Accessibility legislation

Accessibility legislation is a complicated topic. We will try to cover the most important subjects, but if you have any questions about legal requirements for your situation, please consult a law firm with experience in this area of law.

On this page we will address the Americans with Disabilities Act, US Section 508, the European Accessibility Act, the EU Web Accessibility Directive, and the European standard EN 301 549.

The Web Accessibility Initiative maintains a list of laws and policies by country.

In most countries or unions there are laws that state you must build accessible digital products and services. Which laws apply to you largely depend on whom you’re selling the product or service to, although some laws apply based on where your business is located.

In most legislation, the same basis for compliance is used: WCAG, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

For example, if you sell to customers in the U.S., you need to look at the Americans with Disabilities Act. For the European Union, the European Accessibility Act applies. Both ultimately refer to WCAG as the technical standard for accessibility. Other than meeting those standards, you may have other obligations as well, like accessibility statements and self-reporting of known barriers.

Note: if you are building a WordPress plugin or theme, your software may be used in any jurisdiction. Your WordPress Admin dashboard interfaces as well as public-facing outputs should conform to WCAG. Your customers may need your application to meet their local accessibility standards in to legally use it.

The Americans with Disabilities Act

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) governs accessibility requirements in the United States of America. The law, established in 1990, doesn’t specifically address the internet or websites, but does address many key concepts surrounding operating a business or service with accessibility requirements.

The general interpretation of the law is that businesses are required to provide accessible services, but the specific details for digital accessibility have been so far mostly clarified by mixed court decisions. Government, health care and many publicly-funded organizations (such as schools) have specific compliance requirements, but businesses do not.

The mixed court decisions should not be interpreted as a lack of a requirement for accessibility. There are many settled cases where either consumers or other plaintiffs have made a successful complaint in court, even to companies outside the U.S.

Learn more about the American with Disabilities Act

Section 508

Another law in the U.S. is Section 508, a federal law and an amendment to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. This mandates federal agencies and their contractors to ensure their ICT is accessible to people with disabilities. Section 508 still uses WCAG 2.0 as a basis for their technical standard.

If you are a contractor for a federal agency or receive any federal funding, you most likely will need to comply under Section 508. However, since WCAG has been updated with newer guidelines, it is a good strategy to use WCAG 2.2 as a standard for your projects.

Learn more about Section 508

The European Accessibility Act

The European Accessibility Act (EAA) is a Directive to member states, who then implement it within their country. The EAA describes accessibility requirements for products and services sold to consumers within the European Union. This includes websites and apps, but also other types of software and digital displays, as well as PDFs like user manuals.

EU member states agreed to add these requirements in their legislation.

The EAA is not itself legislation. Instead, it imposes a requirement on the European member states that they must establish accessibility laws. These laws must cover certain specific areas, but the individual laws of individual countries are variable.

It’s a common misconception that if you’re not based in the EU you don’t have to adhere to the EAA. But the requirement for compliance triggers when you sell products or services covered under EAA to EU citizens. If you are based outside the EU and you sell products or services to Europe, you’re required to make those products and services accessible.

Note that laws of many EU nations require more than just accessibility of the site or app, but also things like accessibility statements with specific content (including known remaining barriers in some cases), and self-reporting of barriers to oversight agencies.

Learn more about the European Accessibility Act.

Web Accessibility Directive

Section 508 in the U.S. is comparable to the Web Accessibility Directive (WAD) in Europe. As with the European Accessibility Act, this is not a law but also a guideline to put accessibility into legislation. In most European countries the WAD has turned into legislation since 2018. It’s focused on government and semi-governmental organizations, as well as their contractors.

You need to have an accessibility statement on your website, which is updated yearly with the progress of the work you did to become fully accessible. Other requirements could differ per country.

Learn more about Web Accessibility Directive.

EN 301 549

In Europe, a standard that is relevant for WAD as well as the EAA is EN 301 549. “EN” stands for European Norm, and it contains accessibility requirements for ICT products and services. For almost all requirements that apply to websites and apps, EN 301 549 references WCAG 2. EN 301 549 also contains requirements beyond websites and apps, such as closed software, real-time communication devices and stationary hardware .

Fair warning: meeting all the success criteria for WCAG 2.1 or 2.2 will not ensure presumption of conformity with WAD or EAA, since EN 301 549 has extra requirements. So it’s an important document to keep an eye on.

Find the most recent version of EN 301 549 (pdf)

Global Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

In the absence of specific legal guidelines, it is most commonly recommended that you follow the latest version Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. WCAG is intended as a multipurpose document that can apply to any website or app.

How to Meet WCAG: WCAG Quick Reference.

Resources

Other resources

  • First published: October 10, 2025
  • Last updated: July 07, 2026
  • Edit article: Improve it on GitHub
  • Contributors: Annelies Verhelst, Bet Hannon, Hidde de Vries.