Accessibility law is changing quickly across the US, EU and beyond. Here's what WCAG, the ADA and the EU's EN 301 549 / EAA require today, the recent updates you should know about, and how AccessPulse helps you stay on the right side of them.
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are the internationally recognised standard for digital accessibility, published by the W3C. They're organised around four principles — content must be Perceivable, Operable, Understandable and Robust (POUR) — and defined at three conformance levels: A, AA and AAA.
WCAG 2.1 AA is the level most laws reference, and WCAG 2.2 AA (published October 2023) is the current version, adding criteria for focus visibility, target sizes and simpler authentication. Meeting Level AA is the practical goal for almost every website.
Regulators worldwide are making digital accessibility a legal requirement — with real deadlines.
US courts have repeatedly applied the Americans with Disabilities Act to websites of businesses ("places of public accommodation"). Thousands of web-accessibility lawsuits are filed each year, and the Department of Justice has affirmed the ADA covers web content.
In April 2024 the DOJ finalised a rule requiring state and local government websites and mobile apps to meet WCAG 2.1 AA, with compliance deadlines in 2026–2027 depending on population size — a strong signal of where enforcement is heading.
The EAA applies from 28 June 2025, requiring a wide range of private-sector digital products and services sold in the EU — e-commerce, banking, transport and more — to be accessible in line with EN 301 549 / WCAG.
Other frameworks include Section 508 (US federal), AODA (Ontario, Canada) and EN 301 549 (EU). This page is general information, not legal advice.
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How each of the 30 AccessPulse tools maps to the success criteria behind the five standards. ● counts toward that standard's required baseline; ◐ is supported but beyond the required minimum (a Level AAA or newer-WCAG criterion).
| Tool | WCAG success criterion | Level | WCAG | 508 | ADA | EN 301 549 / EAA | GIGW 3.0 |
|---|
Baselines: Section 508 = WCAG 2.0 AA · ADA & GIGW 3.0 = WCAG 2.1 AA · EN 301 549/EAA = WCAG 2.1 AA (moving to 2.2). AccessPulse assists these presentation-related criteria in good faith — it is not a certification, and full conformance also needs source-level fixes (and, for GIGW 3.0, an STQC / CERT-In audit).
Add AccessPulse in one line of code and take a real step toward WCAG, ADA & EAA compliance.
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