Accessible Canada Act (ACA)
Helping your business meet Accessible Canada Act reporting duties, align your digital technologies to Canada’s ICT accessibility standard, and achieve sustainable programs is our focus. Discover what your organization needs to meet ACA compliance requirements in Canada.
What is the ACA?
The ACA came into force July 11, 2019. The purpose of this ACA is to provide benefits to all persons, especially persons with disabilities, through a Canada without barriers. The realization of this, within the purview of matters coming within the legislative authority of Parliament, is to come on or before January 1, 2040. The ACA aims to achieve this by identifying and removing barriers, and preventing new barriers, in the following areas: employment, built environment, information and communication technologies, communications beyond information and communication technologies, procurement of goods & services, design and delivery of programs and services, and transportation.
Types of organizations ACA applies to:
- Federal Government Organizations
- Canadian Forces
- Royal Canadian Mounted Police
- Parliamentary entities (House of Commons, Senate, etc.)
- Regulated Business Entities (Broadcasting, Canadian Carriers, Telecommunication Service Providers, Transportation Network, Banks)
Important ACA guidelines and requirements
The ACA sets CAN/ASC-EN 301 549:2024 as the technical standard for accessible ICT. CAN/ASC-EN 301 549:2024 includes WCAG 2.1 AA plus additional unique requirements.
Accessibility statement
Organizations must publish an accessibility statement for which describes the content covered, the accessibility standard used (CAN/ASC-EN 301 549), the level of conformance achieved, and how users can request support or report accessibility issues.
Preparing and publishing accessibility plans
Plans must be prepared in consultation with people with disabilities, be updated on a every 3 year cycles, and must show how organizations plan to find, address, and prevent barriers. Evidence of continued improvement is required in each cycle.
Providing a mechanism for feedback
Publish how feedback is collected and received from people with disabilities on potential accessibility issues or questions on the accessibility plan.
Progress reports
Annual progress reports are required between plan updates. These progress reports must be public documents describing actions taken, feedback received, and work still outstanding.
Training
Federal public sector organizations and medium and large federally regulated private-sector entities must provide digital accessibility training to employees involved in developing, maintaining, or procuring digital technologies.
Conformity assessment
Federal organizations must ensure accessibility is considered during procurement and maintain assessment documentation as proof of conformity.
How to meet ACA web accessibility compliance requirements and deadlines
The Canadian Government and Provincial Governments are explicit in the goal of integrating web and digital accessibility policy considerations into the day-to-day processes and operations of public and private organizations. If your organization is subject to ACA web and digital accessibility requirements, here are some steps you can take to help ensure your compliance:
- Speak to your organization’s legal counsel to make sure you understand the scope of the requirements and any deadlines you need to be aware of.
- Map out how your organization is currently meeting requirements to provide different materials in an accessible format and note which of those materials are web-based or presented in a digital format.
- Discuss future web properties your team is working on and how you plan to ensure those properties are accessible.
- Provide digital accessibility training for your teams that generate web content and digital materials and seek consulting help.
Start investigating tools and other ways to support and facilitate your teams to build accessible content.
Important ACA accessibility applicability and deadlines
The Accessible Canada Act creates two separate sets of obligations, and they run on different clocks. Understanding which one you’re looking at prevents most of the confusion.
The first set has been in effect since 2019. It covers accessibility plans, feedback processes, and progress reports, and it runs on a repeating three-year cycle. If your organization is subject to the ACA, you are already inside this cycle. The dates below tell you where you are in it.
The second set is new. The Digital Technologies Accessibility Regulations (SOR/2025-255) were registered on December 5, 2025, and add a new part to the Accessible Canada Regulations covering web pages, mobile applications, and digital documents. The deadlines for this regulation are December 5, 2027 or December 5, 2028.
Planning and reporting obligations
These requirements are already active. Past dates matter here because they tell you which cohort you belong to and when your next filing is due.
| Obligation | Cycle established | Next due |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility plans: Updated every 3 years, prepared in consultation with people with disabilities | Federal public sector: Dec 31, 2022 Large & medium private (100+): Jun 1, 2023 Small private (10-99): Jun 1, 2024 | Federal public sector: Dec 31, 2028 Large & medium private (100+): Jun 1, 2029 Small private (10-99): Jun 1, 2030 |
| Progress reports: Due on the 1st and 2nd anniversary of each plan deadline | Same cohorts as above | Federal public sector: Dec 31, 2026 and Dec 31, 2027 Large & medium private (100+): Jun 1, 2027 and Jun 1, 2028 Small private (10-99): Jun 1, 2028 and Jun 1, 2029 |
| Feedback process: Published mechanism for receiving accessibility feedback | Required alongside the initial plan | Maintained continuously |
Note that the employee thresholds in this table are not the same as the thresholds used in the digital technology regulations below. Under the planning and reporting rules, organizations with 10 to 99 employees have obligations. Under the digital technology rules, organizations with fewer than 100 employees are exempt entirely.
