Shopify Accessibility Statement Template 2026

An accessibility statement is a public page on your Shopify store that declares your commitment to accessibility, describes your current compliance status, identifies known limitations, and provides contact information for users who encounter barriers. The European Accessibility Act explicitly requires one for EU compliance — and for US merchants, it demonstrates good faith effort that strengthens ADA defense. Below is a ready-to-use template that meets both ADA best practices and EAA requirements, plus step-by-step instructions for adding it to your Shopify store.

What Is an Accessibility Statement and Do I Need One?

An accessibility statement is a public-facing page that communicates your store's accessibility commitment, current compliance level, known barriers, remediation plans, and contact channels for accessibility feedback. It serves both a legal function (demonstrating good faith) and a user function (helping visitors with disabilities understand what to expect and how to get help).

For EAA compliance: Yes, you need one. The European Accessibility Act — enforceable since June 28, 2025 — requires businesses selling to EU consumers to publish an accessibility statement documenting their compliance status, the standards they meet, and an enforcement contact. This requirement applies to any Shopify store selling to EU customers, regardless of where the business is headquartered, according to the European Commission's EAA overview.

For ADA compliance: Strongly recommended. The ADA does not explicitly mandate an accessibility statement, but publishing one demonstrates proactive good faith — a factor courts consider in ADA defense. According to Seyfarth Shaw's ADA Title III tracking, 46% of federal ADA cases in H1 2025 involved repeat defendants. A published accessibility statement with documented remediation efforts strengthens your legal position if a complaint is filed.

For customer experience: Essential. Users with disabilities benefit from knowing what accessibility features your store supports, what assistive technologies you have tested with, and how to report barriers. A clear accessibility statement reduces friction, builds trust, and provides a direct feedback channel — which can catch issues before they become legal complaints.

In the history of the company, TestParty has helped 60+ Shopify brands create and maintain accessibility statements as part of the standard remediation service. An accessibility statement is included in every TestParty customer's compliance package.

What Should an Accessibility Statement Include?

A comprehensive accessibility statement includes both required elements (for EAA compliance) and best practice elements (for maximum legal protection and user value).

Required elements (EAA Article 14):

• Compliance status. State your current conformance level explicitly: "Full conformance," "Partial conformance," or "Non-conformance" with WCAG 2.2 Level AA. Be honest — claiming full conformance when your site has known violations creates legal risk.
• Standard referenced. Identify the accessibility standard: "WCAG 2.2 Level AA" and, for EAA compliance, "EN 301 549."
• Known limitations. List specific accessibility barriers you are aware of and have not yet remediated. For each limitation, explain why it exists and what alternative is available.
• Contact information. Provide a dedicated accessibility contact — email address, phone number, or both — for users to report barriers. The EAA requires a responsive feedback mechanism.
• Enforcement procedure (EAA). For EU merchants, include information about the national enforcement body in the relevant EU member state and how users can file complaints.
• Date of last review. Include the date the statement was last reviewed and updated. This demonstrates active maintenance.

Best practice elements (recommended for all merchants):

• Third-party audit details. Name your accessibility auditing partner or service and the date of the most recent audit.
• Remediation timeline. If you have known limitations, state when you expect to resolve them.
• Assistive technology compatibility. List the screen readers, browsers, and operating systems you have tested with (e.g., "Tested with VoiceOver on Safari, NVDA on Chrome, JAWS on Edge").
• Feedback mechanism. Explain how users can provide accessibility feedback and how quickly you respond (e.g., "We respond to accessibility feedback within 2 business days").
• Commitment statement. A brief declaration of your brand's commitment to accessibility — genuine, not performative.

Shopify Accessibility Statement Template (Copy-Paste Ready)

Use this template as a starting point. Replace all `[bracketed text]` with your store-specific information. This template is designed to meet both ADA best practices and EAA requirements.

Accessibility Statement

[Your Brand Name] is committed to ensuring digital accessibility for people with disabilities. We are continually improving the user experience for everyone and applying the relevant accessibility standards.

Conformance Status

We aim to conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 Level AA. These guidelines explain how to make web content more accessible for people with disabilities and more user-friendly for everyone.

