TL;DR. Agencies, plugin vendors and law firm newsletters keep repeating one date: from 1 January 2027, Swiss companies must make their websites accessible. That date is real, but it is a plan, not a law. It comes from the Federal Council’s message on the revision of the Disability Equality Act (BehiG). Parliament has not voted on that revision yet. As of this week it is still in committee in the National Council, and the ordinary legislative path cannot finish by 1 January 2027. The current law already bans private companies from discriminating against people with disabilities, and the European Accessibility Act has applied to Swiss companies selling certain services to EU consumers since June 2025. So accessibility is worth doing now, just not because of a Swiss deadline that does not exist yet.
Where the 1 January 2027 date comes from
On 20 December 2024 the Federal Council sent parliament its message on the amendment of the BehiG (BBl 2025 300), together with the draft law (BBl 2025 301). The date appears in one sentence of the message:
«Die Inkraftsetzung des revidierten BehiG ist auf den 1. Januar 2027 geplant.»
(The revised BehiG is planned to enter into force on 1 January 2027.)
“Geplant” means planned. The draft law itself names no date. Its final clause says:
«Dieses Gesetz untersteht dem fakultativen Referendum. Der Bundesrat bestimmt das Inkrafttreten.»
(This law is subject to the optional referendum. The Federal Council determines the entry into force.)
Where the bill actually is
The revision is parliamentary business 25.020, “Behindertengleichstellungsgesetz. Änderung”. The parliament’s own record lists its status as In Kommission des Nationalrats (in committee of the National Council), a status it has held since 11 March 2025. Neither the National Council nor the Council of States has debated it in plenary.
For a federal law to take effect, both chambers must pass it, settle any differences between their versions, and hold a final vote. The law is then published, and the referendum period of 100 days begins. Only after that can the Federal Council set the entry into force. With the bill still in its first committee in September 2026, that ordinary sequence cannot finish by 1 January 2027.
You may also have read that the National Council debated disability inclusion on 16 September 2026. That debate was about the Inclusion Initiative and its indirect counter-proposal, a separate bill. It ended without decisions and continues on 21 September.
What the law says today
The BehiG in force today (SR 151.3, last consolidated on 1 July 2020) already covers private companies, in one sentence:
«Private, die Dienstleistungen öffentlich anbieten, dürfen Behinderte nicht auf Grund ihrer Behinderung diskriminieren.» (Art. 6)
(Private parties who offer services to the public may not discriminate against people with disabilities on the basis of their disability.)
The remedy is narrow. Someone discriminated against under Article 6 can ask a court for compensation (Art. 8 para. 3), and Article 11 paragraph 2 caps it: «Die Entschädigung beträgt höchstens 5000 Franken.» (The compensation is at most 5,000 francs.)
The explicit web accessibility duty in today’s law is aimed at the state, not at companies. Article 14 paragraph 2 says that where authorities offer their services on the internet, those services «müssen diese Sehbehinderten ohne erschwerende Bedingungen zugänglich sein» (must be accessible to people with visual impairments without aggravating conditions). For public bodies there is also eCH-0059, which the Federal Council’s message describes as «ein nicht bindender Standard für das Gemeinwesen» (a non-binding standard for public bodies).
What the draft would change for private companies
If parliament passes the draft as the Federal Council wrote it, four things change for companies that offer services to the public.
- A broader ban. The new Article 6 paragraph 1 forbids any disadvantage in the sense of Article 2 paragraph 2, which includes failing to treat someone differently when that is needed for real equality. The message states that this covers digital services: «Der Artikel erfasst also alle digitalen Dienstleistungen, betroffen sind jedoch nur Anbieter, die eine wirtschaftliche Tätigkeit ausüben.» (The article therefore covers all digital services, but only providers carrying out an economic activity are affected.)
- A duty to accommodate. The new Article 6 paragraph 2: «Sie müssen angemessene Vorkehrungen treffen, um Benachteiligungen im Zusammenhang mit Behinderungen zu verhindern, zu verringern oder zu beseitigen.» (They must take reasonable accommodations to prevent, reduce or eliminate disadvantages related to disability.)
- Stronger remedies. Under the new Article 8 paragraphs 3 and 4, a court could prohibit or remove a disadvantage, order the accommodation, or award compensation. The rewritten Article 11 paragraph 2 no longer contains the CHF 5,000 cap.
- A proportionality test. When a company refuses an accommodation, the new Article 12a tells the court to weigh the company’s size and financial means, the number of people using the service, whether an alternative solution exists, and the effect on the rights of third parties.
What the draft does not contain is a WCAG requirement for private websites. The duty to make digital services accessible «ohne erschwerende Bedingungen» (new Art. 14 para. 4) applies only to the federal administration and to organisations holding a federal concession. For everyone else, the new Article 15 paragraph 2bis gives the Federal Council a power it may use later:
«Er kann Vorschriften erlassen, um einen behindertengerechten Zugang zu digitalen Dienstleistungen sicherzustellen. Er orientiert sich dabei an harmonisierten nationalen oder internationalen Normen.»
(It may issue regulations to ensure access to digital services suited to people with disabilities. In doing so it is guided by harmonised national or international standards.)