Digital technology requirements
These come from SOR/2025-255 and are enforceable starting in 2027. The technical standard is CAN/ASC-EN 301 549, which incorporates WCAG 2.1 Level AA for web content along with additional requirements.
| Requirement | Federal public sector | Large private (500+) | Medium private (100-499) | Small private (under 100) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Web pages Conform to the standard, for pages created or updated on or after the date | Dec 5, 2027 | Dec 5, 2028 | Dec 5, 2028 | Exempt |
| Training For employees who develop, maintain, or procure digital technologies. Refresher every 3 years | Dec 5, 2027 | Dec 5, 2027 | Dec 5, 2027 | Exempt |
| Accessibility statement Published and renewed every 12 months | Dec 5, 2027 | Dec 5, 2028 | Not required | Exempt |
| Mobile applications Launched on or after the date conform to the standard | Dec 5, 2028 | Dec 5, 2028 | Not required | Exempt |
| Conformity assessment for existing mobile apps Apps still available for download | Dec 5, 2028 | Dec 5, 2028 | Not required | Exempt |
| Digital documents Made available for download from public web pages or apps | Dec 5, 2028 | Dec 5, 2028 | Not required | Exempt |
| Conformity assessment at procurement With gap analysis. Web pages and mobile applications only | Dec 5, 2028 | Dec 5, 2028 | Not required | Exempt |
| Record retention Training records, conformity assessments, accessibility statements | 4 years | 4 years | 4 years, training records only | Exempt |
Sector exclusions. Broadcasting and telecommunications entities are excluded from the public-facing requirements above, because the CRTC regulates that ground. Transportation service providers are scoped to employee-facing web pages only, and only those already subject to Part 1 of the Accessible Transportation for Persons with Disabilities Regulations. If you are in either category, the rows above do not apply to you the way they apply to a bank or a federal department.
First Nations band councils are exempt from the digital technology requirements and from the planning and reporting requirements until December 31, 2033.
Federal public sector timing detail. The December 5, 2027 accessibility statement deadline covers web pages. Federal public sector entities have until December 5, 2028 to publish statements covering mobile applications and digital documents.
Helpful resources
I’ve received the results of my accessibility audit. Now what?
Most organizations start their digital accessibility journey with an audit. Let’s discuss the best next steps after an accessibility audit.
What your organization needs to prepare for Canada digital accessibility laws
Develop a better understanding of digital accessibility requirements in Canada.
The deadline for Accessible Canada Act progress reports is almost here
Learn what’s due and what your best options are for meeting the requirements.
Benefits of ACA compliance
Serving a wider audience
Learn more about important applicability, deadlines and requirements for Canada’s various digital accessibility laws
Decreased legal risk
Organizations who actively pursue accessibility excellence are better positioned to address claims and avoid costly violations
Increased search presence
Providing transcripts for audio visual files are discoverable by search engines
Better overall user experience
Studies show that optimizations made in UI/UX for accessibility also benefit people without disabilities
How Deque can help
As the global leader in digital accessibility with over 20 years of experience helping organizations with meeting compliance requirements, improving internal operations, and reporting on accessibility programs, Deque is your trusted partner in digital accessibility.
Whether you’re responding to an immediate need, or building the foundation for a sustainable and long term digital accessibility practice, we provide the most comprehensive and complete suite of tools, services and training available. Our accessibility library has been downloaded 5 Billion+ times. Our accessibility testing extensions have been downloaded 800,000+ times, and we’ve completed 10,000+ projects.
Audit
Most accessibility projects begin and end with an audit – they assess the current state of your digital accessibility resulting in a clear accessibility report.
Remediation
Getting help from our team of experts will ensure your accessibility fixes will meet your compliance requirements as quickly and effectively as possible.
Axe Platform
The Axe Platform enable accessibility experts and development to test and maintain accessibility end-to-end.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Accessible Canada Act?
The resulting Accessible Canada Act is landmark federal legislation that aims to realize a barrier-free Canada by 2040. A key principle of the ACA is “Nothing Without Us”, which means that persons with disabilities should be consulted when developing laws, policies and programs that impact them.
Does Canada have an equivalent to the Americans with Disabilities Act?
The Accessible Canada Act requires federal government organizations and federally regulated entities (banking, telecommunications, transportation) to make their properties accessible by people with disabilities. Some provinces have separate accessibility laws.
What is the Ontario Act for accessibility?
The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) is a law that sets out a process for developing and enforcing accessibility standards. Persons with disabilities and industry representatives work together with the government to develop the standards.
What is Bill C 81 Canada?
The bill gave the Government of Canada the ability to work with stakeholders and with Canadians with disabilities to create new accessibility standards and regulations for sectors under federal jurisdiction. These sectors include banking, telecommunications, transportation, and the Government of Canada.
