Plaintiffs Will Continue to Drive Website Accessibility as DOJ Delays Rulemaking
By Gonzalo E. Mon on December 3, 2015
Posted in ADA, Class Actions
Since July 2010, the DOJ has sought to issue a proposed rulemaking addressing the applicability of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) to private retailers offering goods and services to the public online. The rulemaking has been delayed several times, and was most recently scheduled for a Spring 2016 publication.
However, on November 19, 2015, the federal government released its Fall 2015 Semiannual Unified Agenda and Regulatory Plan, identifying regulatory priorities and significant regulatory actions that agencies expect to take in the coming year. The Fall 2015 Unified Agenda indicates that the DOJ is further delaying this much-anticipated proposed rule, and has moved the rulemaking to its “long term action” list.
Concurrently, the DOJ announced that it expects to publish its proposed rule for website accessibility applicable to State and local governments under Title II in January 2016. In the accompanying Statements of Regulatory Priorities, the DOJ explains that it believes the Title II rulemaking “will facilitate the creation of an important infrastructure for web accessibility” and inform the agency of how it should move forward with its Title III website [...]