WCAG 2.2’s recognition as ISO/IEC 40500:2025 strengthens its usefulness as a procurement specification; it does not itself create a universal US compliance deadline. W3C announced that recognition on 21 October 2025. (w3.org)
US Department of Justice guidance explains accessibility obligations for businesses open to the public and identifies WCAG as useful technical guidance. Whether a particular publisher falls within relevant legal coverage requires its own assessment. (ada.gov)
What should an accessibility clause cover?
W3C’s WCAG 2.2 conformance model concerns full pages; a publisher cannot claim full-page conformance simply by excluding a problematic portion. WCAG 2.2 also adds criteria relevant to visible focus, target size and accessible authentication. (w3.org)
Our recommended demo-content specification should therefore ask for:
- A named standard and conformance level, rather than “accessible” without definition.
- Coverage of the wrapper, launch controls and game interface.
- Keyboard and assistive-technology test evidence.
- Assessment of animation, flashing, audio and focus behaviour.
- Known exceptions, remediation ownership and retesting arrangements.
- An accessible unavailable-content or alternative-content experience.
Buying implication: include accessibility in the pilot and contract negotiation. Do not wait until after a catalogue-wide deployment to discover which parts the supplier can change.