The Justice Department this week released its final rule to revise the regulation implementing Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act to establish specific requirements for making state and local governments’ web content and mobile applications accessible. While the regulations would apply only to state and local governments subject to Title II, regulations applicable to private businesses subject to Title III, such as banks, may follow similar form and substance.
The final rule requires public entities to make their websites and mobile apps comply with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Level AA, unless the public entity can demonstrate that compliance with the standard would result in a fundamental alteration of the product or service or would result in an undue financial and administrative burden to the entity. The final rule also contains changes to the exceptions section compared to the proposed rule. For example, the exception for linked third-party content has been eliminated, while an exception for preexisting social media posts has been introduced.
Another major change was the addition of a new section on noncompliance that has a minimal effect on access. This section allows public entities to employ inaccessible technologies provided they can demonstrate that their alternative methods of providing access to the intended goods or services are “substantially equivalent” to the use of fully accessible technologies.
