EAA checklist for WooCommerce and Shopware

Who is responsible for what

On both platforms the core ships a default storefront that is improving, and everything you add sits on top: a theme or child theme, template overrides, plugins and extensions, page builders, and your content. Under the EAA the shop owner is the service provider, so all of it counts. Old template overrides are the quiet risk: they keep the markup they were copied from, so platform fixes released since never reach your storefront.

WooCommerce: what to know

• Use the block-based Cart and Checkout. New WooCommerce development goes into the block checkout; the shortcode checkout gets fixes but not new features. If you still run a heavily customised shortcode checkout, test it first.
• "Accessibility ready" is a floor. The WordPress theme directory's accessibility-ready tag means a theme passed the Themes Team's own review (skip links, landmarks, keyboard navigation, labelled forms, contrast and more), not that it conforms to WCAG AA (WordPress handbook).
• Keep WooCommerce updated. Real accessibility bugs get fixed in core: the mini cart not returning focus when closed (fixed May 2024, #43561), the add to cart message not announced to screen readers (fixed November 2024, #51931), and a keyboard trap in an attribute filter (fixed January 2025, #52087). As of 1 October 2026 two issues on the Product Filters overlay are open: it moves no focus on open or close and does not contain focus (#69079), and its controls stay in the tab order when closed (#69078). If you use that block, test it.
• How WordPress shops score. The WebAIM Million 2026 found 52.8 detectable errors on average across 252,302 WordPress home pages. The 2025 edition listed WooCommerce home pages separately at 75.6 errors on average, 48% above the overall figure (WebAIM Million 2025).

Shopware 6: what to know

• Be on 6.7 or later. During 6.6, Shopware shipped breaking accessibility fixes behind the ACCESSIBILITY_TWEAKS feature flag: distinct page titles (6.6.1), labelled quantity selectors (6.6.5), modal focus management, carousel keyboard focus, text resizing to 200% and real links for pagination (6.6.6), and more. Its documentation states that "with the major version v6.7.0 all accessibility improvements will become the default" (Shopware storefront accessibility). Shopware 6.7.0.0 was released on 17 June 2025 (GitHub). A shop still on 6.6 without the flag runs the older markup.
• Check your theme's template overrides. A custom theme that overrides storefront Twig blocks can keep pre-fix markup. Compare overridden templates with the current storefront versions.
• Test extensions with the fixes on. Shopware's developer documentation tells extension developers to test with the accessibility flag enabled and makes them responsible for meeting standards such as WCAG 2.1 AA (Shopware developer docs).
• Shopware has framed this work around the 2025 EAA deadline (Shopware news).

The checklist

Templates and theme

• Platform core is current (WooCommerce updated; Shopware 6.7 or later).
• Overridden templates have been compared with current core templates and updated.
• The lang attribute matches each language version; every page has one h1 and logical headings.
• Contrast meets 4.5:1 for text and 3:1 for large text, input borders and focus indicators.
• Every interactive element has a visible focus style that is not hidden behind sticky headers or cookie bars.

Navigation, search and filters

• Mega menus and off-canvas menus open, close and can be navigated by keyboard, and Escape closes them.
• Search has a real label, and suggestions are reachable by keyboard.
• Filter panels move focus inside when opened, contain it, return it on close, and announce result counts (status messages).

Product pages

• Product images have meaningful alt text; decorative images have empty alt.
• Variant options are real form controls with names; unavailable options say so in text.
• Quantity fields and plus and minus buttons are labelled.
• Galleries and sliders are keyboard operable and can be paused.
• Adding to cart confirms the result to screen reader users.

Cart, checkout and account

• Off-canvas carts behave as dialogs: focus in, contained, Escape closes, focus returns (dialog pattern).
• Every checkout field has a visible label and the right autocomplete attribute (identify input purpose).
• Errors are announced and described in text next to the field.
• No CAPTCHA blocks assistive technology. ACM named inaccessible CAPTCHAs among the barriers that stopped disabled customers ordering from large Dutch webshops (ACM).
• Payment plugins and embedded payment fields are tested with a keyboard and screen reader.

Plugins, extensions and builders

• Every plugin that adds front-end markup (reviews, wishlists, chat, popups, cookie consent, page builders) is tested on its own.
• Accessibility overlay plugins are removed rather than relied on. See overlays vs code fixes.

Statement and feedback

• The accessibility information the EAA requires is published and linked from every page. See what an EAA accessibility statement must contain. In Germany it has to name the market surveillance authority.
• Customers have a way to report barriers and get help with an order.

How to test it

1. Scan the home page, a category, a product with variants, the cart, checkout and account pages. Our free scan covers up to 10 pages.
2. Complete a purchase with the keyboard only.
3. Repeat with a screen reader (NVDA on Windows, VoiceOver on Mac).
4. Check 200% and 400% zoom.
5. Re-test after every core update, theme change and new plugin.

Fix it in the code

On WooCommerce and Shopware nearly everything above is a change to theme templates, CSS and JavaScript that you own. A Fix Sprint makes those changes on a branch of your theme, has a person review each one, and proves them with a before and after re-scan. It starts at EUR 1,500.

The Directive exempts microenterprises that provide services: fewer than 10 staff and an annual turnover or balance sheet total of EUR 2 million or less (Article 4(5)). Both conditions have to hold. Everyone above that line who sells to consumers online is in scope from 28 June 2025.

The Act itself describes outcomes (perceivable, operable, understandable, robust) rather than naming WCAG. In practice authorities and courts measure websites against the harmonised European standard EN 301 549, whose web chapter in version 3.2.1 maps to WCAG 2.1 level AA. Working to WCAG 2.2 AA covers those criteria plus the six new level A and AA criteria WCAG 2.2 added.