Directive (EU) 2019/882 · Article 4(5) and Article 3(23)
The microenterprise exemption, counted properly
The exemption is real and it is narrow. It removes the service accessibility requirements from microenterprises, it does not remove anything from products, and the headcount is counted in a way that surprises companies who were sure they were under the line. Getting the count wrong is the expensive part, because the exemption is claimed silently and tested only when a complaint arrives.
What the directive actually exempts
Article 4(5) exempts microenterprises providing services from the accessibility requirements for those services, and from the related obligations. Article 3(23) defines a microenterprise as an enterprise with fewer than 10 persons employed and an annual turnover or balance sheet total not exceeding 2 million euro.
Two things follow immediately. The exemption belongs to services only: a microenterprise that manufactures, imports or distributes a covered product carries the product obligations in full. And it is an exemption from the requirements, not a licence to publish a statement claiming conformity you have not tested.
Counting the people
| Who counts | Who does not |
|---|---|
| Employees on the payroll, full and part time | Genuine external suppliers invoicing a service |
| Owner-managers working in the business | Shareholders with no role in the business |
| Partners engaged in regular activity | Students on a recognised training contract, in most national readings |
| Staff of linked enterprises, aggregated | Customers, resellers and franchisees you do not control |
The last row is the one that catches groups. Where enterprises are linked, through majority control or dominant influence, the figures are consolidated. A company with four people whose parent employs three hundred is not a microenterprise, and a holding structure built for tax does not change that reading.
Turnover or balance sheet, not both
The financial test is met if either the annual turnover or the balance sheet total stays within 2 million euro. Crossing the threshold in a single year does not immediately remove the status in most national implementations, which follow the usual rule that the status changes when the limits are exceeded in two consecutive periods. A fast-growing fintech or shop should plan for the transition rather than discover it.
Three structures that look exempt and are not
The franchise: each outlet is small, the franchisor sets the platform, and the platform is the service consumers use. The obligation follows the provider of that platform, not the headcount of the shop front.
The holding with an operating company: four people in the company that signs the contracts, thirty in the sister company that builds the product, one owner behind both. Linked enterprises are consolidated, and the structure that saves tax loses the exemption.
The marketplace seller: a two-person business selling through a platform is a microenterprise, but the platform is not, and the platform passes its own obligations down through its seller terms. The exemption answers the regulator and does nothing about the contract.
Products are a different regime
If you make, import or distribute something covered by the directive, e-readers, self-service terminals, consumer terminal equipment with interactive computing used for electronic communications or audiovisual access, the size of the company changes nothing. You owe the conformity assessment, the technical documentation under Annex IV, the CE marking and the declaration of conformity. A three-person hardware startup carries the same file as a large manufacturer.
What the exemption does not give you
- It does not exempt you from other laws. National equality and anti-discrimination rules apply to organisations of any size, and a customer who cannot use your service can act on that basis.
- It does not exempt you from contracts. Enterprise buyers and public bodies ask for a conformance report because their own obligations require it, and no procurement questionnaire has a box for microenterprise.
- It does not exempt you from the marketplace rules. Platforms increasingly ask sellers for accessibility information, and their terms are not negotiable by size.
- It does not protect a statement you published anyway. Claiming conformance you cannot evidence is a separate problem, in consumer protection law rather than in the accessibility regime.
The grey zone: are you providing a service or selling a product
A company that sells a subscription to software provides a service. A company that ships a device with software on it places a product on the market. A company that does both, increasingly the normal case, is exempt on the service side and fully obliged on the product side, and the two answers sit in the same file. Work out which column each revenue line belongs to before you rely on the exemption for any of it.
Evidence you keep, in case the number is questioned
Nobody registers as a microenterprise, so the status is proved after the fact. Keep the headcount by period, the accounts showing turnover or balance sheet total, and a note of the ownership structure with any linked enterprises. Three documents, updated once a year, and the question ends there.
Growing out of it
The day the tenth person joins, or the second year closes above the threshold, the requirements apply to services you have been running for years. Everything that would have been designed in has to be retrofitted, usually while the team is busy with the growth that caused the problem. The cheap moment to test is before that, not after.
What we do for a company that is exempt today
We say so, plainly, rather than sell you a plan you do not owe. Where it makes sense, a test and a signed record are still worth having for the procurement questionnaires and the marketplace rules, and we quote them as a commercial choice rather than a legal obligation. When the thresholds are close, we tell you what changes and when. See the checklist and what the 2025 date changed.
Questions we get before buying
What are the exact thresholds?
Fewer than 10 persons employed, and annual turnover or balance sheet total not exceeding 2 million euro. Both conditions apply: the headcount and one of the two financial tests.
Do freelancers we use count towards the headcount?
Genuine external suppliers invoicing for a service normally do not. People working under your direction in the way employees do usually are counted.
We are four people but owned by a larger group. Are we exempt?
Almost certainly not. Linked enterprises are consolidated, so the group figures decide the status.
Does the exemption cover our online shop?
The shop is a service, so yes, while you stay within the thresholds. Anything you manufacture or import is a product and is not covered by the exemption.
We crossed 10 employees this year. What happens?
Plan for the requirements to apply. Most national implementations change status when the limits are exceeded over two consecutive periods, but the sensible answer is to start testing now.
Can we still publish an accessibility statement?
Yes, and many exempt companies do because buyers ask. What you cannot do is claim a conformance level you have never tested.
Does the exemption protect us from a customer complaint?
It removes the accessibility requirements of this directive. It does not remove national equality law or contractual commitments.
Do public sector buyers accept the exemption?
They are bound by their own accessibility obligations, so they ask for the report regardless of your size.
Is the exemption automatic or do we declare it?
It applies by law, there is no register. In practice you evidence it if an authority asks, with headcount and accounts.
Should an exempt company test anyway?
If you sell to businesses, usually yes, because the report opens doors. If you sell only to consumers and you are comfortably under the thresholds, it is a commercial decision, not a legal one.
Not sure which side of the line you are on
Send us your headcount, your structure and what you sell. We answer with a yes or a no, and we say when the answer changes.