The key points at a glance
- More customers: around one in five people in Switzerland lives with a disability. Add to that older people, and anyone who only has one hand free right now.
- EU obligation: the European Accessibility Act has applied since 28 June 2025, including to Swiss online shops selling to consumers in the EU.
- The benchmark is the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), currently version 2.2.
Why it pays off
Accessibility is often seen as a box-ticking exercise. Yet everyone benefits: clear contrast reads well even in sunlight, large clickable areas are easier to hit with a thumb, and clean headings help screen readers and Google alike. Accessible websites are also, almost always, faster, better structured, and easier to find.
What applies legally?
| Rule | Who it affects | Since |
|---|---|---|
| European Accessibility Act | Companies offering goods or services online to consumers in the EU. Micro-enterprises with fewer than 10 employees and turnover of no more than EUR 2 million are exempt for services | 2025 |
| Disability Discrimination Act (BehiG) | Federal authorities must be accessible. Private parties may not discriminate against people with disabilities in publicly offered services | 2004 |
| Inclusion Act (draft) | In February 2026, the Federal Council adopted a counter-proposal to the inclusion initiative. Parliament will debate it from autumn 2026 | pending |
For most Swiss SMEs without EU customers, accessibility isn’t a legal obligation today, but it is a clear direction of travel. If you’re building something new now, you should meet the standards from the start. Retrofitting is almost always more expensive.
The checklist in ten points
- Contrast: text stands out from its background at a ratio of at least 4.5:1. Light grey on white almost always fails.
- Font size: body text at least 16 pixels, and the page stays readable when zoomed to 200%.
- Keyboard: everything can be reached and operated with the Tab key: menu, forms, buttons, dialogs.
- Visible focus: anyone navigating by keyboard can always see where they are.
- Alt text: content images have a short description; decorative ones have an empty alt="".
- Headings: one H1, with H2 and H3 below it in logical order, not chosen for looks.
- Forms: every field has a visible label. Error messages say what’s wrong and how to fix it.
- Link text: “Open the pricing calculator” instead of “click here”. Screen readers often read links out as a list.
- Clickable areas: at least 44 × 44 pixels on mobile, with enough space between them.
- Motion: animations can be paused, or are reduced when the device is set to “reduce motion”.
The five-minute self-test
- Put the mouse down: can you get through your homepage and contact form using only Tab, Enter and the arrow keys?
- Zoom in: press Ctrl and Plus four times. Does everything stay readable without needing to scroll sideways?
- Greyscale: turn on greyscale on your phone. Can you still tell what’s a button and what’s an error?
- Have it read aloud: turn on VoiceOver (iPhone) or TalkBack (Android) and listen to your homepage.
Our free SEO check also tests a few basics along the way, such as alt text, headings and the language setting. But a full WCAG audit always needs a human eye too.
Accessible from the start
We build every website to be low-barrier, in line with WCAG. Want your existing website checked? Book a free intro call.
