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European Accessibility Act Compliance in Czechia (Act 424/2023 Coll.)

The European Accessibility Act reached Czechia through zákon č. 424/2023 Sb., o požadavcích na přístupnost některých výrobků a služeb (Act No. 424/2023 Coll. on accessibility requirements for certain products and services), which took effect on 28 June 2025. It covers e-commerce, consumer banking and other financial services, electronic communications, access to audiovisual media services, e-books and e-book software, and passenger transport by air, rail, water and scheduled bus, along with a defined list of consumer hardware and self-service terminals.

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National law Zákon č. 424/2023 Sb., o požadavcích na přístupnost některých výrobků a služeb (Act No. 424/2023 Coll. on accessibility requirements for certain products and services), adopted 29 November 2023, published in the Sbírka zákonů on 29 December 2023 in částka 194/2023, in force since 28 June 2025. Transposition was late. Directive (EU) 2019/882 set a deadline of 28 June 2022, so the act was adopted about 17 months after it and applied three years after it. The responsible ministry is Ministerstvo průmyslu a obchodu (Ministry of Industry and Trade), which publishes guidance including a model accessibility declaration for the § 14 information duty. No implementing decree carries the substance: the accessibility requirements sit in Annex 1, the conformity assessment procedure in Annex 2, the declaration of conformity in Annex 3 and the disproportionate burden criteria in Annex 4. Three later acts have amended the text: zákon č. 236/2024 Sb., and from 1 July 2025 zákon č. 130/2025 Sb. and zákon č. 218/2025 Sb.
Web standard Czechia does not set a separate national accessibility standard for this regime. The binding requirements are written out in Annex 1 to zákon č. 424/2023 Sb. Under § 16, meeting a harmonised standard counts as meeting the accessibility requirements that standard covers, and where no reference to a harmonised standard has been published, a technical specification does the same job. Public records show no harmonised standard cited in the Official Journal under Directive (EU) 2019/882 so far, so treat that presumption as not yet available. The practical reference for ICT is the European standard EN 301 549, whose current published version V3.2.1 applies the WCAG 2.1 level AA success criteria to web content. WCAG 2.2 AA carries those criteria forward, so testing to WCAG 2.2 AA covers the web part.
Enforcement Supervision is split by sector in § 19. Česká obchodní inspekce (Czech Trade Inspection Authority, ČOI) supervises all covered products and all covered services except: Český telekomunikační úřad (Czech Telecommunication Office, ČTÚ) for electronic communications; Rada pro rozhlasové a televizní vysílání (Council for Radio and Television Broadcasting) for services giving access to audiovisual media services; krajský úřad (regional authority) for scheduled bus transport other than city buses; Drážní úřad (Rail Authority) for rail passenger services; Úřad pro civilní letectví (Civil Aviation Authority) for air passenger services; Státní plavební správa (State Navigation Administration) for water passenger services; and Magistrát hlavního města Prahy together with obecní úřady obcí s rozšířenou působností (municipal authorities with extended powers) for city buses, metro, trams, trolleybuses and cable railways. The act creates no dedicated accessibility ombudsman. Consumers raise an inaccessible product or service with the competent supervising authority, in most cases through the ČOI consumer submissions route (podávání podnětů) on coi.gov.cz. The supervising authority must first call on the trader to put things right within a reasonable period, and under § 22 and § 24 it publishes lists of non-compliant products and services on its website. Penalties in § 25(8) are administrative fines in four bands: up to CZK 10,000,000, CZK 5,000,000, CZK 2,000,000 or CZK 1,000,000, depending on the offence. The top band applies to, among others, a service provider that fails to make a covered service accessible, fails to take remedial action without undue delay, or fails to act on the supervising authority's call. ČOI and ČTÚ each collect the fines they impose.

Who has to comply in Czechia

The act applies to any business selling covered products or providing covered services to consumers in Czechia, wherever the business itself is established. Covered services are electronic communications, access to audiovisual media services, financial services, e-commerce, e-books and e-book software, and passenger transport by air, scheduled bus, rail and water, plus self-service terminals in urban and regional transport. Services provided by a micro-enterprise are excluded under § 2(3)(a): fewer than 10 staff AND annual turnover or annual balance sheet total of no more than EUR 2 million. The exemption covers services only. A micro-enterprise that manufactures, imports or distributes a covered product still has product obligations, though § 15 relieves it of some assessment paperwork. Public-sector websites and mobile applications sit under a separate regime, zákon č. 99/2019 Sb., which transposes Directive (EU) 2016/2102 and is overseen by Digitální a informační agentura.

The deadlines that matter

28 June 2022

EU deadline for transposing Directive (EU) 2019/882. Czechia did not meet it

29 November 2023

Zákon č. 424/2023 Sb. adopted by the Czech Parliament, about 17 months after the deadline

29 December 2023

Published in the Sbírka zákonů, částka 194/2023

28 June 2025

Act takes effect. It applies to products placed on the market and services provided after this date

1 July 2025

Amendments by zákon č. 130/2025 Sb. and zákon č. 218/2025 Sb. take effect, revising the transport supervision list in § 19 and the fine collection rule in § 26

28 June 2030

End of the § 28 transitional periods for pre-existing service contracts and for non-accessible products already used to provide services. Self-service terminals already in use run on a separate limit of 20 years from first commissioning

WCAG 2.2 AA, EN 301 549

Prove your Czechia compliance

Conforma scans your site against WCAG 2.2 AA and EN 301 549, the practical reference for Annex 1 of zákon č. 424/2023 Sb. It drafts a Czechia-specific accessibility statement for the § 14 information you publish in your terms, and keeps a dated record of every issue and every fix as evidence for the supervising authority. A scan gives you testing and evidence, never a guarantee of compliance.

Czechia EAA questions, answered

When does the EAA apply in Czechia, and is there a transition period?

The act took effect on 28 June 2025 and applies to products placed on the market and services provided after that date. Three transitional rules matter. A provider may keep using non-accessible products it already used lawfully before then until 28 June 2030, if those products reached the market by 28 June 2025. Contracts concluded before the act took effect may run unchanged until they end, at the latest until 28 June 2030. Self-service terminals already in use have a longer limit of 20 years from first commissioning.

Is my small business exempt?

Services provided by a micro-enterprise fall outside the act. A micro-enterprise employs fewer than 10 people and has an annual turnover or annual balance sheet total of no more than EUR 2 million; both conditions must hold. The exemption is for services only. If you manufacture, import or distribute a covered product, the product obligations still apply, although § 15 relieves a micro-enterprise of some assessment and notification paperwork.

Which accessibility standard do I have to meet?

Czechia sets no separate national accessibility standard. The requirements are written out in Annex 1 to the act. The European standard EN 301 549 is the practical reference for meeting them, and its current published version V3.2.1 applies the WCAG 2.1 level AA success criteria to web content. WCAG 2.2 AA carries those criteria forward, so testing to WCAG 2.2 AA covers the web part. No harmonised standard has been cited in the Official Journal under the EAA so far, so § 16 gives no formal presumption of conformity yet.

Who enforces the act, and what are the penalties?

Supervision is split by sector under § 19. Česká obchodní inspekce (Czech Trade Inspection Authority) covers products and most services, including e-commerce and financial services. Český telekomunikační úřad handles electronic communications and Rada pro rozhlasové a televizní vysílání handles audiovisual media access, with transport regulators taking the transport services. Fines under § 25(8) run in four bands, up to CZK 10 million for the most serious offences, including failing to make a covered service accessible.

This page is a plain-English summary, not legal advice. Check the cited national law for specifics.

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