European Accessibility Act: what changes for e-books and publishing
Since June 2025, e-books and the stores that sell them fall within the scope of European accessibility rules. Here is what that covers for a publisher, and where audio helps without being the answer to everything.
The European Accessibility Act is often summed up as banking and e-commerce, but digital publishing is explicitly in scope. E-books, reading software and the stores that sell them are among the products and services covered by Directive 2019/882. For a publisher, an online bookseller or a distribution platform, that is not a detail: it touches the heart of the product. This article lays out what the rules expect, without dramatising or downplaying, and sets out where an audio version of your content adds something, and where it does not answer the question.
Why publishing is covered
The directive's logic is to make everyday digital products and services accessible. The e-book is one of them, alongside e-readers, reading apps and online catalogues. Since 28 June 2025, a publisher offering e-books to the general public falls within the perimeter, with allowances depending on company size and the date the product reached the market. The key point: accessibility is not only about the sales site, it is about the file itself. A flawless catalogue that sells inaccessible files does not meet the spirit of the text.
What an accessible e-book actually means
In practice, an accessible e-book is a file whose structure can be read by assistive technology: a navigable table of contents, a coherent reading order, described images, real text rather than an image of text. That is what lets a screen reader render the work correctly, and a visually impaired reader move through it. This requirement echoes good practice the sector already knows, but which many older catalogues do not follow, simply because they were not produced that way. Bringing them into line therefore often means reworking the files, not just adding a line to a product page.
Where audio comes in, and where it does not
Let us say it up front to avoid a misunderstanding: an audio version of web content is not an audiobook, and it does not make an e-book file compliant. These are two separate matters. The narration we are talking about applies to your web pages (the publishing house site, its news, its blog, its catalogue pages and author features), not to the file being sold. There, it has a real role: it makes the editorial part of your online presence listenable, which also counts in the experience of a visitor who cannot easily read. For the underlying difference between listening to an article and a screen reader, our piece on audio versus screen reader explains what each provides and why one does not replace the other.
The publisher's own site, often left out of the reasoning
When a publishing house thinks about accessibility, it looks at its files and its store, which is sensible. But its content site (blog posts, interviews, themed features, release news) is part of the same online presence and deserves the same care. Making those pages listenable widens access for visitors who read with difficulty, and it adds to your text without taking anything away. The accessible audio version we provide follows that logic: it comes as a complement, with the text staying fully present and readable by assistive technology.
Who is covered, and with what allowances
Not every business is in the same position. The directive provides exemptions and deadlines, notably for microenterprises providing services, and transitional arrangements for products already on the market. It would be wrong to say every publisher, whatever its size, must redo everything overnight. We go through that split in the article on who is covered and the exemptions, which helps place your case before committing to work. The right reflex is to check your status rather than assume, either way.
Where to start without spreading yourself thin
If you are a publisher, keep two projects clearly apart. The first, the priority under the directive, concerns your files and your store: that is production and editorial tooling work, with your usual partners. The second, lighter and immediate, concerns your content site: you can switch on audio for your most-read pages to widen access right now. Both point the same way, but they are not the same thing, and treating them together stops you from believing that one solves the other.
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