BACKGROUND: Hepatitis A virus (HAV) is one of the leading causes of viral hepatitis with an estimated 159 million acute infections annually. The primary route of transmission is faecal-orally through contaminated drinking water and food. Limited data regarding its surface stability and sensitivity to surface disinfectants is available. Implementing effective disinfectants could have a significant impact on the prevention of HAV transmission. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate HAV stability and sensitivity to surface disinfectants based on an established carrier assay. METHODS: We evaluated the stability of HAV on stainless steel discs over a period of 60 days and its sensitivity to different commercially available surface disinfectants. Steel-disc carriers were inoculated with HAV particles and incubated over a respective period. Furthermore, HAV resistance against several groups of disinfectant agents were tested with varying concentrations and exposure times according to the manufacturers' guidelines. RESULTS: We observed that HAV was recoverable from stainless steel discs for up to 40 days with an estimated half-life of 18.63 days. The evaluation of several surface disinfectants showed that, except for the aldehyde-based products, all other products insufficiently inactivated HAV. CONCLUSION: Overall, HAV demonstrated a high resistance to a wide range of the tested surface disinfectants. Out of the nine surface disinfectants evaluated, only two aldehyde-based products demonstrated a reduction in viral titer below the limit of detection. These findings have strong implications for the recommendation of evidence-based hygiene guidelines to reduce HAV transmission.