG?

Partly. For services, § 3(1) BFSG does not apply to micro-enterprises that offer or provide services (§ 3(3) sentence 1 BFSG). § 3(3) does not expressly exclude the further duties of service providers in § 14 or the duty to provide information to the market surveillance authority in § 35. The Directive exempts such micro-enterprises from the accessibility requirements and from all obligations relating to compliance with those requirements (Art. 4(5) Directive (EU) 2019/882).

A micro-enterprise employs fewer than ten persons and has either an annual turnover not exceeding EUR 2 million or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding EUR 2 million (§ 2 no. 17 BFSG). The headcount and one of the two financial thresholds must be met together. § 3(3) provides no exemption for small and medium-sized enterprises (§ 2 no. 18 BFSG).

Micro-enterprises dealing with products remain bound by the requirements. If they rely on § 16 or § 17, they do not have to document the assessment but must provide the relevant facts to the authority on request (§ 16(4), § 17(2) sentences 3 and 4 BFSG). The duty to notify the authority that they are relying on these provisions does not apply to them (§ 16(4) sentence 1, § 17(5) sentence 2). The Federal Accessibility Agency (Bundesfachstelle für Barrierefreiheit) advises micro-enterprises on applying the Act (§ 15 BFSG, § 13(2) BGG), and the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS) draws up guidelines for micro-enterprises (§ 3(3) sentence 2 BFSG).

What does the BFSG require of service providers?

You may only offer or provide a service if it meets the accessibility requirements and you have prepared the information under Annex 3 no. 1 and made it accessible to the general public (§ 14(1) BFSG).

Products and services are accessible if persons with disabilities can find, access and use them in the generally customary manner, without particular difficulty and, in principle, without outside help (§ 3(1) sentence 2 BFSG). The specific requirements are set by a statutory ordinance which § 3(2) BFSG empowers the BMAS to adopt in line with Annex I to the Directive (§ 3(1) sentence 3 BFSG). Annex I Section III applies to all services except urban, suburban and regional transport services (Art. 4(3) Directive (EU) 2019/882). Among other things, it requires websites and mobile apps to be perceivable, operable, understandable and robust (point (c)) and information about the functioning of the service to be available in text formats that can be used to generate alternative assistive formats (point (b)(iv)). For e-commerce, this is supplemented by information on the accessibility of the products and services being sold, where the responsible economic operator provides this information, as well as accessible identification, security and payment functions (Annex I Section IV point (g)).

Where a service conforms to harmonised standards whose references have been published in the Official Journal of the EU, conformity is presumed to the extent those standards cover the requirements (§ 4 BFSG). The BFSG does not name any specific standard, nor WCAG or PDF/UA. The standard EN 301 549 V3.2.1 contains requirements for web pages (clause 9) and for documents that are not web pages, including downloadable documents (clause 10.0). These requirements refer to success criteria of WCAG 2.1 (for example clause 10.1.1.1). Documents embedded in web pages are covered by clause 9 (clause 10.0). How the standards fit together is explained in the article PDF/UA, WCAG 2.1 and EN 301 549.

In addition to the consumer information under Art. 246 EGBGB (Introductory Act to the German Civil Code), where applicable, the information under Annex 3 no. 1 includes at least:

• a general description of the service in an accessible format,
• descriptions and explanations needed to understand how the service is carried out,
• a description of how the service meets the requirements,
• the name of the competent market surveillance authority.

You keep this information for as long as you offer the service (§ 14(2)), ensure compliance with the requirements at all times (§ 14(3)), take corrective action in the event of non-conformity and inform the market surveillance authorities without delay (§ 14(4)), and provide information upon a reasoned request (§ 14(5)). The accessibility statement of public sector bodies follows separate rules; its mandatory content is described in the article on the accessibility statement.

When can you rely on fundamental alteration or disproportionate burden?

Only after your own assessment, which you document (§ 16(1) and (2), § 17(1) and (2) BFSG). The requirements do not apply where compliance would require a significant change resulting in a fundamental alteration of the basic nature of the service (§ 16(1)), or would impose a disproportionate burden under Annex 4 (§ 17(1)).

