Accessibility law, tracked
Checked 12 October 2001 · sources listed against every line
What the law actually requires of a website, jurisdiction by jurisdiction. Every week an automated check reads the government registers, the federal court docket index and the standards bodies, and anything that changed is recorded here with a link to the document it came from. Nothing on this page is written from memory: each note quotes the source, the quote is verified against the fetched document before it can appear, and a person approves it.
United States
Who it covers: the director of each state agency or state entity, as defined in subdivision (e) of Section 11546.1, and each chief information officer appointed under Section 11546.1
Measured against: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0, or a subsequent version, published by the Web Accessibility Initiative of the World Wide Web Consortium at a minimum Level AA success criteria
Every detail here was quoted from the page of record.
Who it covers: The act directs each state agency to comply with the accessibility standards established by the office; the earliest date given is July 1, 2022, by which each state agency must submit its written accessibility plan to the office, with full implementation required on or before July 1, 2024.
Measured against: the most recent web content accessibility guidelines promulgated and published by the world wide web consortium web accessibility initiative or the international accessibility guidelines working group
Every detail here was quoted from the page of record.
Who it covers: Title III prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities by businesses open to the public (also referred to as "public accommodations" under the ADA).
Measured against: No regulation names one; courts and the Department of Justice consistently use WCAG 2.1 Level AA as the measure (our record, unconfirmed)
Not yet confirmed against the page of record: the standard, the date. We have this in our register but have not been able to confirm it against the law’s own page of record. Treat it as a pointer and check the source.
Who it covers: The law 29 U.S.C § 794d applies to all federal agencies when they develop, procure, maintain, or use electronic and information technology.
Measured against: Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Final Standards and Guidelines (2017)
Every detail here was quoted from the page of record.
Who it covers: Like the rest of Title II, the rule applies to all state and local governments (which includes any agencies or departments of state or local governments) as well as special purpose districts, Amtrak, and other commuter authorities — the earliest compliance date, April 26, 2027, applies to entities with a total population of 50,000 or more, while entities under 50,000 and special district governments comply by April 26, 2028.
Measured against: WCAG 2.1, Level AA
Not yet confirmed against the page of record: the citation. We have this in our register but have not been able to confirm it against the law’s own page of record. Treat it as a pointer and check the source.
The Department of Justice issued an interim final rule revising the regulations implementing title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act to extend the compliance dates for web content and mobile application accessibility requirements adopted on April 24, 2024. Entities with a total population of 50,000 or more move from April 24, 2026 to April 26, 2027. Public entities with a population under 50,000, and special district governments, move from April 26, 2027 to April 26, 2028. The rule is stated as effective April 20, 2026, with comments requested.
The compliance date for State and local government entities with a total population of 50,000 or more is extended from April 24, 2026, to April 26, 2027. The compliance date for public entities with a total population of less than 50,000, or any special district government, is extended from April 26, 2027, to April 26, 2028.
European Union
Who it covers: This Directive lays down the rules requiring Member States to ensure that websites, independently of the device used for access thereto, and mobile applications of public sector bodies meet the accessibility requirements set out in Article 4.
Measured against: European standard EN 301 549 V1.1.2 (2015-04)
Not yet confirmed against the page of record: the date. We have this in our register but have not been able to confirm it against the law’s own page of record. Treat it as a pointer and check the source.
The source-of-record page for the Web Accessibility Directive (Directive 2016/2102) was fetched on 2026-09-07 and recorded as changed since the previous check. The supplied document reports the change alone and contains no amended provisions, standards or deadlines. Nothing in it modifies the register entry.
The page of record for this law changed since the last check.
Who it covers: The obligations of this Directive should apply equally to economic operators from the public and private sectors.
Measured against: EN 301 549, which for websites means WCAG 2.1 Level AA (our record, unconfirmed)
Not yet confirmed against the page of record: the standard, the date. We have this in our register but have not been able to confirm it against the law’s own page of record. Treat it as a pointer and check the source.
The source-of-record page for the European Accessibility Act (Directive 2019/882) was fetched on 2026-09-07 and recorded as changed since the previous check. The document supplied states only that the page changed; it gives no revised text, dates or obligations. No fact currently held in the register is altered by it.
The page of record for this law changed since the last check.
