Opening the Page to Everyone: Our Commitment to the European Accessibility Act
A major regulatory change is coming to digital publishing in the European Union. Starting June 28, 2025, the European Accessibility Act (EAA) will require that digital products and services, including ebooks, meet defined accessibility standards. This affects how content is structured, described, and made available to readers across the EU.
At PublishDrive, we are updating our platform to meet these requirements. While compliance is essential, accessibility also aligns with our broader vision of helping independent authors and publishers go wide and reach as many readers as possible. Making stories and information more accessible is part of what it means to publish globally.
What is the European Accessibility Act?
The EAA is an EU-wide regulation focused on improving access to digital content for people with disabilities. It covers a wide range of digital services. In publishing, this includes how ebooks and related tools are created, distributed, and experienced. To remain available for sale or distribution in the EU after June 2025, digital content must follow clear standards for structure, discoverability, and compatibility with assistive technologies.
This is a legal requirement and applies to everyone involved in the publishing process.
Why this matters
Accessibility improves the user experience for everyone. It supports better discoverability, easier navigation, and long-term usability of content. For authors and publishers, it also means meeting new retailer and market expectations and ensuring legal compliance across the EU.
At the platform level, our responsibility is to make sure our tools and systems support this shift and give you what you need to stay compliant and competitive.
What we are doing
We are implementing changes to ensure that the digital content distributed through PublishDrive can meet these new standards. This includes improving how files are handled, how accessibility metadata is generated, and how compliance information is passed to stores and partners.
We are also preparing clear guidance and resources so our users know what these changes mean and how to prepare their content.
Looking ahead
You will start seeing updates from us over the coming weeks, as we approach the June 28 deadline. These include improvements to the platform and step-by-step guidance to support your publishing process.
Accessibility is no longer optional. It is becoming a core part of how digital publishing works. We are here to help you navigate that change and keep reaching readers everywhere.