Global Accessibility Compliance

Overview

Hub for navigating accessibility laws across jurisdictions. Helps determine which laws apply based on where an organization operates and who it serves, and cross-references jurisdiction-specific skills for detailed requirements.

Instructions

When advising on global accessibility:

1. Identify where the organization operates and serves users
2. Map to applicable laws using the jurisdiction table below
3. Load the jurisdiction-specific skill for detailed requirements
4. For technical WCAG auditing, use accessibility-compliance:wcag-audit-patterns

Jurisdiction Comparison

	US (ADA)	US (Section 508)	EU (EAA)	EU (WAD)	Canada (AODA)	Canada (ACA)	Japan
Law	ADA Title II/III	Rehabilitation Act §508	Directive 2019/882	Directive 2016/2102	AODA 2005	ACA 2019	Discrimination Act 2016
Sector	Gov + private	Federal	Private + public	Public	All (Ontario)	Federal	All
WCAG	2.1 AA	2.0 AA	2.1 AA (EN 301 549)	2.1 AA (EN 301 549)	2.0 AA	2.1 AA (EN 301 549)	2.0 AA
Beyond web	Physical facilities	ICT procurement	Hardware, kiosks, e-books	No	Public spaces	Documents, apps, hardware	No
Key deadline	Apr 2026/2027	In force	28 Jun 2025	In force	In force	Dec 2027/2028	Voluntary
Max penalty	$150K	Remediation	€500K	Per state	$100K/day	AMPs	¥200K
Skill	ada-compliance	ada-compliance	eaa-compliance	eaa-compliance	aoda-compliance	aoda-compliance	jis-accessibility

Quick Decision Guide

"Which law applies to us?"

• Serve US users or operate in US → ADA (Title II if government, Title III if private). Federal agency/contractor → also Section 508.
• Serve EU users or sell products in EU → EAA (private) or WAD (public). Applies regardless of HQ location.
• Operate in Ontario → AODA. Federally regulated in Canada → also ACA.
• Operate in Japan → Reasonable accommodations required (2024). JIS X 8341-3 recommended, not mandated.
• Multiple jurisdictions → comply with the most stringent applicable standard. Usually this means WCAG 2.1 AA + EN 301 549 for full coverage.

Practical Strategy for Multi-Jurisdiction Compliance

1. Baseline: WCAG 2.1 AA — satisfies the technical requirements of all current laws
2. Target: WCAG 2.2 AA — future-proofs against upcoming updates (EN 301 549 v4, ADA evolution)
3. Beyond WCAG: If EU or Canada applies, also audit against EN 301 549 (documents, software, hardware)
4. Physical spaces: If US ADA or Ontario AODA applies, audit built environment separately
5. Accessibility statement: Required by EAA, WAD, ACA. Best practice everywhere.

Upcoming Changes

What	When	Impact
EN 301 549 v4.1.1 (WCAG 2.2 AA)	Expected 2026	EU standard upgrade
ADA Title II 50K+ compliance	April 24, 2026	US government websites
ADA Title II <50K compliance	April 26, 2027	Smaller US governments
ACA Phase 1 — federal public sector	December 2027	Canadian federal web pages
ACA Phase 1 — private businesses	December 2028	Canadian federally regulated orgs

Related Skills

• ada-compliance — US ADA Title II/III + Section 508 (WCAG 2.1 AA, physical facilities)
• eaa-compliance — EU European Accessibility Act + EN 301 549 (products, services, hardware)
• aoda-compliance — Canada AODA (Ontario) + ACA (federal) (WCAG 2.0/2.1 AA, EN 301 549)
• jis-accessibility — Japan JIS X 8341-3 (WCAG 2.0 AA)
• accessibility-compliance:wcag-audit-patterns — Technical WCAG audit checklists, code examples, automated testing

References

• W3C WAI Policies: https://www.w3.org/WAI/policies/
• WCAG 2.1: https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/
• WCAG 2.2: https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG22/
• EN 301 549: https://www.etsi.org/human-factors-accessibility/en-301-549-v3-the-harmonized-european-standard-for-ict-accessibility