Bogdan Cerovac

ABSTRACT
The European Accessibility Act (EAA Directive (EU) 2019/882)
aims to harmonize accessibility requirements, with a significant
focus on e-commerce services due to their socio-economic
impact. This study manually assessed 26 key EN 301 549
requirements, aligned with WCAG 2.1 success criteria at levels
A and AA, to provide more relevant results for future
accessibility trend comparisons and to advocate for necessary
awareness and education initiatives. We examined 20 major and
original, Slovenian e-commerce platforms expected to fall within
the EAA’s scope. None of the websites were fully accessible;
each failed at least 13 out of the 26 selected requirements, with
an average of 17.1 criteria unmet per website. Our findings
highlight the urgent need for improved accessibility to ensure
digital inclusivity in Slovenia and identify specific accessibility
and usability issues that must be addressed to achieve compliance
and bridge existing digital barriers.