I'm not a lawyer, do your own due diligence. Yada, yada, yada.
Had to say that for legal reasons. Anywho...
There's no universal law requiring private websites to have accessibility statements. Not in the US, not in the EU. That said, plenty of rules do apply depending on who you are and where you operate. Here's what I found.
In the US, federal agencies must have accessibility statements, as defined by an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) memorandum tied to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. State and local governments are expected to have them too, as a core part of compliance. But it's not always spelled out explicitly.
Private businesses have no legal requirement under the American with Disabilities Act (ADA). Courts have interpreted that law to cover web accessibility, but for private companies, an accessibility statement is just considered best practice.
The EU is stricter.
The Web Accessibility Directive requires public sector websites and apps to have accessibility statements. And it gets specific about what goes in them, starting with compliance details, any content that's not accessible and a way for users to give feedback. The European Accessibility Act goes a step further, requiring certain service providers to publish information explaining how they meet accessibility standards. Most interpret that as an accessibility statement.
Individual EU countries layer on their own rules too. Germany's Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz (BFSG) mandates statements for covered services and backs it up with fines up to €100,000. France has required statements, including known barriers and a feedback option, since 2023. Spain's law 11/2023 requires statements that include a complaints contact and a last-updated date.
So yes, the rules vary.
Writing an accessibility statement isn't hard, so why skip it?
But what do you write in it? How do you phrase everything? How do you keep it honest without turning it into a legal document nobody reads?
Let's talk about that tomorrow.