BaFG (Austrian Accessibility Act)

The BaFG transposes the European Accessibility Act in Austria and has applied since 28 June 2025.

21 October 2026 · Category: Accessibility · Compliance-Kit

TL;DR

The Barrierefreiheitsgesetz (BaFG) is the Austrian federal act transposing Directive (EU) 2019/882, the European Accessibility Act. It entered into force on 28 June 2025 (§ 37(1) BaFG) and applies to certain products and consumer services, such as banking services and e-commerce services (§ 2(1) and (2) BaFG). Microenterprises providing services are exempt (§ 6(1) BaFG). The competent authority is the Sozialministeriumservice (§ 21 BaFG), and infringements are subject to fines of up to EUR 80,000 (§ 36 BaFG).

What is the BaFG (Austrian Accessibility Act)?

The BaFG is the Austrian act transposing the European Accessibility Act. It lays down mandatory accessibility requirements for certain products and services (§ 1 BaFG). Directive (EU) 2019/882 requires Member States to apply their transposing provisions from 28 June 2025 (Art. 31(2) Directive (EU) 2019/882). The BaFG entered into force on that day (§ 37(1) BaFG).

Products: It covers products placed on the market after 28 June 2025, such as hardware systems and operating systems of consumer general-purpose computers, payment terminals and e-readers (§ 2(1) BaFG).
Services: It covers certain services provided to consumers after 28 June 2025, such as electronic communications services, banking services, e-books and e-commerce services (§ 2(2) BaFG).
Content exemptions: For websites and mobile applications, office file formats published before 28 June 2025 are excluded. Archives whose content is neither updated nor edited after that date are excluded as well (§ 2(3) items 2 and 5 BaFG).
Microenterprises: A microenterprise employs fewer than ten persons and has an annual turnover or annual balance sheet total of no more than EUR 2 million (§ 3 item 19 BaFG). If it provides services, it is exempt from the requirements under § 4(3) (§ 6(1) BaFG; Art. 4(5) Directive (EU) 2019/882). If it relies on this exemption, it must provide the Sozialministeriumservice on request with all documents needed to check the exemption (§ 24(2) BaFG).
Disproportionate burden: The requirements apply only insofar as they do not impose a disproportionate burden. The economic operator assesses this against the criteria in Annex 4 (§ 18(1) and (2) BaFG). It documents the assessment and keeps the results for five years from the last making available of the product on the market or after the last provision of the service (§ 18(3) BaFG). This does not apply to microenterprises dealing with products. If they invoke a disproportionate burden, they must, however, provide the Sozialministeriumservice on request with the facts relevant to the assessment (§ 18(5) BaFG).
Yardstick: Products and services that meet harmonised standards whose references are published in the Official Journal of the EU are presumed to conform, insofar as those standards cover the requirements (§ 5(1) BaFG). The BaFG names neither WCAG nor PDF/UA.
Penalties: The Sozialministeriumservice is the competent authority (§ 21 BaFG). Anyone who offers or provides a service contrary to § 14(1), that is without meeting the accessibility requirements, commits an administrative offence. The fine is up to EUR 80,000, and up to EUR 50,000 for microenterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises (§ 36(1) item 3 BaFG). The directive requires penalties that are effective, proportionate and dissuasive (Art. 30(2) Directive (EU) 2019/882).

Germany and Austria compared

Both countries transpose the same directive through their own acts: Germany through the BFSG, Austria through the BaFG.

Germany

The Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz (BFSG) excludes office files published before 28 June 2025 and archives that are no longer updated or edited (§ 1(4) items 2 and 5 BFSG). Microenterprises offering or providing services are exempt (§ 3(3) BFSG). The presumption of conformity is linked to harmonised standards (§ 4 BFSG). Administrative offences can be fined up to EUR 100,000 (§ 37(2) BFSG).

Austria

The BaFG is addressed to economic operators, meaning manufacturers, authorised representatives, importers, distributors and service providers (§ 3 item 17 BaFG). It must be distinguished from the Web-Zugänglichkeits-Gesetz (WZG), which applies to websites and mobile applications of the federal government and of bodies closely linked to it (§ 2(1) WZG). Fines under the BaFG are imposed by the Sozialministeriumservice. They go to the support fund for persons with disabilities (§ 36(5) BaFG).