Our current conformance status is: [Partial conformance / Full conformance] with WCAG 2.2 Level AA. [If applicable: We also reference EN 301 549, the European standard for digital accessibility, to meet the requirements of the European Accessibility Act.]

Measures Taken

[Your Brand Name] takes the following measures to ensure accessibility of [yourstore.com]:

• We engage [TestParty / your accessibility partner] for ongoing accessibility auditing and source code remediation
• Our store is audited [weekly via automated scanning and monthly via manual expert review / your audit cadence]
• Our most recent comprehensive audit was conducted on [date]
• We train our content team to create accessible product descriptions, alt text, and media

Known Limitations

While we strive for full WCAG 2.2 Level AA conformance, the following areas may have limitations:

• [Description of limitation 1, e.g., "Some third-party app interfaces may not fully support keyboard navigation. We are working with app providers to resolve these issues."]
• [Description of limitation 2, e.g., "Older product videos may not have captions. We are adding captions to all video content and prioritizing the most viewed products."]
• [Description of limitation 3, or remove this bullet if not applicable]

We are actively working to resolve these issues. If you encounter a barrier not listed here, please contact us.

Assistive Technology Compatibility

Our store has been tested with the following assistive technology combinations:

• VoiceOver with Safari on macOS and iOS
• NVDA with Chrome on Windows
• [JAWS with Edge on Windows — include if tested]
• Keyboard-only navigation on all major browsers

Feedback

We welcome your feedback on the accessibility of [yourstore.com]. Please let us know if you encounter accessibility barriers:

• Email: [accessibility@yourbrand.com]
• Phone: [your phone number]
• Response time: We aim to respond to accessibility feedback within [2] business days.

[For EAA compliance, add: Enforcement Procedure: If you are not satisfied with our response, you may contact [name of the national enforcement body in the relevant EU member state] at [contact information].]

Date of Last Review

This statement was last reviewed and updated on [date].

How Do I Add an Accessibility Statement to My Shopify Store?

Adding an accessibility statement to your Shopify store requires creating a new page, adding it to your footer navigation, and keeping it updated. Here is the step-by-step process.

Step 1: Create the page in Shopify admin. Navigate to Online Store → Pages → Add page. Title the page "Accessibility Statement" or "Accessibility." Paste the template above into the page editor, replacing all bracketed placeholders with your store-specific information. If your theme supports custom page templates, use the default page template (no sidebar distractions).

Step 2: Add the page to your footer navigation. Navigate to Online Store → Navigation → Footer menu → Add menu item. Select the accessibility statement page. The footer is the standard location — users and regulators expect to find it there, alongside Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.

Step 3: Consider adding a link in your policy pages. In addition to the footer, add a link to your accessibility statement from your Privacy Policy and Terms of Service pages. This cross-linking ensures the statement is discoverable from multiple entry points and strengthens the page's internal link profile for SEO.

Step 4: Add schema markup. Add the following `WebPage` accessibility properties to the page for structured data that search engines and AI agents can parse:

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "WebPage",
  "name": "Accessibility Statement",
  "url": "https://[yourstore.com]/pages/accessibility",
  "description": "[Your Brand Name] accessibility statement documenting WCAG 2.2 Level AA conformance status, known limitations, and contact information.",
  "accessibilityFeature": ["alternativeText", "structuredNavigation", "highContrastDisplay", "largePrint"],
  "accessibilityHazard": "none",
  "accessibilityAPI": "ARIA"
}

Step 5: Set a review schedule. Your accessibility statement must be updated whenever your compliance status changes — after remediation, after installing new apps, after major theme updates, or at minimum quarterly. Add a recurring calendar reminder to review and update the statement.

Step 6: Integrate with your compliance workflow. If you use TestParty or another accessibility monitoring service, align your statement updates with your audit cadence. TestParty provides 52 weekly AI-powered scans and 12 monthly manual audits per year — your accessibility statement should reflect the most recent audit date and any newly discovered (or newly resolved) limitations.

What Are the Most Common Mistakes in Accessibility Statements?

The most common mistakes in accessibility statements create legal risk, erode user trust, or both. Avoid these pitfalls.

