Is an Accessibility Statement Legally Required for Websites?
One of the most critical components of the obligation to make the digital space accessible to people with disabilities is the requirement to include a legally compliant accessibility statement on your website.
Moreover, past experience shows that from a legal standpoint — or more precisely, from the standpoint of litigation risk — compliance with this requirement is the primary vulnerability for website owners and the leading basis for complaints and lawsuits in this area.
There Are Two Main Reasons for This
The First Reason
Unlike an apparent accessibility defect found on a website — which does not automatically constitute grounds for a lawsuit but instead requires the claimant to first notify the site owner and allow 60 days for remediation — the absence of an accessibility statement, or the presence of a non-compliant one, constitutes immediate grounds for legal action with no prior warning required. This is precisely the vulnerability that bad-faith claimants look for, and many website owners have already found themselves facing unnecessary costs, administrative hassle, and sometimes settlement payments simply to make the threat go away.
The Second Reason
A significant portion of those who have placed an accessibility statement on their site — and even some of those advising them on the matter — have done so incorrectly. By failing to meet the statutory requirements for what an accessibility statement must contain, they expose themselves and their clients to litigation risk and unnecessary expense.
The obligation to publish an accessibility statement is established in three separate sections of the Equal Rights for Persons with Disabilities Regulations (Service Accessibility Accommodations), 2013 (the "Regulations"): Section 34(a)(4), Section 35e, and Section 91(e).
Section 35e of the Regulations establishes the general obligation to post an accessibility statement on the website. This statement must include information about the accessibility accommodations implemented on the site, as well as the contact details of the accessibility coordinator or designated point of contact for accessibility inquiries — along with available communication channels (email, phone, etc.).
Section 91 of the Regulations sets out the conditions under which a business must appoint a dedicated accessibility coordinator (businesses with 25 or more employees), defines the coordinator's responsibilities, and requires that the coordinator's contact details be published, among other places, on the business's website.
Section 34(a)(4) requires that accessibility accommodations made to a service and to the physical premises where the service is provided be published, among other channels, on the service provider's website, if one exists. This naturally raises the question: what does physical-premises accessibility have to do with a website?
The answer is straightforward: when a business or service has a website but also operates a physical location (such as a store, office, studio, clinic, or similar), the business owner is required to publish on their website the accessibility accommodations available at that physical location as well.
This means the business owner must include in the accessibility statement details about the presence or absence of physical accessibility features — such as accessible parking, wheelchair ramps or lifts, accessible restrooms, accessible service counters, and so on — at the business premises and along the access routes to it, as applicable based on the nature of the business.
It is important to understand that these legal requirements do not obligate the business owner to implement the physical accessibility accommodations themselves (which are governed by separate legislation unrelated to digital accessibility). Rather, the obligation is to disclose in the website's accessibility statement whether such accommodations exist or not — with the goal of helping people with disabilities plan their visit in advance.
This transparency allows individuals to know ahead of time what physical accessibility features are or are not in place, so they can assess whether they are able to visit, or alternatively, contact the accessibility coordinator listed in the statement to arrange a meeting at an accessible location outside the business premises.
Consult With Us
At UA, we provide our clients with a fully compliant accessibility statement template, while emphasizing the importance of independently reviewing whether additional specific considerations apply — such as businesses with multiple branches, unique locations, or other special circumstances.
"