Point	Germany (BFSG)	Austria (BaFG)
Exemption for office files before 28 June 2025	§ 1(4) item 2	§ 2(3) item 2
Exemption for microenterprises (services)	§ 3(3)	§ 6(1)
Presumption of conformity	§ 4	§ 5(1)
Maximum amount	EUR 100,000 (§ 37(2))	EUR 80,000 (§ 36(1))

Practical example

An Austrian online retailer with 40 employees that sells to consumers falls under the BaFG because it provides e-commerce services (§ 2(2) item 6 BaFG). The microenterprise exemption does not apply with 40 employees (§ 3 item 19 BaFG). The retailer publishes its terms and conditions, product data sheets and return forms as PDFs, created in Word and PowerPoint.

For PDFs published on the website before 28 June 2025, the exemption in § 2(3) item 2 BaFG applies. Files published from that date onwards are not covered by it.
The retailer prepares the information under Annex 3 and makes it available to the public in written and oral form, including in an accessible form (§ 14(2) BaFG). In its terms and conditions or a similar document, it states how the service meets the requirements. Where applicable, this includes a general description of the service in an accessible format (Annex 3 item 1(a) BaFG). If it does not prepare this information or does not prepare it properly, it faces a fine of up to EUR 40,000, or up to EUR 25,000 for small and medium-sized enterprises (§ 36(2) item 2 BaFG).
A practical route to accessible files: Word templates with styles and real headings, slides with alternative text and tagged PDFs exported from them.

Details for businesses are in the article BaFG: accessibility for companies in Austria. If you prefer not to convert the files yourself, you can have accessible documents prepared. This entry does not constitute legal advice.

Frequently asked questions

Does the BaFG also apply to purely B2B offerings?

For services, the BaFG is linked to consumers: it covers the services listed in § 2(2) BaFG that are provided to consumers. A consumer is any natural person who buys or receives the product or service for purposes outside their trade, business, craft or profession (§ 3 item 18 BaFG). Whether a mixed offering is covered should be assessed legally in the individual case.

Do older PDFs have to be reworked under the BaFG?

Not if they were published on a website or in a mobile application before 28 June 2025: office file formats from that period are exempt (§ 2(3) item 2 BaFG). Archives whose content is neither updated nor edited after that date are exempt as well (§ 2(3) item 5 BaFG).

Does the BaFG apply to microenterprises?

Microenterprises offering or providing services are exempt from the accessibility requirements under § 4(3) and from all related obligations (§ 6(1) BaFG). A microenterprise employs fewer than ten persons and has an annual turnover or annual balance sheet total of no more than EUR 2 million (§ 3 item 19 BaFG). On request, the documents needed to check the exemption must be provided to the Sozialministeriumservice (§ 24(2) BaFG).

Who supervises the BaFG and what penalties apply?

The Sozialministeriumservice is competent (§ 21 BaFG). Depending on the infringement, § 36 BaFG provides for fines of up to EUR 80,000, EUR 40,000 or EUR 16,000. For microenterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises, the ceilings are EUR 50,000, EUR 25,000 or EUR 10,000 (§ 36(1) to (3) BaFG).

Sources

Barrierefreiheitsgesetz (BaFG), consolidated version, § 1, § 2 Abs. 1, 2 und 3 Z 2 und 5, § 3 Z 17, 18, 19 und 20, § 4 Abs. 3, § 5 Abs. 1, § 6 Abs. 1, § 14 Abs. 1 und 2, § 18 Abs. 1 bis 3, § 21, § 24 Abs. 2, § 36 Abs. 1 bis 3 und 5, § 37 Abs. 1, Anlage 3 Z 1 lit. a, ris.bka.gv.at
Directive (EU) 2019/882 on the accessibility requirements for products and services (European Accessibility Act), Art. 4 Abs. 5, Art. 30 Abs. 2, Art. 31 Abs. 2, eur-lex.europa.eu
Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz (BFSG), § 1 Abs. 4 Nr. 2 und 5, § 3 Abs. 3, § 4, § 37 Abs. 2, gesetze-im-internet.de
Web-Zugänglichkeits-Gesetz (WZG), consolidated version, § 2 Abs. 1, ris.bka.gv.at

Legal status of the sources checked: 19 October 2026 (RIS, gesetze-im-internet.de, EUR-Lex)

Practitioner note: This article is practice-oriented compliance documentation, not legal advice. We are compliance specialists, not a law firm. For legally binding advice, consult an admitted lawyer.