Germany's Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz (BFSG) — Statutory Enforcement via the MLBF

The Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz (Accessibility Strengthening Act, BFSG) transposes the EU's European Accessibility Act (Directive 2019/882) into German law and entered into force on 28 June 2025. It obliges private-sector economic operators — online shops, banking and payment services, e-books, telecommunications and other digital services — to meet binding accessibility requirements, applying to companies with at least 10 employees or at least €2 million in annual turnover; microenterprises are exempt.
Compliance is overseen by the Marktüberwachungsstelle der Länder für die Barrierefreiheit von Produkten und Dienstleistungen (MLBF), a joint body of Germany's federal states based in Magdeburg. On 29 January 2026 the MLBF adopted formal market-surveillance strategies for products and for services, combining systematic, partly automated scanning of websites with reactive investigation of citizen complaints; by early 2026 it had moved into an active control phase.
Enforcement began quickly: the first BFSG cease-and-desist letters were issued in August 2025, roughly six weeks after the law took effect, and accessibility-law practitioners across Germany reported a steady stream of warnings against online shops with clear violations through the rest of 2025. Individual warnings carry costs of roughly €3,500–20,000, and fines for serious or repeated breaches can reach €100,000, with the possibility of a site being ordered offline. As of July 2026 no individually published fines had been confirmed publicly, so this remains an early-stage enforcement record rather than a mature track record — worth revisiting as the MLBF's active-control phase matures.

Read the full analysis: https://www.it-management.today/bfsg-2026-marktueberwachung-in-aktiver-kontrollphase-eu-kommission-mahnt-deutschland-zur-umsetzung