Who it covers: these Regulations apply in respect of the websites, independently of the device used for access thereto, and mobile applications of public sector bodies; the earliest express date given is 23 September 2020 for websites of public sector bodies published before 23 September 2018 (websites not published before 23 September 2018 apply from the date the Regulations come into operation, and mobile applications from 23 June 2021)
Measured against: harmonised standards for websites and mobile applications
Every detail here was quoted from the page of record.
United Kingdom
Who it covers: A person (a "service-provider") concerned with the provision of a service to the public or a section of the public (for payment or not) must not discriminate against a person requiring the service by not providing the person with the service; the earliest commencement date given is 1.10.2010, when the section came into force for certain purposes, with the section wholly in force at 1.10.2012.
Measured against: No fixed technical standard in the Act; WCAG 2.2 Level AA is the benchmark used in practice (our record, unconfirmed)
Not yet confirmed against the page of record: the standard, the date. We have this in our register but have not been able to confirm it against the law’s own page of record. Treat it as a pointer and check the source.
Who it covers: Obligations for public sector bodies
Measured against: WCAG 2.2 Level AA, plus a published accessibility statement (our record, unconfirmed)
Not yet confirmed against the page of record: the standard, the date. We have this in our register but have not been able to confirm it against the law’s own page of record. Treat it as a pointer and check the source.
Canada
Who it covers: Part 3 applies to "(a) the government; (b) a prescribed organization and an organization in a prescribed class of organizations"; the earliest commencement date given is the date of Royal Assent for anything not elsewhere covered by the commencement table, while sections 11 and 12 and sections 21 to 27 come into force by regulation of the Lieutenant Governor in Council.
Every detail here was quoted from the page of record.
Who it covers: This Act applies to the following entities and persons: (a) each entity named or set out in any of Schedules I to V to the Financial Administration Act; ... (e) any person, partnership or unincorporated organization that operates a work or carries on an undertaking or business that is within the legislative authority of Parliament, other than a work, undertaking or business of a local or private nature in Yukon, the Northwest Territories or Nunavut.
Every detail here was quoted from the page of record.
Who it covers: The Government of Ontario and the Legislative Assembly must conform their internet and intranet websites and web content with WCAG 2.0 Level AA, and designated public sector organizations and large organizations must conform their internet websites and web content with WCAG 2.0, initially at Level A and increasing to Level AA; the earliest date given is January 1, 2012 for new Government of Ontario and Legislative Assembly internet and intranet websites, with later dates (January 1, 2014, 2016, 2020, 2021) for other bodies and for existing content.
Measured against: World Wide Web Consortium Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, at Level AA
Every detail here was quoted from the page of record.
Australia and New Zealand
Who it covers: Anyone providing goods, services or facilities in Australia. (our summary, not quoted from the page)
Measured against: WCAG 2.1 Level AA, per Australian Human Rights Commission guidance (our record, unconfirmed)
Not yet confirmed against the page of record: who it covers, the standard, the date. We have this in our register but have not been able to confirm it against the law’s own page of record. Treat it as a pointer and check the source.
Where we cannot read the law
Every entry above was read out of the government or legislative page that states it, and a date was only recorded when it appeared in that page word for word. These jurisdictions we would like to cover but cannot read automatically — the page is rendered in the browser, published only as a PDF, refuses automated requests, or says too little to quote. They are named here rather than guessed at:
- United States — Section 504 — recipients of federal funding: its page of record says too little for us to quote
- Manitoba — Accessibility for Manitobans Act: its page of record says too little for us to quote
- New Zealand — Government Web Accessibility Standard: the page is rendered in the browser and serves no text to a fetch
- Norway — Regulations on universal design of ICT: the authority refuses automated requests
- India — Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016: published as a PDF behind a block on automated requests
- New York — NYS-P08-005 accessibility policy: the policy URL we had has moved
How this page is maintained
Once a week, an automated check reads: the US Federal Register for rulemaking, the federal court docket index for filings, legislation.gov.uk for new UK instruments, the W3C for changes to WCAG, and the page of record for each law listed above. Anything new is compared against what is already here. Where something changed, the text of the source document is quoted, and the quote must be found in that document, word for word, before it can be published. Anything that fails that check is held back for a person to read rather than published with a caveat.
This is a record of what published sources say, not legal advice. Curbcut is not a law firm; for anything with legal consequences, ask a qualified practitioner.