2025 Outlook on Canadian Web Accessibility Regulations
ByEllie Marshall and John Lenz
January 14, 2025
Overview
More information
Web accessibility regulations that apply to private-sector businesses operating in Canada continue to develop. The federal government recently announced a consultation on the web accessibility obligations that federally regulated entities could face under proposed regulatory amendments pursuant to the Accessible Canada Act. Additionally, in 2025, businesses with employees in Manitoba will face new obligations to ensure their websites meet certain accessibility requirements.
In this bulletin, we highlight these expected legislative developments and summarize existing web accessibility obligations in Canada.
Federal Consultation on Amendments to Accessible Canada Regulations
On December 21, 2024, the Accessible Canada Directorate announced a consultation on proposed amendments to the Accessible Canada Regulations made under the Accessible Canada Act, which would require federally regulated private-sector organizations that average 100 to 499 employees (medium-sized businesses) or average more than 500 employees (large businesses) to conform to web, mobile and digital accessibility requirements.
Large and medium-sized businesses would have until June 1, 2028, to ensure that all public-facing and internal employee-facing web pages (and any content on those pages) conform to the CAN/ASC – EN 301 549:2024 Accessibility requirements for ICT products and services National Standard (CAN/ASC-EN Standard). This [...]