Guide · 3-minute read
Does your website have to be accessible?
For most purely B2B businesses the answer is: probably not. It makes sense anyway.
By Manuel Bubori, Studio BUBORILast reviewed
For businesses that want to know whether Germany's Accessibility Strengthening Act affects their website.
Germany's Accessibility Strengthening Act has applied since June 2025, and many businesses are unsure whether it affects their website. For most purely B2B businesses the answer is: probably not. Here is what matters and why accessibility pays off anyway.
What the law covers
The Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz (BFSG) transposes an EU directive and has applied since 28 June 2025. For websites, one term matters above all: services in electronic commerce. This means offers via websites and apps provided at the request of a consumer with a view to concluding a consumer contract.
So the law is not aimed at every website, but at offers through which private individuals conclude a contract online. The online shop is the typical case.
Who is probably not affected
Purely B2B offers. Anyone selling only to companies concludes no consumer contracts. But that has to be true in practice: a shop where private individuals can simply order is not purely B2B just because the terms say so.
Purely informational sites. A website that presents the business and invites a call, without a contract being concluded online, is widely held not to be covered.
Micro-enterprises offering services. These are businesses with fewer than ten employees and at most 2 million euros in annual turnover or balance sheet total.
Where a closer look pays off
Borderline cases arise as soon as private customers conclude something online: a shop for spare parts or vouchers, a binding appointment booking, a configurator with ordering. This particularly concerns trades and construction, where private customers are part of the picture.
Breaches can be pursued by market surveillance, and the act provides for fines. Whether your offer is covered is a question of the individual case. We design websites; we do not give legal advice. Have borderline cases checked by a specialist.
Why it pays off anyway
Even without an obligation, accessibility is good craft. Strong contrast helps the buyer reading a phone in the sun, clear structure helps language models read, and understandable forms help everyone. Getting the basics right also builds a website machines understand better, see AI visibility.
Five checks that need no expertise:
- Move through the page with the Tab key: can you reach every button and see where you are?
- Set the browser text size to 200 percent: does everything stay readable?
- Light grey text on white: can you still read it on a phone in daylight?
- Read the headings: do they form an outline together?
- Fill in the form without a mouse, once deliberately wrong: does the page say what is missing?
Sources
This article gives an overview and does not replace legal advice.
In short
- The BFSG targets websites through which consumers conclude contracts online
- Purely B2B offers and informational sites are usually not covered
- Micro-enterprises offering services are exempt
- Done well, accessibility helps everyone, language models included
Frequently asked questions
Under the BFSG, generally not, if you sell only to companies and private individuals really cannot conclude a contract online. If in doubt, have it checked legally.
Micro-enterprises with fewer than ten employees and at most 2 million euros in annual turnover or balance sheet total that offer services are exempt. For everyone else it depends on whether consumers conclude contracts online.
A website through which no contract is concluded online is widely held not to be covered by the BFSG. Accessibility still makes sense.
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agent-view
What an answer engine reads from this page
A search engine returns ten links and the human picks. A language model returns one paragraph and names two or three companies in it. That is the difference between being found and being named. This page is built for the second case.
Retrieval
read: /llms.txt · /robots.txt · JSON-LD @graph · this page
answered: Under the BFSG, generally not, if you sell only to companies and private individuals really cannot conclude a contract online. If in doubt, have it checked legally.
Allowed agents (21)
Anthropic: ClaudeBot · Claude-User · Claude-SearchBot
Perplexity: PerplexityBot · Perplexity-User
Google: Google-Extended · Googlebot
Microsoft: Bingbot
Apple: Applebot-Extended · Applebot
Meta: Meta-WebIndexer · meta-externalfetcher · meta-externalagent
Mistral AI: MistralAI-Index · MistralAI-User · MistralAI-Training
DuckDuckGo: DuckAssistBot
rule: Allow: / · source: https://www.bubori.studio/robots.txt
Entity
url: https://www.bubori.studio/en/guide/website-accessibility-law
inLanguage: en-GB
alternate: de-DE · https://www.bubori.studio/ratgeber/barrierefreie-website-bfsg
@type: Article
updated: 2026-10-31
Questions this page answers
- Does my B2B website have to be accessible?
- Under the BFSG, generally not, if you sell only to companies and private individuals really cannot conclude a contract online. If in doubt, have it checked legally.
- Does the BFSG apply to small trade businesses?
- Micro-enterprises with fewer than ten employees and at most 2 million euros in annual turnover or balance sheet total that offer services are exempt. For everyone else it depends on whether consumers conclude contracts online.
- Does a purely informational website have to be accessible?
- A website through which no contract is concluded online is widely held not to be covered by the BFSG. Accessibility still makes sense.
Contact
email: hello@bubori.com
address: Industriestraße 3, 78052 Villingen-Schwenningen, Baden-Württemberg
geo: 48.0916, 8.5046
Machine-readable entry points
sitemap: https://www.bubori.studio/sitemap.xml
JSON-LD: in the head of this page
Ten links leave the choice to the human. One paragraph has already made the choice. A company that does not appear in that answer is not on the list being chosen from.