CluesiaUnited States
ADA Title II, Section 508, and ADA Title III
This page is available in English only. Three separate US legal frameworks apply to digital accessibility, each with its own standard and its own required document — unlike the EU, where one directive covers every member state.
ADA Title II — state and local government
DOJ's final rule adds Subpart H to Title II's regulations (28 CFR Part 35), adopting WCAG 2.1 Level AA as the binding technical standard for the web content and mobile apps of state and local government entities.
A DOJ interim final rule published April 2026 extended the original 2024 compliance dates by one year: entities serving a total population of 50,000 or more now have until April 2027; entities under 50,000, and any special district government, until April 2028. This interim rule had an open public comment period at the time of writing — treat it as the current timeline, not a permanently fixed one.
Section 508 — federal agencies and contractors
The 2017 "508 Refresh" (U.S. Access Board, effective January 2018) incorporates WCAG 2.0 Levels A and AA by reference — an older baseline than Title II's, not yet updated to WCAG 2.1 or 2.2 in the binding regulation.
Section 508 compliance is documented differently from an EU accessibility statement: as a VPAT (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template — the blank document format, maintained by the Information Technology Industry Council) filled out for a specific product, which once completed is called an ACR (Accessibility Conformance Report). Each criterion is scored Supports, Partially Supports, Does Not Support, or Not Applicable, with remarks.
ADA Title III — private businesses
Unlike Title II, the DOJ has no codified technical regulation for private businesses' websites — its own guidance states plainly that WCAG is offered as "helpful guidance," not a mandated standard. In practice, WCAG 2.1 AA is the benchmark courts and settlements converge on, but this is litigation-driven, not a fixed rule.
Website-accessibility lawsuit filings are a real and growing pattern: Seyfarth Shaw's own tracker counted 3,117 federal website-accessibility lawsuits in 2025, up 27% from 2024. In California specifically, the Unruh Civil Rights Act incorporates ADA violations automatically and carries a $4,000 statutory minimum per violation — a real damages remedy the ADA itself doesn't provide, which is why California is the most heavily litigated state in this area.
One scan, both markets
WCAG 2.1 AA — what Cluesia already tests for every audit — is a strict superset of Section 508's older WCAG 2.0 AA baseline and meets Title II's requirement directly. Choose "US" as your site's market when you add it, and your audit produces a VPAT/ACR instead of an EU-style statement, from the same scan.
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