Below is a quick summary of the major digital accessibility laws that are centralized in the United States, European Union, and Canada. Some of the laws are more broad anti-discrimination laws that have been interpreted to encompass websites, mobile apps, and other digital accessibility.
Table of Contents
United States
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
The ADA, enacted in 1990, is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities. Although it does not explicitly mention digital accessibility, the Department of Justice (DOJ), the regulatory and enforcement agency behind Title II and Title III of the ADA has taken the stance that the ADA does apply to websites and mobile apps.
Learn more about general ADA compliance requirements.
Title II of the ADA
Title II applies to state and local government entities (and their public instrumentalities), requiring that their programs, services, and activities are accessible to individuals with disabilities. The new 2024 web rule updating Title II regulation explicitly mandates web and mobile app accessibility, using WCAG 2.1 AA as a technical standard.
Title III of the ADA
Title III requires that places of public accommodations (e.g., businesses open to the public) ensure their offerings are accessible.
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act
Section 508 mandates that federal agencies make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities. This includes websites, software, and hardware. Section 508 was updated in 2018 to incorporate the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 AA.
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is a national law that protects qualified individuals from discrimination based on their disability. The nondiscrimination requirements of the law apply to employers and organizations that receive financial assistance from any Federal department or agency.
HHS Rule
The new 2024 rule issued Department of Health and Human Services (HHS or the Department), Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance, updates and revises the HHS section 504 to include many additional protections against discrimination of people with disabilities. One protection includes a provision that mirrors the new ADA Title II web rule.
California Unruh Civil Rights Act
The Unruh Civil Rights Act is a California state law that prohibits discrimination generally against many demographics. Although not specific to digital accessibility, the Unruh Act has been frequently used in lawsuits to argue that inaccessible websites constitute discrimination against individuals with disabilities.
New York State and City Human Rights Laws
New York State’s anti-discrimination statute is the New York State Human Rights Law. The State Human Rights Law prohibits discrimination based on specific protected classes in employment, housing, credit, places of public accommodations, and non-sectarian educational institutions.
The New York City Human Rights Law (Title 8 of the Administrative Code of the City of New York) is very similar but prohibits discrimination in New York City, in employment, housing, and public accommodations. The New York City Human Rights Law also protects against discriminatory lending practices, retaliation, discriminatory harassment, and bias-based profiling by law enforcement.
Both New York laws have been used as a basis for alleging website owner/operators with inaccessible websites are discriminatory.
Colorado HB21-1110
Under the Colorado Anti-discrimination Act (CADA), it is unlawful for any person to discriminate against an individual with a disability. House Bill 21-1110 expands this prohibition by defining discrimination to include digital technology.
HB21-1110 relates to all technology, hardware, and software, that is both public-facing and internal-facing. This technology includes websites, mobile apps, applications, kiosks, digital signage, documents, video, audio, and more.
Telecommunications Act of 1996
FCC rules under Section 255 of the Communications Act require telecommunications equipment manufacturers and service providers to make their products and services accessible to people with disabilities. FCC rules cover all hardware and software telephone network equipment and telecommunications equipment used in the home or office.
European Union
European Accessibility Act (EAA)
The European Accessibility Act is a Directive that improves the functioning of the internal market for accessible products and services, by removing barriers created by divergent rules in Member States. The European Accessibility Act includes products and services:
- computers and operating systems
- ATMs, ticketing and check-in machines
- smartphones
- TV equipment related to digital television services
- telephony services and related equipment
- access to audio-visual media services such as television broadcast and related consumer equipment
- services related to air, bus, rail and waterborne passenger transport
- banking services
- e-books
- e-commerce
Web Accessibility Directive
Directive (EU) 2016/2102 aims to make public sector websites and mobile applications more accessible, and to harmonise varying standards within the European Union (EU), reducing barriers for developers of accessibility-related products and services.
EU Member States must ensure that websites and mobile applications of public sector bodies are ‘more accessible’, particularly for people with disabilities, by making them ‘perceivable, operable, understandable and robust’. The accessibility standard is set out in the harmonised European standard EN 301 549 v3.2.1.
Public sector bodies must regularly provide a detailed, comprehensive and clear accessibility statement on how their websites and mobile applications comply with this directive, including:
- an explanation for any inaccessible elements and information on accessible alternatives
- a description on how a user may report any failure to comply with this directive or request information that is excluded from the scope of this directive
- a link to a complaint mechanism that can be used if the response is inadequate.
EN 301 549
EN 301 549 “Accessibility requirements for ICT products and services” is a European Standard. It defines the requirements that products and services based on information and communication technologies (ICT) should meet to enable their use by persons with disabilities.
EN 301 549 is a harmonised standard, that supports the European Directive 2016/2102 on the accessibility of the websites and mobile applications of public sector bodies (the Web Accessibility Directive). Therefore, it can be used to demonstrate compliance with that Directive.
EN 301 549 can be applied to any type of ICT-based products and services. This includes software (web pages, mobile applications, desktop applications…), hardware (smartphones, personal computers, information kiosks…) and any combination of hardware and software.
Canada
Accessible Canada Act (ACA)
The purpose of the Accessible Canada Act is to make Canada barrier-free by January 1, 2040. This involves identifying, removing and preventing barriers in federal jurisdiction in the following priority areas:
- transportation (airlines, as well as rail, road and marine transportation providers that cross provincial or international borders)
- employment
- the built environment (buildings and public spaces)
- information and communication technologies
- communication, other than information and communication technologies
- the procurement of goods, services and facilities
- the design and delivery of programs and services, and
- transportation (airlines, as well as rail, road and marine transportation providers that cross provincial or international borders)
Ontario’s Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA)
The purpose of the AODA is developing, implementing and enforcing accessibility standards in order to achieveaccessibility for Ontarians with disabilities with respect to goods, services, facilities, accommodation, employment, buildings, structures and premises on or before January 1, 2025.
As of January 1, 2021, the AODA requires you to make all public websites accessible if you are either:
- a designated public sector organization or
- a business or non-profit organization with 50 or more employees
The organization that controls the website (either directly or through a contractual relationship) must meet the accessibility requirements. These requirements only apply to websites and web content published on a website after January 1, 2012.
