Since 28 June 2025, Latvia's Goods and Services Accessibility Law has required online stores and other online services where a consumer concludes a purchase contract to be usable by people with visual, hearing, motor and other impairments. Microenterprises are exempt: fewer than 10 people and an annual turnover or balance sheet total of up to €2 million. Everyone else has to adapt the whole purchase flow and describe in their terms how the service meets the requirements.
What this law is
The Goods and Services Accessibility Law (Preču un pakalpojumu piekļūstamības likums) was adopted on 16 March 2023, has been in force since 28 June 2025 and was amended on 14 May 2026 (the amendments took effect on 5 June 2026). It transposes Directive (EU) 2019/882, also known as the European Accessibility Act (EAA).
The detailed requirements are in Cabinet of Ministers Regulation (MK noteikumi) No. 128 of 27 February 2024, "Accessibility requirements for goods and services" (Preču un pakalpojumu piekļūstamības prasības).
Who the law applies to
E-commerce
The law applies to e-commerce services: services provided remotely, through a website or mobile app, at the consumer's request, in order to conclude a contract. Put simply: if a consumer can choose a product or service on your website and order it, you are within the scope of the law.
The law also covers other services, for example:
- consumer banking and payment services;
- e-books;
- passenger transport websites and apps.
What does not have to be adapted
- Online maps, as long as the essential information (such as an address) is provided in an accessible way.
- Third-party content that the business does not fund, develop or control.
- Archive content. The transitional provisions exempt website and app content "that has not been updated or edited by 27 June 2025". The directive describes this as an archive whose content is not changed after that date. An active online store, where products and prices change, does not qualify for this exception.
Informational websites
The law lists e-commerce services. A private company's website where nothing can be ordered is not listed as such. But the line is not always clear (for example, an application form with payment), so it is worth checking your own case.
The microenterprise exemption
Section 3(6) of the law exempts a business from the service accessibility requirements if both of these apply:
- fewer than 10 people work there; and
- annual turnover does not exceed €2,000,000 or the annual balance sheet total does not exceed €2,000,000.
Even for a microenterprise, an accessible store is not a bad idea: it also makes buying easier for people with poor eyesight, older customers and anyone shopping on a phone.
What the law requires from a service provider
Section 12 of the law sets out four things:
- Information in your terms. Your terms of use or a similar document must include a general description of the service in accessible formats, the explanations needed to understand how the service works, and a description of how it meets the accessibility requirements.
- Publicly available information. This information must be available in written and oral form, including to people with disabilities.
- Ongoing compliance. The requirements must be met at all times, including after changes to the website.
- Corrections. If non-compliance is found, it must be fixed.
Which standards to use
If a service conforms to harmonised standards, it is presumed to comply with the law (Section 15). The Ministry of Welfare (Labklājības ministrija) names the European standard EN 301 549 and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 as reference points. In practice, for websites this means WCAG 2.1 level AA, which EN 301 549 refers to.
One concrete example from WCAG 2.1 (success criterion 1.4.3): normal text must have a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 against its background, and large text at least 3:1.
What to check in an online store
The Ministry of Welfare stresses that if an online store offers delivery to parcel lockers, choosing the delivery method and a specific parcel locker must also be accessible, including to a blind user. The store is responsible for the entire purchase flow on its website, including tools from other companies built into it.
| What to check | How to check it |
|---|---|
| Keyboard | Complete a whole purchase with only Tab, Shift+Tab and Enter: menu, filters, cart, checkout |
| Focus | It is always visible which element is active |
| Contrast | Text against background at least 4.5:1, large text 3:1 |
| Images | Product images have meaningful alt text; decorative images have an empty alt |
| Forms | Every field has a label; error messages say what needs fixing |
| Headings | A logical H1, H2, H3 order |
| Zoom | The page is usable at 200% zoom |
| Video | Captions or a text version are available |
| Cookie banner | Usable with a keyboard and screen reader; does not cover content without a way to close it by making a choice |
| Delivery | The parcel locker list can be used without a mouse or a map |
| Payment | Choosing a payment method and moving on to the bank works with a keyboard and screen reader |
For testing, use a screen reader, for example the free NVDA (Windows) or the built-in VoiceOver (Mac, iPhone). Automated tools find some errors, but not all, so you also need to try the purchase by hand. If your store uses a ready-made theme and plugins, check those too: filters, calculators and parcel locker pickers supplied by other companies are often exactly where a keyboard-only purchase gets stuck, yet the store remains responsible for them.
Where to start
- Check whether you are a microenterprise. Look at your headcount and last year's turnover or balance sheet total.
- Go through a purchase with the keyboard. This quickly shows the biggest problems: filters you cannot reach, invisible focus, a parcel locker picker that only works with a mouse.
- List what you find by priority. First, anything that stops a purchase completely (cart, checkout, payment, delivery), then the rest.
- Fix it and test again with a keyboard and a screen reader.
- Describe accessibility in your terms and recheck it after every major change to the website, because the law requires ongoing compliance.
If meeting the requirements is too much of a burden
Sections 13 and 14 of the law allow a business to claim a disproportionate burden, but only under conditions:
- a written assessment must be prepared according to the criteria in the law;
- it must be kept for 5 years;
- for services, it must be renewed at least every 5 years;
- the claim is not possible if the business has received external funding to improve accessibility.
Complaints and supervision
If a customer thinks an online store is not accessible, they first write to the business itself (Section 21). The business must reply in writing within one month. The deadline can be extended to two months if the customer is informed. After that, the customer can turn to the supervisory authority.
E-commerce services are supervised by the Consumer Rights Protection Centre (PTAC) (Section 22). The Ministry of Welfare explains that if a business does not fix non-compliance voluntarily, the authority can issue a decision and enforce it. Under Section 370 of the Administrative Procedure Law, a periodic penalty payment (piespiedu nauda) of up to €10,000 can be imposed, repeatedly, but not more often than once every 7 days.
Existing contracts and public institutions
For service contracts concluded by 27 June 2025, the requirements only apply if the contract continues after 27 June 2030.
State and municipal websites have separate rules (Cabinet of Ministers Regulation No. 445); the VARAM accessibility website covers them. This article is about private businesses.
Accessibility audit
If you want to know where your online store falls short of WCAG 2.1 AA and what to fix first, we can test the purchase flow with a keyboard and a screen reader and prepare a list of fixes. Read more in our accessibility audit section.