BFG / BFSG / BITV
Also: BGG, Behindertengleichstellungsgesetz, BITV, Barrierefreie-Informationstechnik-Verordnung, BFSG, Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz
Germany's accessibility statutory stack — the BFG (federal disability-equality law), BITV (web/IT accessibility regulation), and BFSG (the EAA implementation in Germany).
German accessibility law sits across three connected statutes. The acronyms are dense; getting them straight is half the battle.
BGG — Behindertengleichstellungsgesetz
The Federal Disability Equality Act (BGG, originally 2002, revised several times) is Germany’s umbrella disability-equality law. It applies to federal authorities and bodies governed by federal public law. The BGG establishes the right to barrier-free access to information and mandates federal authorities to make their services accessible.
The BGG is the statutory parent of:
BITV — Barrierefreie-Informationstechnik-Verordnung
The Accessible IT Regulation is the operational regulation under the BGG that specifies what “accessible” means technically for federal IT, websites, and mobile apps. The current version, BITV 2.0, references EN 301 549, which in turn references WCAG 2.1 Level AA for web content.
BITV applies to federal authorities directly. The 16 Länder (German states) each have their own equivalent regulation — typically named LBGG
- LBVO or similar — covering state and municipal authorities. These Länder regulations are functionally equivalent to BITV in technical content, just transposed into state law.
BFSG — Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz
The Accessibility Strengthening Act (passed 2021, in force 28 June 2025) is Germany’s transposition of the European Accessibility Act. The BFSG extends accessibility obligations to private-sector operators for the EAA’s defined product and service categories — e-commerce, banking, e-books, transport, consumer devices.
Enforcement and penalties
- BGG/BITV — enforcement runs through the federal accessibility monitoring agency (Bundesfachstelle Barrierefreiheit) and through complaints to the Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency (Antidiskriminierungsstelle).
- BFSG — Article 38 sets administrative fines up to €100,000 per violation for serious or repeated breaches. Market-surveillance authorities in each Land enforce.
In practice, the BFSG’s arrival has substantially raised the operational profile of accessibility compliance in Germany. Before mid- 2025, private-sector accessibility was largely unregulated; afterward, any consumer-facing online service in an EAA category sells in the German market under a real enforcement regime.
How to know which one applies
Three quick tests:
- Federal-government website or app? BGG + BITV.
- State or municipal website or app in Germany? Länder equivalent of BITV.
- Private-sector consumer product or service in an EAA category? BFSG (i.e., EAA via the German implementation).
For US/UK companies operating digital products in Germany, the BFSG is the operative layer to plan against. The technical standard — EN 301 549, i.e. WCAG 2.1 AA — is the same across all three statutes, so a genuinely WCAG 2.1 AA-conforming product satisfies the technical floor in every German jurisdiction.