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2021-07-12 18:30:04

In a major development in accessibility law, the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) has released the First Public Working Draft of WCAG 3.0, a new version of the international standards body’s highly influential Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). The WCAG 2.x series, which provides accessibility standards for web content including websites and mobile apps, has had tremendous influence in U.S. accessibility law and policy, serving as the go-to standard for accessibility compliance for web content and services subject to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and statutes governing federal procurement of information and communications technology. WCAG 3.0 will be a significant departure from the 2.x series and will provide accessibility standards for more disabilities and a broader range of technologies, while also extending its reach to more technological components. The release of the First Public Working Draft of WCAG 3.0 is the first step in an iterative process to develop final guidelines, which W3C expects to be completed after 2022. In addition to the Working Draft of the new standard, W3C also has released an introduction to WCAG 3.0 and a document outlining its requirements. Comments on the First Public Working Draft are due by February 26, 2021.

The WCAG technical standards are a globally recognized and technologically neutral set of voluntary web content accessibility guidelines developed by the WAI “with a goal of providing a single shared standard for web content accessibility that meets the needs of individuals, organizations, and governments internationally.”