The message adds that «Im Bereich der digitalen Dienstleistungen sollen die bestehenden Standards für Barrierefreiheit auf Verordnungsebene geregelt werden» (for digital services, the existing accessibility standards are to be set at ordinance level), and that a transition period for private providers of digital services «kann auf Verordnungsebene vorgesehen werden» (can be provided for at ordinance level). The message names EN 301 549, the European standard for ICT accessibility, as one of the relevant norms. Which standard, which level and which deadline would all be decided in that ordinance, after the law passes.
The claims you will read, checked
| Claim | What the sources say |
|---|---|
| Accessibility becomes mandatory for Swiss companies on 1 January 2027. | 1 January 2027 is the Federal Council’s planned date. The bill is still in committee, and the ordinary legislative path cannot finish by that date. |
| Private Swiss websites will have to meet WCAG AA. | Not in the draft law. The Federal Council may set technical rules by ordinance, guided by harmonised standards. |
| Today, private companies have no accessibility obligations in Switzerland. | Article 6 BehiG already bans discrimination by private companies offering services to the public. Compensation is capped at CHF 5,000. |
| EU rules do not affect Swiss companies. | The European Accessibility Act applies to certain services provided to EU consumers, whoever provides them. |
What already applies: the European Accessibility Act
If you sell to consumers in the EU, the deadline you should care about already passed. Directive (EU) 2019/882 applies to a list of services “provided to consumers after 28 June 2025” (Art. 2(2)), and member states «shall apply those measures from 28 June 2025» (Art. 31(2)). The list includes electronic communications services, consumer banking services, e-books and dedicated software, websites and apps of air, bus, rail and waterborne passenger transport, and e-commerce services. The directive defines e-commerce services as “services provided at a distance, through websites and mobile device-based services by electronic means and at the individual request of a consumer with a view to concluding a consumer contract”.
Two limits matter for Swiss companies:
- Consumers, not businesses. The list covers services provided to consumers. B2B software sold only to companies is not on it.
- Microenterprises are exempt. Article 4(5): “Microenterprises providing services shall be exempt from complying with the accessibility requirements.” A microenterprise “employs fewer than 10 persons” and has an annual turnover or balance sheet total “not exceeding EUR 2 million”.
Service contracts agreed before 28 June 2025 may continue unchanged until they expire, “but no longer than five years from that date” (Art. 32(1)). Our EAA framework page covers the obligations in more detail.
What to do now
- Check the EAA first. If you sell any of the listed services to EU consumers and you are not a microenterprise, you have a legal obligation today.
- Treat Article 6 BehiG as live. The ban on discrimination by private service providers has been in force since 2004. An inaccessible checkout or booking flow is the kind of service a claim would be about.
- Aim at the European standard, not only at eCH-0059. The message is explicit about which norms it expects for companies: «Für Private gelten die internationalen und europäischen Standards; diese gehen weit über den Accessibility-Standard eCH-5009 und die Normen des World Wide Web Consortium hinaus.» (For private parties the international and European standards apply; these go well beyond the eCH accessibility standard and the norms of the World Wide Web Consortium.) The standard it names is EN 301 549. Automated WCAG checks are a useful first pass, not the finish line.
- Watch business 25.020. When the National Council debates it, the text can still change. The date that matters for private companies will be in the ordinance, not in a newsletter.
Sudory’s accessibility monitoring scans your pages in a real browser and maps the findings to framework controls, so you can see where you stand before a customer or a court asks.
FAQ
Do Swiss private companies have to make their websites accessible from 1 January 2027?
Not on that date. 1 January 2027 is the planned entry into force named in the Federal Council’s message of 20 December 2024 on the BehiG revision (business 25.020). As of September 2026 the bill is still in committee in the National Council. Neither chamber has voted on it, and the law is subject to an optional referendum, so the ordinary legislative path cannot finish by that date.
What does the current Swiss law require of private companies?
Article 6 of the BehiG in force today says private companies that offer services to the public may not discriminate against people with disabilities because of their disability. A court can award compensation, capped at CHF 5,000 by Article 11 paragraph 2. The explicit duty to make internet services accessible (Article 14 paragraph 2) applies to authorities, not to private companies.
Does the draft BehiG require WCAG compliance for private websites?
Not in the text of the law. The draft requires private service providers to avoid discrimination and to make reasonable accommodations. It gives the Federal Council the power to issue technical rules for digital services based on harmonised national or international standards. Any concrete technical standard for private companies would come later, in an ordinance.
Does the European Accessibility Act apply to Swiss companies?
It can. Directive (EU) 2019/882 applies to certain services provided to consumers after 28 June 2025, including e-commerce services, consumer banking, e-books and passenger transport websites and apps. A Swiss company offering those services to consumers in the EU is in scope. Microenterprises providing services (fewer than 10 persons and at most EUR 2 million turnover or balance sheet) are exempt.
Where can I follow the status of the BehiG revision?
On the Swiss parliament’s Curia Vista page for business 25.020, “Behindertengleichstellungsgesetz. Änderung”. It shows which chamber holds the bill and every vote once it happens.