• Annex 4 sets out as criteria the ratio of net costs to overall costs, the estimated costs and benefits in relation to the benefit for persons with disabilities, taking into account the amount and frequency of use, and the ratio of net costs to net turnover (Annex 4 nos. 1 to 3).
• You keep the assessment for five years from the last provision of the service and present it to the authority on request (§ 16(2), § 17(2)).
• Service providers repeat the assessment under § 17 for each category or type of service at least every five years, as well as whenever the service is changed and when requested by the authority (§ 17(3)).
• Anyone receiving funding from public or private sources other than their own to improve accessibility cannot rely on § 17(1) sentence 1 (§ 17(4)).
• You notify the competent authority without delay that you are relying on these provisions (§ 16(3), § 17(5) sentence 1).

The authority checks whether the assessment exists, whether the criteria of Annex 4 have been applied correctly and whether the other requirements are met (§ 28(3) BFSG). Consumers receive the assessment on application unless reasons of confidentiality prevent this (§ 28(4) sentence 1 no. 2 and sentence 4). Further reading: How to justify a disproportionate burden.

How does market surveillance work?

The market surveillance authority competent under state law (§ 2 no. 22 BFSG) checks a service where it has reason to assume a deficiency, and also without specific cause on the basis of random samples (§ 28(1) and (2) BFSG). For websites and apps, it uses the method in Annex 1 no. 1 and selects the sample under Annex 1 no. 2.

Documents are expressly part of the check:

• Documents are checked if they are necessary for successfully completing an interaction (Annex 1 no. 1(b)).
• The sample includes, where present, the home page, login, sitemap, contact, help and pages with legal information (Annex 1 no. 2(b)(aa)), as well as the pages containing the information under Annex 3 (item (cc)).
• In addition, where present, at least one relevant downloadable document for each type of service and each main purpose (item (ee)) and further randomly selected pages and documents amounting to at least 10 per cent of the sample defined under items (aa) to (ff) (item (gg)).

If the authority finds that the service does not meet the requirements, it proceeds in stages (§ 29 BFSG):

1. Request to establish conformity within a reasonable period (§ 29(1)).
2. Renewed request with the threat of prohibiting the offer (§ 29(2)).
3. Necessary measures up to an order to discontinue the offer; the order is lifted as soon as you demonstrate conformity (§ 29(3)).

If the information under Annex 3 is missing in whole or in part or is not accessible, this constitutes formal non-conformity, for which § 30 BFSG provides a separate staged procedure. Consumers can apply to the authority for proceedings if they claim that they cannot use the service, or can use it only to a limited extent, because of an infringement; recognised associations and qualified entities can do the same where their statutory remit is affected (§ 32(1) and (2) BFSG). The authority decides by administrative decision (§ 32(3)). Recognised associations can bring legal remedies under the Code of Administrative Court Procedure (Verwaltungsgerichtsordnung) against the decision or a failure to issue one, including on behalf of consumers (§ 33). Consumers can also turn to the conciliation body under § 16(1) BGG (§ 34(1) BFSG); proceedings under § 32 are suspended until the conciliation ends (§ 34(4)). How monitoring bodies check the websites of public sector bodies is described in the article Accessibility monitoring of public sector bodies.

Which fines and transition periods apply?

An administrative offence is committed by anyone who intentionally or negligently breaches the obligations listed in § 37(1) BFSG. Depending on the offence, it can be punished with a fine of up to EUR 100,000 or up to EUR 10,000 (§ 37(2) BFSG).

The transitional provisions are narrow. Service providers may continue to use products that they lawfully used before 28 June 2025 to provide these or similar services until 27 June 2030. Contracts for services concluded before 28 June 2025 may continue unchanged until they expire, but no later than 27 June 2030 (§ 38(1) BFSG). Self-service terminals that service providers used in compliance with the applicable legal rules to provide services before 28 June 2025 may continue to be used to provide comparable services until the end of their economically useful life, but no longer than fifteen years after they were put into use (§ 38(2)). § 38 contains no general transition period for websites or newly published documents.

What does this mean for PDF catalogues, data sheets and terms and conditions on shop websites?

Office files that you publish on or after 28 June 2025 on a shop website aimed at consumers are not covered by the exception in § 1(4) no. 2 BFSG; files published before that date remain exempt under no. 2. Older content that you update or edit after 28 June 2025 in any event loses the archive exception (§ 1(4) no. 5). In addition, check the exception for third-party content (§ 1(4) no. 4) and, for micro-enterprises offering services, § 3(3) BFSG. The overview classifies typical documents.

For each document, check the exceptions first, then the technical benchmark. Useful foundations are tagged PDFs and the technical standard PDF/UA; for your own Office files there is the checklist for Word and PowerPoint. Compliance-Kit remediates existing PDF, Word and PowerPoint documents for accessibility: have your documents made accessible.