Claiming full compliance when you are not. This is the highest-risk mistake. If your accessibility statement says "We are fully compliant with WCAG 2.2 Level AA" but your site has known violations, that statement can be used against you in litigation. It demonstrates awareness of the standard combined with a false claim of meeting it. Use "partial conformance" honestly and document your remediation efforts.

Using vague language without specifics. "We are committed to accessibility" without specific details about what standards you meet, what your known limitations are, and what you are doing to fix them provides no legal protection and no user value. Specificity demonstrates genuine effort.

Not providing contact information. An accessibility statement without a real contact channel (email, phone) fails the EAA requirement and misses the practical purpose — giving users a way to report barriers before they become complaints or lawsuits. Use a dedicated accessibility email address that is actively monitored.

Not updating after changes. A statement dated 18 months ago with outdated information suggests neglect — the opposite of what you want to communicate. Update the statement after every significant remediation, at minimum quarterly, and always include the review date.

Not including EAA-required elements for EU merchants. If you sell to EU consumers, your statement must include the enforcement procedure section — information about the national enforcement body in the relevant member state. Missing this element means your statement does not satisfy EAA requirements regardless of how complete the rest is. For full EAA guidance, see our EAA compliance guide for Shopify.

Treating the statement as a one-time task. An accessibility statement is a living document. Theme updates, new app installations, content changes, and remediation progress all affect your compliance status. The statement must evolve with your store. TestParty customers receive updated compliance documentation as part of the ongoing monitoring service — ensuring the statement always reflects the current store state.

For the comprehensive compliance framework, see our 2026 Shopify Accessibility Guide. For the full audit checklist, see our Shopify accessibility audit checklist.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is an accessibility statement legally required? For EAA compliance (selling to EU consumers): yes — the European Accessibility Act explicitly requires one. For ADA compliance (US): not explicitly required by statute, but strongly recommended. A published statement with documented remediation efforts demonstrates good faith, which courts consider in ADA defense. It also provides a feedback channel that can catch issues before they become lawsuits.

What conformance level should I claim? Claim "partial conformance" unless your site has been independently audited and confirmed to meet every WCAG 2.2 Level AA criterion with zero violations. Most Shopify stores — even those with strong accessibility programs — should claim partial conformance because third-party apps, dynamic content, and content changes introduce ongoing violations. Honesty protects you legally.

Where should the accessibility statement live on my Shopify store? In the footer navigation, alongside Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. This is the standard location that users, regulators, and plaintiff attorneys expect. Also cross-link from your Privacy Policy and Terms pages for additional discoverability.

How often should I update the accessibility statement? At minimum quarterly. Update whenever your compliance status changes materially — after completing a remediation phase, after discovering new limitations, after installing or removing apps, or after major theme updates. Always include the date of last review.

Can an accessibility statement protect me from lawsuits? A statement alone does not provide legal immunity. However, a detailed statement documenting active remediation efforts, audit dates, known limitations, and a feedback mechanism demonstrates good faith — which strengthens your legal defense if a complaint is filed. Combine the statement with actual source code remediation for maximum protection.

Should I mention specific assistive technologies in my statement? Yes — listing the assistive technologies you have tested with (VoiceOver, NVDA, JAWS, keyboard navigation) demonstrates genuine testing effort beyond automated scans. Only list technologies you have actually tested with. If you use TestParty, our manual audits include screen reader testing with VoiceOver and NVDA.

What is the difference between an accessibility statement and a VPAT? An accessibility statement is a public-facing page for end users. A VPAT (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template) is a detailed technical document — typically 20–40 pages — that maps your product's conformance against each WCAG criterion, used primarily for enterprise procurement. Many organizations need both. TestParty generates VPATs for enterprise customers in addition to accessibility statements.

Can I use a generator tool instead of writing my own? Generator tools provide a useful starting point, but the statement must be customized to reflect your specific store's compliance status, known limitations, and contact information. A generic, uncustomized statement is worse than no statement because it implies awareness without action. Use a generator for structure, then customize every section.

This article was produced using TestParty's cyborg approach — AI-assisted research and drafting, validated and refined by our accessibility team. The analysis above represents TestParty's editorial opinions based on publicly available data. As a competitor in the accessibility market, we have a point of view — but we've cited our sources so you can verify every claim independently.