A European business with US customers can be affected by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), but whether that law really applies to you is not legally settled. For businesses, the ADA contains no technical standard for websites. In practice, WCAG level AA is the benchmark everyone looks at. A single approach based on WCAG 2.2 AA therefore covers both European and US expectations as well as possible.
This article explains what the ADA is, what the US Department of Justice says about websites and what that means for a European online shop. It's part of our complete guide to website accessibility. It's an explanation, not legal advice: for your own situation you need a lawyer who knows US law.
What is the ADA?
The Americans with Disabilities Act is a US civil rights law from 1990 that prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities. The law is divided into titles. Two of them matter for websites, according to the guidance from the US Department of Justice (DOJ):
| Title | Who it covers | What it means for websites |
|---|---|---|
| Title II | State and local governments in the US | Since 2024, a fixed technical standard: WCAG 2.1 AA |
| Title III | Businesses open to the public, known as public accommodations | No fixed technical standard, but the general duty not to discriminate |
For a European business, only Title III is relevant. Title III covers businesses open to the public, such as shops, hotels, restaurants and service providers. The DOJ writes that these businesses must also be accessible online for the goods and services they offer. You'll find more on the terms in the glossary under ADA.
Does the ADA contain a technical standard for websites?
The ADA itself contains no technical standard for business websites. The law predates the modern web and doesn't mention websites. In its March 2022 guidance, the DOJ says it has no regulations setting out detailed standards for businesses under Title III.
What the DOJ does say:
- Businesses have flexibility in how they meet the general requirements of the ADA.
- Existing technical standards, such as WCAG and the US federal government's Section 508 standards, provide helpful guidance.
- According to the DOJ, the guidance itself is not legally binding.
The DOJ also gives examples of common problems, such as poor colour contrast, missing text alternatives for images, video without captions, forms without labels and sites that can't be used with a keyboard. Those are exactly the topics WCAG covers too. You'll find an overview in most common accessibility errors.
The 2024 Title II rule for US governments
For US state and local governments, a hard standard has applied since 2024: WCAG 2.1 level AA. The Department of Justice published that rule in the Federal Register on 24 April 2024. The rule covers government websites and mobile apps, and also parties that provide services on behalf of a government.
According to the fact sheet on ada.gov, the deadlines were moved in April 2026 through an Interim Final Rule:
- Governments serving 50,000 people or more must comply by 26 April 2027.
- Smaller governments and special district governments must comply by 26 April 2028.
This rule doesn't apply to businesses. It's still relevant to a European online shop for two reasons. It shows which standard the US government itself chooses as its benchmark. And if you supply software or services to US governments, the requirement can reach you through your contract.
Does the ADA apply to a European online shop?
Whether the ADA applies to a European business without a presence in the US is legally uncertain. The law was written for businesses in the United States. Whether a US court has jurisdiction over a foreign business, and whether a website without a physical shop is a public accommodation, depends on the facts and on the court. There is no clear-cut answer.
What you can do is assess your risk using a few questions:
- Do you actively target the US? Think of prices in dollars, shipping to US addresses, English-language marketing aimed at the US market or ads targeted at the US.
- Do you have anything in the US? An office, warehouse, subsidiary, employees or a US sales partner strengthens your connection to the US.
- How large is your US revenue? An occasional order from the US is different from a serious share of your sales.
- Do you sell through a platform? On a marketplace such as Amazon, the platform is responsible for its own site. Your own product information, images and documents remain your responsibility, though.
The more of these questions you answer with yes, the more sensible it is to treat ADA claims as a real risk. If you receive a specific letter or claim, bring in a US lawyer. We deliberately don't quote numbers of lawsuits or amounts, because there is no official government source for them.
One approach for the EAA and the ADA
WCAG level AA is the common baseline of the European and US rules. In Europe, the European Accessibility Act works through the standard EN 301 549, which refers to WCAG for web content. In the US, the DOJ cites WCAG as helpful guidance, and the Title II rule sets WCAG 2.1 AA.
| European Accessibility Act | ADA (Title III) | |
|---|---|---|
| Type of rule | European directive, transposed into legislation in the Netherlands | US civil rights law |
| Who it covers | Businesses that supply certain products and services to consumers in the EU | Businesses open to the public |
| Technical standard | EN 301 549, refers to WCAG A and AA | No fixed standard; DOJ cites WCAG and Section 508 as guidance |
| Small business exemption | Micro-enterprises that provide services | No comparable fixed threshold in the law for websites |
| Enforcement | Regulators, in the Netherlands including the ACM | Through the DOJ and through private lawsuits |
So choose WCAG 2.2 AA as your target. The new version of EN 301 549 refers to WCAG 2.2, and according to the W3C, the 2.1 criteria have stayed virtually the same in 2.2. Only criterion 4.1.1 Parsing has been removed. If you meet 2.2 AA, you therefore also meet the 2.1 AA criteria used as the benchmark in the US. What's new in 2.2 is covered in WCAG 2.2 explained.
Why an overlay is not a solution
An accessibility overlay, a script that adds a button or widget to your site and supposedly fixes problems automatically, doesn't make your site compliant. That is the conclusion of the Overlay Fact Sheet, a statement signed by accessibility specialists. According to the fact sheet, no overlay product can make a website fully compliant with an existing standard, and so it can't remove the legal risk either.
The fact sheet lists these limitations, among others:
- Automatically adding alt text to images is not reliable.
- Automatically fixing labels, error messages and focus in forms is not reliable.
- Automatically fixing keyboard operation is not reliable.
- People who use assistive technology usually already have a widget's features on their own device.
The US consumer protection regulator has taken action too. In April 2025, the Federal Trade Commission imposed a final order on accessiBe, including a payment of 1 million dollars. The company may no longer claim that its automated product makes any website WCAG compliant unless it can back that up.
Real accessibility lives in your own code and content: good headings, alt text, labels on form fields and a site that works with a keyboard and a screen reader. That semantic foundation also helps AI systems understand your pages; see content that AI cites.
How to check this on your own site
These steps show you where your site stands, for European and US customers at the same time:
- Use the four questions above to assess how strong your connection to the US market is, and record your conclusion.
- Pick the pages US customers visit: the English-language homepage, product pages, the basket and the checkout.
- Test those pages automatically against WCAG 2.2 levels A and AA, and note the success criterion for each problem.
- Manually test what a tool can't assess: keyboard operation, focus order, colour contrast and the checkout with a screen reader. See testing website accessibility.
- If you use an overlay, don't rely on it: fix the underlying problems in your theme, your code and your content.
- Publish an accessibility statement in English with a contact address, so customers can report problems.
Flowproof's accessibility check is included in the Pro and Business plans. It tests your pages with axe-core against WCAG 2.0, 2.1 and 2.2 levels A and AA, showing the success criterion, level and severity for each problem. The scan honestly flags colour contrast as something to check manually. You can create a free account and upgrade later.