Accessibility

The European Accessibility Act (EAA) comes into force in Germany on June 28, 2025.

Shopware has set itself the goal of being fully prepared before the statutory deadline of the EAA. This allows shop owners to make the necessary adjustments without any time pressure. We are therefore already working hard on the areas that change our theme compared to the Shopware standard in order to meet the legal requirements.

Accessibility improvements are introduced in regular minor versions, similar to other improvements or bug fixes. We implement all accessibility improvements in the current major version 4.x and its minor versions. There are no plans for a major "accessibility release" that will deliver all accessibility improvements at once. The theme should meet accessibility requirements by version 5.x at the latest.

We do not currently meet all WCAG 2.1 AA requirements, but we are determined to close these gaps as quickly as possible. As things stand, however, we already meet all accessibility requirements according to Google Page Speed ​​(please note that individual theme settings can affect this scoring, such as changing text contrasts). We plan to achieve full compliance with these guidelines by the end of the year at the latest.

It should be noted, however, that a theme is merely an extension for the Shopware storefront. This means that when implementing accessibility, not all areas can be covered by the theme.

It should also be noted that other extensions also have an impact on accessibility and not all components can be attributed to a theme.

Shopware users can therefore expect a product update that includes explicit innovations that are geared towards strengthening accessibility. The innovations are intended to promote the barrier-free use of Shopware and help online retailers make the necessary adjustments to their web shops.