Accessibility Policies: ADA and EAA Compliance Made Simple

Two Frameworks, One Practical Standard

Website accessibility is governed by two major legal frameworks: the Americans with Disabilities Act in the United States and the European Accessibility Act in the EU. Both converge on the same technical standard — WCAG 2.1 Level AA. If you build to that standard, you satisfy the technical requirements of both frameworks.

ADA Title III and Websites

ADA Title III prohibits discrimination by places of public accommodation. Courts and the Department of Justice have consistently held that commercial websites qualify. The DOJ issued final guidance in March 2024 explicitly requiring WCAG 2.1 AA compliance. Over 4,000 federal accessibility lawsuits were filed in 2023 alone.

The European Accessibility Act 2025

The EAA came into full effect on 28 June 2025. It applies to products and services offered in the EU, including SaaS platforms. Microenterprises (fewer than 10 employees and under €2 million turnover) are exempt, but any company above that threshold must comply.

What Your Accessibility Policy Must Include

• Conformance statement: current WCAG level achieved across your product
• Known exceptions: parts of the product not yet fully compliant, with remediation timelines
• Feedback mechanism: a working email or form for accessibility complaints
• Escalation path: reference to national enforcement bodies for EAA-covered markets

The Most Common Accessibility Failures

• Missing alt text on images, charts, and icon buttons
• Insufficient colour contrast — the WCAG minimum is 4.5:1 for normal text
• Forms without labels — every input field must have a programmatically associated label
• Keyboard traps — modal dialogs that cannot be exited without a mouse
• No skip navigation — keyboard users need a way to bypass repeated navigation blocks

Testing Tools and Enforcement

Automated tools catch approximately 30-40% of accessibility issues. Use axe DevTools, Lighthouse, or WAVE as part of your CI pipeline. Manual testing with a screen reader (VoiceOver, NVDA) is required for the rest. ADA litigation typically results in settlements of $25,000–$100,000 plus legal fees.