Spain’s accessibility Law 11/2023: deadlines, who it applies to and fines

In Spain, Law 11/2023 has applied since 28 June 2025. It transposes Directive (EU) 2019/882, the European Accessibility Act, and requires certain products and services to be accessible. These include e-commerce, consumer banking, electronic communications and parts of passenger transport. Microenterprises that provide services are exempt. Fines can reach €1,000,000.

When it applies from

From 28 June 2025. The law sets out some transition periods in its single transitional provision:

• Until 28 June 2030, a service can still be provided with the products it was already lawfully using before.
• Service contracts signed before 28 June 2025 can continue unchanged until they expire, for a maximum of five years from that date.

Some older content is also excluded: recorded video and audio, and office documents published before 28 June 2025 (article 2.4).

1. 17 April 2019

   Directive (EU) 2019/882 is adopted.

2. 8 May 2023

   Spain transposes it with Law 11/2023.

3. 28 June 2025

   The law applies to the products and services in its article 2.

4. 28 June 2030

   The transition periods end.

Who it applies to

To anyone who manufactures, imports or distributes the products in article 2, such as computers, cash machines, payment terminals or e-readers. And to anyone who provides one of these services to consumers:

• E-commerce.
• Consumer banking.
• Electronic communications and access to audiovisual services.
• Websites, apps and e-tickets for air, coach, rail and sea transport.
• E-books.
• Websites and apps of electricity, water and gas suppliers.
• Websites and apps of travel agencies and tour operators.
• Social networks.

Microenterprises that provide services are exempt. A microenterprise employs fewer than ten people and its annual turnover or balance sheet doesn’t exceed two million euros.

Whoever provides the service has to explain how it meets the accessibility requirements, in its general terms and conditions or an equivalent document (article 13.2).

Two laws that get confused

Law 11/2023 is often mixed up with an older obligation, the one for companies of “particular economic significance”. They’re different laws.

• Law 11/2023

  • Based on the service provided: e-commerce, banking, transport, among others
  • Exempts microenterprises
  • Since 28 June 2025

• Law 34/2002, fifth additional provision

  • Based on size and sector: more than 100 people or more than €6,010,121.04 in transactions a year
  • In sectors such as telecommunications or financial services
  • Since 31 December 2008

The figure for companies of particular economic significance is in article 2 of Law 56/2007: more than one hundred employees or an annual volume of transactions of more than €6,010,121.04, and in both cases in specific sectors. Their websites have to be accessible under the fifth additional provision of Law 34/2002 on information society services.

How fines work

Article 30 of Law 11/2023 first refers to the penalty rules of each sector. Where those rules don’t reach, the rules of the General Law on the rights of persons with disabilities apply, which range from €301 to €1,000,000:

• Minor breaches can’t exceed €30,000.
• Serious breaches can’t exceed €90,000.
• Very serious breaches can reach €1,000,000.

Enforcement is carried out by the authorities each Spanish region appoints. Catalonia also has its own rules, those of Catalonia’s Accessibility Act (Law 13/2014).

If your company is covered and hasn’t started yet

Start by finding out where your website stands. An audit against WCAG 2.2 tells you what fails and in what order to fix it. The first things to look at are the journeys people make: searching, buying, paying and getting in touch.

Redesigning or rebuilding a platform doesn’t happen in a week. So it’s worth putting the work in order: first whatever stops someone completing a purchase or a process, then the rest. And document every step, because the law also asks you to explain how the service complies.