Kept Record

WCAG: the technical standard every accessibility law points at, and what its levels and versions mean.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines are written by the World Wide Web Consortium. They are not a law. They are the measure that laws in the EU, the United States and the United Kingdom use when they need to say what an accessible web page is.

What it is

WCAG is a W3C Recommendation: a specification endorsed by the consortium and its members after a consensus process.

a specification that, after extensive consensus-building, is endorsed by W3C and its Members WCAG 2.2, Status of This Document, 12 December 2024.

WCAG 2.2 became a Recommendation on 5 October 2023.

W3C Recommendation 05 October 2023 WCAG 2.2, document header, 5 October 2023.

It was republished with errata on 12 December 2024. That is the edition in force today.

2024-12-12: Republished WCAG 2.2, incorporating the following errata WCAG 2.2, Change Log, 12 December 2024.

WCAG 2.1 dates from 5 June 2018.

W3C Recommendation 05 June 2018 WCAG 2.1, document header, 5 June 2018.

WCAG 2.0 dates from 11 December 2008.

W3C Recommendation 11 December 2008 WCAG 2.0, document header, 11 December 2008.

Levels

Every success criterion in WCAG is assigned a level: A, AA or AAA. A page conforms at a level when it meets every criterion at that level and below. The laws described on these pages all ask for Level AA.

Level AA conformance means the page satisfies all Level A and all Level AA success criteria.

the web page satisfies all the Level A and Level AA success criteria WCAG 2.2, section 5.2.1 Conformance Level, 12 December 2024.

Which version each law points at

The European standard EN 301 549 version 3.2.1, the one currently cited in the EU's Official Journal, points at WCAG 2.1.

The present document reflects the content of the W3C WCAG 2.1 Recommendation ETSI EN 301 549 V3.2.1, Introduction, March 2021.

The new EN 301 549 version 4.1.1, published September 2026 and not yet cited in the Official Journal, points at WCAG 2.2.

updated to align with the WCAG 2.2 recommendation ETSI EN 301 549 V4.1.1, Foreword, September 2026.

The United States Department of Justice rule for state and local government websites points at WCAG 2.1 Level AA.

Level A and Level AA success criteria and conformance requirements specified in WCAG 2.1 28 CFR 35.200(b)(1), eCFR, section last amended 20 April 2026.

The United States federal government's own standard, Section 508, points at WCAG 2.0 Level AA.

conform to Level A and Level AA Success Criteria and Conformance Requirements in WCAG 2.0 36 CFR part 1194, Appendix A, E205.4, eCFR, section last amended 23 March 2018.

The United Kingdom's public sector regulations point at WCAG Levels A and AA without a version number, as amended from time to time; the government's guidance names version 2.2.

level AA of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.2 GOV.UK, public sector accessibility monitoring guidance, updated 30 September 2024.

How much of the web meets it

One figure is worth knowing, with its caveat attached. WebAIM, at Utah State University, runs an automated check across the home pages of the million most visited websites every year.

In February 2026, WebAIM's check detected WCAG 2 failures on nearly every home page it read: about 96 in a hundred.

95.9% of home pages had detected WCAG 2 failures The WebAIM Million, 2026 edition, February 2026.

The figure counts only failures a program can detect. WebAIM's own caveat is the honest half of the number: a page with no detected errors has not been shown to be accessible.

Absence of detected errors does not indicate that a page is accessible or conformant. The WebAIM Million, 2026 edition, Methodology, February 2026.

Sources

Every source on this page was fetched and its quotation confirmed on 18 September 2026, today. That date is written by the script that checked, not by a person.

A directive binds member states, who write it into national law. The national act can name a different authority, set a different penalty, or add duties. The sources here are the directive and three national acts; yours may differ.

Nothing on this page is about a product. The record a business keeps of its own site is its own affair, and no tool makes a site meet a law.

This page describes the law as it is written in the sources cited. It is not legal advice, it does not cover every case, and national law can add to what a directive requires. It has not been reviewed by a lawyer.

This page describes what the system does, written by the people who built it. It has not yet been reviewed by a lawyer, and it will be before anything on this site can be bought.