European Accessibility Act (EAA) Directive

• The EAA applies to e-books and e-commerce services provided to consumers.
• EAA primer by STM Translated version by Boersenverein on EAA (German implementation). Boersenverein granted translation and reuse permission (Susanne Barwick, Deputy Legal Counsel).

UK Equality Act (2010)

Americans with Disabilities Act  (ADA) Title II: April 2026

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Title II legislation that comes into force in April 2026 for all territories where the administrative population is over 50,000 covers anything provided by local authority bodies, including universities and hospitals, including all the books and journals provided by a university.

The standard for ‘accessibility’ here is the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) guidelines, which is also the foundation for the European Accessibility Act (EAA)

Fact Sheet:  New Rule on the Accessibility of Web Content and Mobile Apps Provided by State and Local Governments.  

Some main points/excerpts:

Who has to follow the web and mobile app accessibility requirements in the rule?

Like the rest of Title II, the rule applies to all state and local governments (including any agencies or departments of state or local governments) and special purpose districts, Amtrak, and other commuter authorities.

State and local governments that contract with other entities to provide public services for them (like non-profit organizations that run drug treatment programs on behalf of a state agency) also have to make sure that their contractors follow Title II.

Examples of state and local governments include:

• State and local government offices that provide benefits and/or social services, like food assistance, health insurance, or employment services
• Public schools, community colleges, and public universities
• State and local police departments
• State and local courts
• State and local election offices
• Public hospitals and public healthcare clinics
• Public parks and recreation programs
• Public libraries
• Public transit agencies

For more information about the responsibilities of state and local governments under Title II, visit your State and Local Governments page.

A Year of Dialogue 2025:  NISO, DAISY, and W3C To Carry on the Work of OSTP

• A partnership to build on the work initiated in 2024 by the U.S. White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).
• The goals of this initiative are to continue to build community around this effort, support ongoing voluntary actions, share knowledge, and help to catalyze support for the continuing advancement of best practices regarding the accessibility of science and technical content
• 2025: A Year of Dialogue with meetings starting in April 2025 and at least three more in the future.

Past ADA Initiatives: 

• White House Office of Management and Budget Memorandum on Strengthening the Digital Accessibility and the Management of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act
  • Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (1973, amended in 1998)
• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) (1990)

Accessible Canada Act (2019)

Marrakesh Treaty (2013)

Purpose: The Marrakesh Treaty adopted in 2013 by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) facilitates access to published works for people who are blind, visually impaired, or print-disabled.

With EU Directive 2017/1564 and Regulation 2017/1563 the Marrakesh Treaty has been implemented in EU law.

Impact: It mandates that participating countries allow the reproduction, distribution, and making of accessible formats (e.g., braille, large print, audio) without the need for permission from the rights holder, significantly improving access to literature for those with visual impairments.

The European Regulation and Directive introduced into EU law the new mandatory exception to copyright rules, in line with the treaty.

Key stakeholders: Accessible Book Consortium formed by WIPO to help the implementation (as such IPA alongside ABC members drive progress.

Accessible Books Consortium

• Public-private partnership led by WIPO that combines multi-stakeholders (World Blind Union, International Publishers Association, Libraries for the blind and standard bodies.
• Charter for Accessible Publishing:
• Annual Award for accessible publishing and various resources available on the website
• ABC Books for All starter kit for accessible publishing in developing and least developed countries:

United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) is the first international, legally binding instrument setting minimum standards for the rights of people with disabilities and the first human rights convention to which the EU has become a party.

The UN Convention says that persons with disabilities have the same rights as everyone else. It also tells how countries can protect these rights.

The text was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 13 December 2006 and opened for signature on 30 March 2007. Following ratification by the 20th party, it came into force on 3 May 2008. As of March 2024, it has 164 signatories and 191 parties, 190 states, and the European Union (which ratified it on 23 December 2010).

• • Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Optional Protocol 
  • Accessibility: A Guiding Principle of the Convention

In terms of libraries wanting to put accessibility language into their renewal contracts with publishers, the situation is as follows:

• The EAA legislation puts the onus for accessible content on the publisher – so someone has a complaint, they contact the Regulator in their country, and then the regulator comes to the publisher, asks us to remediate the book in a given amount of time (a few months) and, if the publisher doesn’t do it, they get a fine (the fine is different in each country)
• The ADA Title II legislation puts the legal onus for providing accessible content on the content provider – this is the University, Hospital, or whoever is providing the content to the public. So, in turn, the libraries/hospitals are asking publishers to promise to provide them with accessible, ADA-compliant content (and indemnify them against any legal costs resulting from inaccessible content they have provided) through clauses in their contracts. Publishers will likely not want to indemnify anybody else, so that’s where the sticking point tends to be with these things.
  • Association of Research Libraries (ARL) – ADA Title II regulations: implications for Libraries.
  • BIG Ten Alliance – Implication for Libraries