Website Accessibility Laws in 2026: The EU Accessibility Act, ADA, AODA, UK and Australia

Most countries we work in now expect business websites to be accessible to people with disabilities, and the shared benchmark is WCAG (the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) at level AA. The European Accessibility Act has applied since 28 June 2025 to online stores and many other services sold to EU consumers, including from businesses based outside the EU. In the US, websites are a frequent target of lawsuits under the ADA. Ontario's AODA requires organizations with 50 or more employees to meet WCAG 2.0 AA, and the UK and Australia rely on equality and anti-discrimination laws. Building to WCAG 2.2 AA covers all of them in practice.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Check your own obligations with a lawyer in each market you sell to.

European Union: the European Accessibility Act (EAA)

The EAA (Directive 2019/882) applies from 28 June 2025 to products and services such as e-commerce, banking, e-books, ticketing and transport services offered to consumers in the EU. If you sell online to EU consumers, it can apply to you wherever your business is based. Microenterprises providing services, meaning fewer than 10 employees and annual turnover or balance sheet of no more than EUR 2 million, are exempt from the service requirements. Compliance is measured against the European standard EN 301 549, which follows WCAG at level AA, and each EU country enforces it with its own penalties.

United States: the ADA

Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act covers businesses open to the public, and US courts have applied it to websites, especially those linked to a physical location or selling online. There is no federal technical rule for private websites yet, so WCAG 2.1 or 2.2 AA is the standard used in settlements and court orders. Since 2024, a Department of Justice rule requires state and local government websites to meet WCAG 2.1 AA, which sets the benchmark many businesses now follow.

Canada: AODA in Ontario, and the Accessible Canada Act

Under Ontario's Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, private and non-profit organizations with 50 or more employees in Ontario must make their public websites, and web content published since 2012, meet WCAG 2.0 level AA, with a few exceptions such as live captions. Federally regulated organizations, such as banks, telecoms and airlines, also have duties under the Accessible Canada Act.

United Kingdom and Australia

In the UK, the Equality Act 2010 requires service providers to make reasonable adjustments so disabled people are not put at a disadvantage, which includes websites and apps. Public sector bodies have specific accessibility regulations, and WCAG 2.2 AA is the benchmark the UK government uses. In Australia, the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 makes it unlawful to discriminate in providing goods and services, including online, and the Australian Human Rights Commission points to WCAG as the standard to meet.

What WCAG 2.2 AA means in practice

• Everything works with a keyboard alone, with a visible focus outline
• Text and buttons have enough color contrast against their background
• Images have meaningful alt text; decorative images are hidden from screen readers
• Every form field has a label, and errors say what went wrong and how to fix it
• Headings follow a logical order, and links and buttons say where they lead
• Tap targets are large enough on phones, and pages work zoomed to 200%
• Video has captions, and nothing flashes or moves without a way to pause it

How to get your website compliant

• Run automated checks such as Google Lighthouse or axe on your key pages. They catch around a third of issues, such as contrast, missing labels and alt text
• Test the main journeys by hand: browse, search, add to cart, checkout and contact, using only a keyboard and then a screen reader
• Fix templates and components first, so one change fixes every page that uses them
• Publish an accessibility statement with a way for people to report problems
• Re-test whenever you change themes, add apps or plugins, or launch new pages

Avoid overlay widgets that promise one-line compliance. They do not fix the underlying code, and they are often named in US lawsuits. Our own site scores 100 for accessibility in Google Lighthouse, and we build client sites to WCAG 2.x AA.