EPUB 3 Accessibility and the European Accessibility Act: What Publishers Must Do
Publishers
Feb 28, 2026
Why Accessibility Is Now a Legal Requirement for Publishers
The European Accessibility Act (EAA) came into force on 28 June 2025, requiring that digital products and services — including ebooks and digital reading platforms — meet defined accessibility standards across EU member states. For publishers distributing digital content in Europe, this is not a future consideration: it is a current legal obligation.
The good news is that the publishing industry has a well-established technical framework for accessible digital books: EPUB 3, combined with the EPUB Accessibility specification. Publishers who invest in accessible production workflows now will not only meet their legal obligations but will also reach a broader audience — an estimated 135 million people in the EU live with some form of disability.
What Is EPUB 3 Accessibility?
EPUB 3 is the current international standard for digital publications, maintained by the W3C. The EPUB Accessibility specification — now at version 1.1 — defines how EPUB files should be structured to be usable by people with visual, cognitive, and motor disabilities.
An accessible EPUB 3 file typically includes semantic HTML markup that screen readers can interpret correctly, alt text for all meaningful images, a logical reading order that does not depend on visual layout, proper heading structure for navigation, metadata declaring the accessibility features present in the file, and sufficient colour contrast for text and images.
The EPUB Accessibility Metadata
One of the most important — and most overlooked — aspects of EPUB accessibility is the metadata. The EPUB Accessibility specification requires publishers to declare what accessibility features are present in each file, using standardised schema.org properties. This metadata is used by retailers, libraries, and reading systems to inform readers about the accessibility of a title before they purchase or borrow it.
Key metadata fields include accessMode, accessibilityFeature, accessibilityHazard, and accessibilitySummary. Publishers who have not yet implemented this metadata in their production workflows should treat it as a priority.
What the European Accessibility Act Requires
The EAA aligns with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 at Level AA as its technical benchmark. For ebooks, this means that both the content files and the reading systems used to deliver them must meet these standards.
Publishers have obligations in two areas: the content itself (EPUB files must be produced to the EPUB Accessibility 1.1 specification, which maps to WCAG 2.1 AA) and the distribution platform (the apps and platforms through which content is delivered must also be accessible, meaning publishers using white-label or third-party reading platforms need to ensure those platforms are EAA-compliant).
Practical Steps for Publishers
Publishers who are not yet producing accessible EPUBs should audit their current production workflow to identify where accessibility metadata and structural markup are missing, update their conversion and editing tools to support EPUB Accessibility 1.1 output, train editorial and production staff on accessible publishing practices, verify that their distribution platforms meet WCAG 2.1 AA standards, and use tools such as the DAISY Ace checker to validate accessibility compliance in their EPUB files.
How Eden Interactive Supports Accessible Publishing
Eden Interactive's Publish360 platform is built on the Readium SDK, which is designed to support the full range of EPUB accessibility features — screen reader compatibility, adjustable text sizes, high-contrast modes, and synchronised audio-text highlighting. As a member of EDRLab, we are closely involved in the development of the open standards that underpin accessible digital publishing.
If you are evaluating reading platforms for your digital content and need confidence that your distribution channel meets EAA requirements, we would be happy to discuss how Publish360 supports accessible content delivery.
