Frequently asked questions
Transparent, factual and without marketing fluff.
The law & your risk
Does my website or web shop fall under the European Accessibility Act?
If you sell products or services online to consumers in the EU, almost certainly yes. There is one exception: micro-enterprises (fewer than 10 employees and less than €2 million annual turnover) are partly exempt, but that exemption lapses once you grow past it, and outside the EU it doesn't apply anyway (the US ADA, for example, has no threshold). And a visitor who can't use your site won't check out regardless.
A green result, am I then compliant and fine-free?
No, and that's exactly where we're honest. A favourable result on the automated test is a strong starting point towards compliance; full conformance also requires human review of the whole site. We give you the data and insights to get your site demonstrably in order.
So an overlay widget doesn't work?
An overlay, even from the biggest vendors, promises a fix from a distance, but doesn't repair the underlying code. Regulators and courts look at that underlying code, not the layer on top. An overlay can even add new barriers for screen-reader users and doesn't protect you against claims; it's no coincidence that thousands of lawsuits are running, including against sites that have an overlay. We point you to the real cause and the real solution.
Does my country have an accessibility law like this too?
Almost certainly. The European Accessibility Act applies in all 27 EU member states, each with its own transposition law, regulator and sanctions framework. Beyond the EU, the US (ADA), the UK (Equality Act 2010), Canada, Australia and Brazil have their own rules. Our law pages give you the verified facts per country: the law, the regulator, the fine ceilings and the enforcement reality, with sources and a verification date.
We also sell to American customers, does the ADA apply to us?
You should take it into account, yes. US legal practice targets web shops that demonstrably serve the American market, an English-language store, dollar pricing, shipping to the US, regardless of where the company is established. In 2025 over three thousand website-accessibility lawsuits were filed in the US, and most cases start with a settlement demand letter. The good news: the technical yardstick is the same WCAG as for the EAA, one structural approach covers both markets. This is information, not legal advice.
How current and reliable is your legal information?
Every country page is built from primary sources, legal texts and regulators, not blogs, and then put through an independent, adversarial review that tries to refute every claim before it goes live. We always present fines as the legal ceiling ('up to …'), never as a threat. And every country page shows when its facts were last verified.
How the scan works
What exactly does the free scan do, and how long does it take?
We load one page of your site in a real browser and test the fully rendered page against WCAG 2.1 & 2.2 AA with axe-core, the engine professional auditors use too. Within ~60 seconds you see the violations found, the points that need human review, and per point what's wrong and how to fix it. A traditional audit project easily takes weeks of lead time, quote, scheduling, report; here your first measurement is ready immediately. And for the depth only human experts can deliver, we work with auditors, not against them.
Why does the free version scan only one page?
We scan that one page at full depth, we hide nothing. And because web shops and sites use fixed templates (one product template, one checkout, one menu), a single deep scan often already exposes the recurring, systemic errors in your base code. Testing and monitoring your whole sitemap continuously takes compute; that's in the paid service. With the result we show how many more pages your sitemap has.
What do those ~57% and ~43% mean?
No automated test catches every problem. A machine can reliably establish about 57% (think colour contrast and missing alt text); the remaining ~43%, such as a meaningful alt text or a logical reading order, requires human judgement. We keep those two strictly separate, so you never rely on a false sense of certainty.
Against which standard do you test?
Against WCAG 2.1 and 2.2 level AA. The legal bar is EN 301 549 v3.2.1 (the standard the European Accessibility Act refers to), which uses WCAG 2.1 AA, we already test WCAG 2.2 as well, so you are ahead of the upcoming update of the standard.
Platform, privacy & scaling
Does Seviranta work with my platform. Shopify, WooCommerce, custom?
Yes. We analyse the final page as it's rendered in the browser, not your platform or theme. Whether you run on Shopify, WooCommerce or your own framework, if it loads as a website, we can test it. Fully platform-independent.
Does this replace an expensive accessibility consultant?
Partly. The bulk of the violations, the ~57% a machine reliably measures, we map continuously and affordably; work a consultant would otherwise bill hours for. The points that genuinely need human judgement stay human work, but then you deploy a specialist in a targeted way instead of across your whole site. No pseudo-replacement, but substantially lower costs.
Do you store my data?
The free scan is stateless: we don't store the scan result and don't link it to you or your IP address. Our European hosting partners only record standard technical logs to keep the service running.
What does it cost, and how do I get the full site scan?
The single-page scan is and stays free. For your whole site, continuous monitoring and a retainable report for your board or lawyer, we have fixed plans. View the plans, or email us at info@seviranta.com and we'll set it up for you.
Why continuous monitoring instead of a one-off audit?
Because an audit is a snapshot: it starts ageing with the very next change to your site, every new banner or product page can introduce new errors. Continuous monitoring catches that immediately and builds a record that shows you are improving structurally: exactly the evidence a regulator asks for. A traditional audit project also quickly costs thousands to tens of thousands of euros per round; monitoring starts at €69 per month.
Do you have a partner programme?
Yes, with four clear routes, one for every kind of partner. (1) Affiliates & referral: share your link and earn 20% commission on every payment from every customer you bring in, lifetime recurring, the first 50 partners get 30% for life. You can sign up online right away. (2) Agencies & white label: deliver accessibility as a service to your own clients; the white-label programme is in development and early applicants help shape it and get priority. (3) Lawyers and law firms: we are building a selected network per country, region and city. (4) Local audit partners: for the manual testing machines cannot do, we work together selectively under clear terms. For lawyers and audit partners: applying registers interest, it is not a commitment, selection criteria follow before launch.
Who is accessibility actually important for?
For roughly 1 in 6 people (WHO): visitors who use a screen reader, navigate by keyboard only, need captions or audio description, or need more contrast. And ultimately for everyone, an accessible site also works better for the hurried visitor on a phone in the sun. The law is the stick; the 1 in 6 is the reason.
The AI check (EU AI Act)
Does my chatbot really have to say it's AI?
Yes. From 2 August 2026 an AI chatbot must identify itself as AI at first contact at the latest, and AI content must be marked in a machine-readable way (EU AI Act, Article 50). Unlike the EAA, there is no exemption for small businesses, and transparency violations carry fines of up to 15 million euros or 3% of worldwide annual turnover.
What exactly does the AI transparency check test?
The check detects which chat widget and which AI signals run on your site, delivers the disclosure text ready to place, and builds an AI register as evidence. Continuous monitoring spots a new or changed widget before it becomes a violation. Honest about the limit: whether a chat is genuinely AI-driven is something you confirm yourself, and the automated test of whether the disclosure is switched on is our next step.
What does the AI check cost, and do I need a plan for it?
29 euros per month, or 290 euros per year (2 months free), excl. VAT. You don't need an accessibility plan for it: the check is available on its own, or as an extension to any plan; it then appears as an extra line on the same invoice.
Am I in a stronger position towards a regulator with the AI check?
Yes, that is exactly what it is built for. At any moment you have a current AI register, the placed disclosure text and the monitoring history at hand. If a question comes from a regulator or a customer, you open your file and show what has been arranged and since when. The conversation shifts from searching to showing.