EAA sanctions — criminal liability and market bans
Most organisations think about EAA enforcement in terms of financial penalties, and in France a fine needs a prosecutor, because the penalties are criminal. The financial penalties are real. But EAA sanctions operate through three distinct mechanisms.
When people search for “EAA sanctions,” they are usually looking for one of two things: how severe is the enforcement, and does it go beyond fines? The answer to both is yes. EAA enforcement involves three distinct sanction types. Understanding which applies to your organisation, and why, is the starting point for assessing your actual exposure.
No financial penalties have been issued in the seven markets we monitor. Enforcement is active. Investigations are open and audits are underway. Penalty decisions have not yet been published. That does not mean the risk is not real.
Administrative financial penalties
EAA financial penalties vary significantly by market. In the Netherlands, fines can reach 10% of annual turnover and no ceiling is verified. Financial penalties have been legally available since June 2025. None has been issued. The ACM’s published posture is compliance first. In Sweden, PTS can impose a sanktionsavgift for breaching the duties listed in section 37, including the duty to keep a service accessible, and can attach a vite (a conditional fine) to an order to put a breach right (Lag (2023:254), sections 24, 35 and 37). A sanktionsavgift cannot be imposed for a breach covered by a föreläggande om vite where that breach is the basis of an application to have the vite imposed (section 38). Germany combines regulatory fines up to €100,000 with private Abmahnungen. France fines per offence: up to €7,500 for a company, €15,000 on récidive.
No financial penalty decisions have been published in the seven markets we monitor. For the full country-by-country breakdown of penalty ceilings, enforcement authorities, and how each market calculates fines, see the EAA fines and penalties guide.
Criminal sanctions in Ireland
EAA non-compliance in Ireland can result in criminal conviction. This is a materially different category of sanction from an administrative fine. A criminal conviction goes on record. It attaches to individuals, not only to companies. And it can result in imprisonment.
Under S.I. No. 636/2023, Ireland’s transposition of the EAA, serious or persistent non-compliance can be prosecuted as a criminal offence. The penalties on conviction are:
- On summary conviction (lower courts): a fine up to €5,000 and/or imprisonment up to 6 months
- On conviction on indictment (higher courts): a fine up to €60,000 and/or imprisonment up to 18 months
Where a company commits an offence, a director, manager, secretary or other officer also commits an offence if it was committed with their consent, connivance or approval, or is attributable to their wilful neglect (Regulation 33). The liability does not stop at the corporate level.
ComReg is the compliance authority for electronic communications services. No order or fine has been issued.
The due diligence defence. It is a defence for the person charged to prove that they exercised due diligence and took all reasonable precautions to avoid the offence (Regulation 34). In practice, this means documented evidence of active accessibility management: dated assessments, remediation records, a named owner, and a process that shows the organisation was not simply ignoring its obligations. A single historic audit is not sufficient. The evidence needs to show ongoing management, not a one-off exercise.
The due diligence defence is the reason a structured compliance programme matters in Ireland beyond the accessibility work itself. It is the difference between a defensible position and personal liability for the directors involved. See our Ireland compliance guide for the full detail.
France’s EAA penalties are also criminal, as fifth-class contraventions, but they are fines only.
Market bans and product withdrawal
In Sweden, where the operator does not correct a product’s non-compliance, the market surveillance authority must ensure the product is withdrawn or recalled, or its supply prohibited or restricted (Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, article 16(5), applied by section 28 of Lag (2023:254)). This reaches products, not services. A fourth mechanism sits outside all of this: in Germany, enforcement runs through private warning letters, so a competitor or a qualifying organisation can act without any regulator being involved at all.
What determines your exposure
Your sanction exposure depends primarily on where your products and services are offered, not where your organisation is headquartered. Based in the UK? Here is what the EAA means for UK businesses selling into the EU. A company based in Dublin selling to Swedish consumers is subject to PTS enforcement. A company based in Amsterdam selling to Irish consumers is subject to Irish enforcement and Irish criminal liability provisions.
The disproportionate burden exemption does not eliminate sanction exposure. An undocumented claim of disproportionate burden is itself a compliance failure. See our disproportionate burden guide for what the exemption actually requires.
Find out where your organisation stands
Our free initial assessment covers your compliance position across the markets where you operate, what sanction exposure applies, and what a proportionate next step looks like.
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