Summary of the proposed changes to the Accessible Canada Regulations about Digital Accessibility

American Sign Language (ASL) video of the Summary of the Accessible Canada Regulations (no audio, no captions)

This summary gives a general idea of the proposed changes to the Accessible Canada Regulations. This summary is not legal text. It also isn't a tool for interpreting the proposed changes to the Accessible Canada Regulations.

On this page

• Introduction
• Definitions
• What is the Accessible Canada Act
• Who must follow the Accessible Canada Act
• Accessible Canada Regulations
• What the proposed digital accessibility rules would require organizations to do
• Proposed rules summary
• Violations
• Benefits of the proposed changes

Introduction

Regulations are rules made by the government. They control the way people and organizations do things. Regulations made under the Accessible Canada Act provide details on how to follow that law.

Definitions

A digital document is a document that is paperless in its original format. An example of this are PDF documents.

CAN/ASC - EN 301 549 is Accessibility Standards Canada's digital accessibility standard.

What is the Accessible Canada Act

The Accessible Canada Act is a law passed in 2019 to make Canada barrier-free by January 1, 2040.

A barrier is anything that stops persons with disabilities from fully and equally taking part in Canadian society.

You can read an accessible summary of the Accessible Canada Act.

Who must follow the Accessible Canada Act

Organizations under federal responsibility must follow the Accessible Canada Act. These are:

• federal public sector organizations:
  • federal government departments, like Employment and Social Development Canada
  • the Canadian Forces
  • the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
  • the House of Commons and Senate
  • federal crown corporations, like Via Rail or Canada Post
• private businesses that are under federal responsibility, like banks, airlines, and grain elevators

Accessible Canada Regulations

The Accessible Canada Regulations became law in December 2021. These regulations:

• set the rules for accessibility planning, reporting and feedback processes
• set penalties for not following the Accessible Canada Act and its regulations

What the proposed digital accessibility rules would require organizations to do

The proposed changes would introduce a new part to the Accessible Canada Regulations that would have rules for digital accessibility.

The goal of the proposed rules is for persons with disabilities to have equitable access to:

• jobs
• programs
• services

Who would have to follow the rules

• All federal public sector organizations
• Private businesses with 500 or more employees that are under federal responsibility (or "large businesses")
• Private businesses with 100 to 499 employees that are under federal responsibility (or "medium-sized businesses")

Who would not have to follow the rules

• Private businesses that are under federal responsibility with 99 or fewer employees would not have to follow the proposed rules
• First Nations Band Councils would not have to follow the proposed rules until December 2033
  • This gives the Government of Canada time to work with First Nations Band Councils on a possible tailored approach to accessibility

Proposed rules summary

The proposed rules would require organizations to make the following things accessible for persons with disabilities:

• new web pages
• new mobile applications
• new digital documents

To do this, organizations would have to follow the most recent version of CAN/ASC-EN 301 549 (or the "digital standard"). The digital standard says how to design things like web pages so persons with disabilities can easily use them.

Rules for web pages

Organizations would have to make any web page they publish accessible starting from the following dates.

• Public sector organizations: June 1, 2027
• Private sector organizations: June 1, 2028

This would include web pages for the public or for employees.

Rules for mobile applications

Federal public sector organizations and large businesses would have to make their mobile applications accessible.

• This rule would apply to any mobile application they publish starting June 1, 2028
• This rule would only apply to mobile applications for the public

As of June 1, 2028, they would also have to assess their already existing mobile applications.

Rules for digital documents

Federal public sector organizations and large businesses would have to make their digital documents accessible.

• This rule would apply to any digital document they publish starting June 1, 2028
• The rule would only be for digital documents published on organizations' websites for the public

Alternative ways to give equitable access

Organizations might not always be able to follow the digital standard. This could be because:

• there is no available technology that follows the digital standard
• the organization has major problems using available technology even though it's been trying very hard
• the organization doesn't have enough control over the technology

If they can't follow the digital standard, organizations would have to give other ways of access to persons with disabilities. Organizations would have to make sure that persons with disabilities always have equitable access.

Accessibility statements

Federal public sector organizations would have to publish an accessibility statement for their web pages by June 1, 2027.

By June 1, 2028, their accessibility statement would also have to cover their mobile applications and digital documents.

Large businesses would have to publish their first accessibility statement by June 1, 2028. Their accessibility statement would have to be about their web pages, mobile applications and digital documents.

Organization would have to make sure their accessibility statements:

• are written in clear and simple language
• explain how to use any accessibility features
• describe different ways of access for things that don't follow the digital standard
• explain how long it will take the organization to fix things that don't follow the digital standard

Organizations would have to update their accessibility statement every year.

Rules for buying digital products and services

Starting June 1, 2028, federal public sector organizations and large businesses must get an accessibility assessment when buying services and products covered by the proposed rules.

Rules for digital accessibility training

Organizations would have to give digital accessibility training to their employees:

• federal public sector organizations, large and medium-sized businesses would have to follow this rule
• this training would be for employees who develop, support, or buy digital technologies
• they would have to give this training by June 1, 2027
• after the first training, organizations would have to give refresher training every 3 years

Keeping records

Federal public sector organizations, large and medium-sized business would have to keep an electronic copy of their:

• accessibility assessments
• accessibility statements
• digital accessibility training

They would have to keep these records for 4 years.

Violations

If an organization doesn't follow any of these proposed rules, it could get a minor violation.

The penalty amount for minor violations could be as small as $250 and as big as $75,000.

Benefits of the proposed changes

The proposed rules would benefit Canadian employers and persons with disabilities. For example:

• persons with disabilities would save time by being able to do more things on organizations' websites. They would not have to travel to visit an organization in-person as much
• employers will benefit because their employees with disabilities would be more productive

The benefits to people and businesses will be more than the costs of following the proposed rules.