Germany: Barrierefreiheitsstaerkungsgesetz (BFSG)
- Official name
- Barrierefreiheitsstaerkungsgesetz (BFSG)
- In force
- 28 June 2025
- Who must comply
- Businesses (other than microenterprises) selling covered products or services to consumers in Germany.
- Official source
- gesetze-im-internet.de - BFSG
Germany's federal transposition of the EAA. Mirrors the directive's scope and pushes enforcement to the federal states (Laender) with caps up to EUR 100,000 per violation.
What it is
The Barrierefreiheitsstaerkungsgesetz (BFSG) - the Accessibility Reinforcement Act - was published on 16 July 2021 (BGBl. I S. 2970) and applies from 28 June 2025. It transposes the EAA into German federal law and is paired with the Barrierefreiheitsstaerkungsgesetz-Verordnung (BFSGV) for technical detail.
Covered scope mirrors the EAA: consumer products such as smartphones, PCs and self-service terminals; consumer services such as e-commerce, consumer banking, e-books, passenger-transport apps and electronic communications.
Who it applies to
The BFSG applies to manufacturers, importers, distributors and service providers placing covered products or services on the German market.
Microenterprises providing services (under 10 staff AND under EUR 2 million turnover) are exempt from substantive obligations - but if they place a covered product on the market, they are not.
Pure B2B contexts and services entirely outside the directive's catalogue (e.g. logistics dispatching) are not covered.
Penalties and enforcement
Enforcement is split: the Bundesfachstelle fuer Barrierefreiheit sets policy, while market surveillance and consumer-service oversight sit with the Laender (federal states). Fines reach up to EUR 100,000 per violation. A competent authority can also order corrective measures and, as a last resort, prohibit the placing on the market.
Consumer associations have standing to file representative actions, which has already produced civil-society scrutiny ahead of the deadline.
Standards
The BFSG references EN 301 549 as the route to a presumption of conformity, which in turn references WCAG 2.1 Level AA for web content.
How EAAGuard helps
EAAGuard scans the WCAG 2.1 AA web slice continuously and surfaces issues in plain German for the audit trail. For a full BFSG conformance argument you still need a human reviewer; the marketplace lets you book one without leaving the platform.
This page summarises Barrierefreiheitsstaerkungsgesetz (BFSG) for orientation. It is not legal advice. Always check the linked official source and consult a qualified lawyer for compliance decisions.