For every kind of website: shop, service, brochure site, app
Consequences for a website owner
The act has no "ticket for a missing alt text". It has a path: complaint → notification → inspection → call to comply → decision → fine. At every stage you have something to do and a deadline whose expiry makes things worse. On top of that come consequences that are not in the act and cost more: lost sales, claims on other grounds, tenders, partners.
The test: is this about me — five questions
Can a consumer conclude a contract on my website?
Basket, booking, sign‑up with payment, subscription, service order. Yes → it is an e‑commerce service (art. 5(32)) and the act covers you. No → go to question 2.
Do I provide another service from art. 3(2)?
Consumer banking, telecoms, audiovisual media, e‑books, passenger transport. Yes → covered. No → an information site is outside the act, but read on to the "outside the act" section.
Am I a micro‑enterprise?
Fewer than 10 employees and a turnover or balance sheet total of up to €2 million. Yes → services exempt (art. 4(1)). The thresholds count for the whole company, not for "the e‑commerce department"; exceeding either one ends the exemption. Check it against the figures of the last two financial years.
Are my customers consumers?
It is enough that a natural person can buy privately. A B2B‑only platform with company verification — outside the scope. A shop "for businesses" where anyone can nonetheless buy — inside.
Do I conclude new contracts after 28 June 2025?
Yes → the transition period in art. 85 does not protect you. It protects only contracts concluded earlier, until they expire, no later than 28 June 2030.
Stage 1 — the consumer's complaint (arts. 35–37)
The consumer complains directly to you: in writing, orally (phone, visit) or electronically if you designated such a channel (art. 37(1)). The complaint names the service, the unmet requirement and the demand (art. 36). From the day of receipt, 30 days run.
| Day | What happens | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Receipt of the complaint. Record the date and channel. | art. 37(2) |
| ≤ 30 | Reply: acceptance with a fulfilment deadline (max 6 months) or refusal with factual and legal reasons and instructions on notifying PFRON. | art. 37(2), (5), (6) |
| ≤ 30 | Alternatively: notice of the reason for delay and a new deadline (max 60 days from receipt) — only in particularly complex cases. | art. 37(3) |
| 31 / 61 | No reply = the complaint is deemed upheld as demanded. Fulfilment within at most 6 months of receipt. | art. 37(4) |
The most expensive mistake at this stage is silence: after 30 days you are bound to fulfil the consumer's demand as worded, and not fulfilling it is already a breach of obligations that an inspection asks about. The second mistake is a refusal without legal reasons — such a reply does not satisfy art. 37(5) and itself becomes evidence in a notification.
Stage 2 — a notification to PFRON (arts. 67–68)
"Anyone may submit to the President of PFRON a notification that a product or service does not meet the accessibility requirements" (art. 67(1)). They need not be a consumer, need not be harmed, need not have complained to you first (if they did — they attach it and your reply, para. 5). A notification may be submitted in writing, orally, electronically and in Polish Sign Language (para. 4). Within 30 days PFRON examines it or forwards it to the competent authority (art. 68(1)), and where it is well‑founded — carries out an inspection (para. 2). The person who submitted it is informed of the inspection and the action taken (paras. 3, 6).
What this means: a competitor, a disability organisation, an auditor, a journalist — anyone has standing. The scale of the risk does not depend on how many customers with disabilities you have, but on how visible the inaccessibility is.
Stage 3 — inspection and call to comply (arts. 62–64)
After an inspection that finds the service non‑conforming or the duties of arts. 32–33 unfulfilled, the authority calls for corrective measures or for the service to cease, and sets a deadline for submitting evidence — no more than 120 days (art. 62(1)(1)). In parallel it may by decision prohibit the service for up to 180 days (point 2) and extend the ban until the end of the proceedings (art. 64). Missing evidence triggers proceedings ex officio (art. 63) and a separate fine (art. 73(1)(2)(c)).
For an online shop a ban on providing the service is a ban on selling. Even if in practice the authorities rarely reach for it, the mere possibility changes the conversation with the board.
Stage 4 — decision and fine (arts. 65, 73)
A decision may order accessibility to be ensured, prohibit the service or order consumers to be notified of the extent of the non‑conformity (art. 65(1)) — with immediate enforceability where the consumer interest requires (para. 4). The fine (art. 73(1)(2)) has five independent grounds:
| Ground | For what |
|---|---|
| (a) | the service does not meet the accessibility requirements of arts. 12–19 |
| (b) | no information on the authority's request (art. 32(2)(7)) or false information |
| (c) | no evidence of corrective measures within the deadline of the call (art. 62(1)(1)) |
| (d) | no conformity assessment of the service (art. 32(1) — how to run it and what to document) |
| (e) | no self‑notification of the authority about the non‑conformity (art. 32(2)(6)) |
The fine is graded by the seriousness of the breach, the number of services and the number of people affected (art. 73(4)). It goes to the Accessibility Fund. For a small company with a turnover of PLN 500,000 the ceiling is PLN 50,000; for a large one — the full PLN 89,035.60 for each ground. These are not sums that close a corporation. They are sums that close a small shop if they arrive together with a sales ban and the cost of an urgent fix.
Micro‑enterprises — an exemption with an asterisk
Art. 4(1) excludes micro‑enterprises' services from the act. Four caveats: (1) the status is verified by numbers, and a company that has grown loses it without warning; (2) the exemption does not cover products (e.g. your own e‑reader); (3) many counterparties — marketplaces, banks, agencies, public purchasers — require WCAG by contract regardless of the act; (4) a person with a disability who was refused a service has claims on other grounds (below). The exemption protects against a fine under art. 73, not against the market.
Consequences outside the act
- Lost sales. Poland has around 3–5 million people with disabilities (depending on the definition) and more than 9 million people over 60. An inaccessible checkout is an abandoned basket, not a complaint — most people simply leave.
- The act on ensuring accessibility for persons with special needs (2019) — applies to public bodies, but also to companies performing public tasks or financed from public funds (art. 5(1) of that act) to the extent the contract provides.
- Equal treatment and personal rights. Refusing a service on grounds of disability may be examined under the act implementing certain EU equal‑treatment provisions and arts. 23–24 of the Civil Code. There is little case law about websites — that will change once the act gives consumers a path.
- Public procurement. Art. 100 of the Public Procurement Law requires accessibility to be taken into account in the description of the subject of the contract; the new act expressly refers to it (art. 3(3)). A contractor without an accessible website and without WCAG competence drops out of part of the market.
- Partner contracts. Affiliate networks, marketplaces, payment operators and banks write accessibility requirements into their terms for sellers, because they are service providers under the act themselves and answer for the parts of the service that depend on you.
- SEO and performance. Heading structure, image alternatives, readable links, fast loading and no focus traps improve search rankings and conversion for all users. Structured data points the same way.
What to do, in what order
Today: measure
A free check of one page shows the scale. A whole‑site check shows where the critical errors are — the basket and login usually do worse than the home page.
This week: secure the process
Designate an electronic channel for complaints (an e‑mail address in the terms is enough, art. 37(1)(3)), decide who counts the 30 days, and prepare a reply template with the instructions from art. 37(6).
This month: document
A conformity assessment (art. 32(1)) with a list of non‑conformities and a plan. Accessibility information in the terms (art. 32(2)(1)(c)) — honest, with what works and what is being fixed.
This quarter: fix the critical
Identification, payment, forms, contrast, keyboard. The rest by priority from the report.
Continuously: maintain
A check after every deployment; a new assessment when the service changes (art. 32(2)(4)); if you rely on art. 21 — every 5 years.