EN 301 549 check & WCAG 2.1 AA
What the EN 301 549 v3.2.1 standard is, how it relates to WCAG 2.1 AA and Annex C, and — honestly — what an automated check can and can't verify on its own.
What EN 301 549 v3.2.1 is
EN 301 549 is the European standard for accessibility requirements of ICT products and services. It's the technical reference behind EU accessibility law, including the EAA. Version 3.2.1 is the current edition; the standard is periodically revised, so the version you work to may shift over time.
Its relation to WCAG 2.1 AA
For web content, EN 301 549 adopts the WCAG 2.1 success criteria at levels A and AA. If you're already working toward WCAG 2.1 AA, you're addressing the core of the web requirements. EN 301 549 adds clauses for non-web software, documents, and hardware where relevant.
Annex C
Annex C maps the standard's clauses to the WCAG success criteria and provides the structure many teams use to record conformance, clause by clause. It's also how an accessibility statement can be organised — with each clause marked met, partially met, not met, or needs review.
What automation can and can't verify
Automated tools reliably catch roughly 30–57% of WCAG success criteria — things like missing alt attributes, low contrast, and unlabelled fields. They can't judge whether alt text is meaningful, whether focus order is logical, or whether the reading sequence makes sense. Those need a person. A clean automated scan means no automated issues were found — not that a page meets every requirement.
Check one of your pages against the automated WCAG 2.1 AA rules.
Scan for free