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BFSG fines in Germany: there are two tiers, not one

Almost every page you will read on German accessibility fines quotes a single number, EUR 100,000. The statute sets two. The second one, EUR 10,000, is the one most likely to reach a website operator first, and it is close to absent from the German-language web.

This page quotes section 37 of the Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz (BFSG) directly, says which conduct falls in which tier, and names the body that enforces it. Last verified against the statute on 25 July 2026.

The two tiers

EUR 100,000

For the service itself. Offering or providing a service that does not meet the accessibility requirements. Section 37(1) no. 8, plus placing non-compliant products on the market and CE-marking failures (nos. 1, 7, 9, 10).

EUR 10,000

For the paperwork. The information and documentation duties in section 37(1) nos. 2 to 6: the accessibility information you are obliged to publish, and the records behind it.

"Die Ordnungswidrigkeit kann in den Fällen des Absatzes 1 Nummer 1, 7, 8, 9 und 10 mit einer Geldbuße bis zu hunderttausend Euro und in den übrigen Fällen mit einer Geldbuße bis zu zehntausend Euro geahndet werden."

§ 37 Absatz 2 BFSG. English: the offence may be punished with a fine of up to one hundred thousand euros in the cases of subsection 1 numbers 1, 7, 8, 9 and 10, and up to ten thousand euros in the remaining cases.

Why the smaller number is the one to worry about

The EUR 100,000 tier attaches to the substantive failure: your service is not accessible. Establishing that takes a conformance assessment. The EUR 10,000 tier attaches to your accessibility information and documentation, which anyone can check from the outside, in a browser, in about a minute.

So the realistic first contact is not a regulator proving your checkout fails WCAG. It is someone noticing that the accessibility statement you are obliged to publish is missing, wrong, or boilerplate. That is a EUR 10,000 exposure and a fixable one, and it is the reason we include the statement draft in every full audit.

Who enforces it

Market surveillance
The Marktüberwachungsstelle der Länder für die Barrierefreiheit von Produkten und Dienstleistungen (MLBF), the joint market-surveillance authority of the German federal states, based in Magdeburg.
Its strongest power is not the fine
The MLBF can restrict or prohibit the provision of the service until conformity is demonstrated. For an online shop, being switched off costs considerably more than EUR 100,000.
In force since
28 June 2025.

Who is in scope

The European Accessibility Act exempts micro-enterprises providing services: fewer than 10 employees and annual turnover or balance sheet total of no more than EUR 2 million. Both conditions must hold. If you have 10 or more staff, or you turn over more than EUR 2 million, you are in scope, wherever your company is registered, as long as you serve consumers in Germany.

Note what the EUR 2 million is: a scope threshold. It is not a fine, and it is not a percentage of anything. If you see it quoted as a penalty, the page is wrong.

What is actually happening on the ground

No headline BFSG fine against an ordinary mid-market shop has been publicly confirmed. The live pressure in Germany is competition-law warning letters, Abmahnungen, over missing accessibility, circulating since August 2025 with a further wave from February 2026, typically demanding a few hundred euros plus an undertaking. Their legal validity is contested. The cost, the deadline and the disruption are not.

Three things other pages get wrong

"Fines up to EUR 100,000" full stop

True but incomplete. It omits the tier that covers documentation, which is the more likely trigger.

The wrong paragraph

The highest-ranking German-language page on BFSG fines cites a section that does not contain the penalty provisions. The penalties are in section 37, subsection 2.

GDPR numbers in accessibility clothing

Figures like "4% of global turnover" belong to the GDPR and have no basis in the BFSG. Nothing in the BFSG is calculated as a percentage of revenue.

The free German tool cannot give you a usable report

Germany's official free self-assessment, the BITV-Selbstbewertung, states in its own terms that it "darf nicht für kommerzielle Testaufträge eingesetzt werden" (may not be used for commercial testing engagements) and that its report "ist nicht als Nachweis der Barrierefreiheit zu nutzen" (is not to be used as evidence of accessibility). It is for internal organisational use.

The certified route, a BIK BITV-Test, runs EUR 420 to 900 per page by complexity, plus a base fee, over four to six weeks. A seven-page sample works out around EUR 4,200 net. That is the right product if you need a certificate. It is a poor fit if what you need is to find out what is broken.

Find out where you actually stand

Scan your homepage free, no email, no signup: you get the failure count, the severity split and every failing success criterion by name. If you want the failing elements and the fixes, the fixed-price diagnostic is EUR 490 and takes 48 hours, reviewed and signed by our named reviewer, Owen Hughes.

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Sources

We are an accessibility testing company, not a law firm, and this page is not legal advice. It is a plain-language reading of the published statute with the text quoted so you can check us. If you think we have something wrong, email hello@able.cat and we will correct it and say so.