It is not news anymore that COVID-19 has forced most companies to switch over to an online platform. However, there is no denying that the pandemic forced the dynamics of online business to advance by almost a decade within the last year.
That means a good thing for organizations that either had a strong foothold on the internet or developed it during the pandemic. If your online business has thrived in the last year, maybe it is time to think about making it global.
However, before you consider expanding your business beyond the American shores, make sure that you have an effective digital accessibility strategy in place. Most of the world’s leading nations have signed up to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Disabled Persons (UNCRPD).
That is why these countries have formed their own set of laws that enforce businesses to accommodate the needs of people living with disabilities. So before you think of conducting business in these countries, you must be aware of their digital accessibility laws and how you can ensure that your website complies with them.
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The Laws of Various Countries
Many governments have made amendments to their current anti-discrimination laws to accommodate the needs of citizens with disabilities. For example, the United Kingdom requires business owners to make reasonable adjustments to their websites following the codes of practice according to the Equalities Act 2010.
Similarly, Australia has included World Wide Web Access: Disability Discrimination Act Advisory Notes to the Disability Discrimination Act of 1992 and 2002 that directs website owners to ensure digital accessibility.
Although you might think that reasonable adjustments could be open to interpretation, some countries have taken further measures to enforce digital accessibility. The laws of the UK, New Zealand, Australia, and Hongkong specify that businesses must meet the AA levels of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines to be deemed accessible.
However, many countries and political unions have enacted laws that govern both public and private sectors to ensure that every website is accessible to people with disabilities. Some of them are as follows:
EAA
The European Accessibility Act (EAA) of 2019 requires all digital products and services operating in the EU to be accessible. The European countries formulated a document named EN 301549 in 2018 based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
The EAA states that it is flexible about how websites can become accessible. However, in practice, business owners and public sector organizations have to adhere to the EN 301549 to meet the accessibility requirements.
ACA and AODA
If you want to expand your business to Canada, you must ensure that your business website meets the current Accessibility Canada Act (ACA) of 2019. Your website would need to comply with the law if your business falls under the sectors that are federally regulated, such as:
- Banking services
- Transportation between the provinces
- Telecommunication
If your business website does not meet the legal requirements, you can be fined up to $250,000 for every infraction, depending on how inaccessible your website is.
If you plan to register your business in Ontario, you would need to meet the requirements of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). AODA applies to all private businesses, irrespective of whether they are owned by individuals or corporations. Failure to comply with the laws can attract a fine of $50,000 per day for sole owners and $100,000 per day for corporations.
IS 5568
The Israeli Standard (IS) 5568 is a law that came into effect in 2017. The law intends to remove all types of barriers faced by people with disabilities in Israeli society. Business from almost all sectors are subject to the law, and the legal implications of inaccessibility are quite steep.
The accessibility requirements of IS5568 are based on Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. To make a website complaint, you must meet the WCAG 2.0 guidelines as the current regulations are similar to that. If you face an accessibility lawsuit in Israel, the plaintiff only needs to prove that your website has compliance issues to win the case.
How to Make Your Website Compatible With So Many Laws?
After reading the article, you must have realized that the current WCAG 2.1 guidelines are the key to global accessibility. Making a website meet all those criteria might seem like a tedious and expensive job for you.
But the good news is that the current technological scenario has created several options for business owners to make their website compatible quite easily. Take the example of an AI-powered solution offered by accessiBe. The software can make your website automatically compliant with the ADA and the laws of all the other countries that we have discussed so far.
The beauty of these modern accessibility solutions is that you do not have to keep updating your website manually. Every time you make changes to your website, the software automatically makes it accessible to people with different kinds of disabilities. So you can apply the software and keep conducting business globally.
You should also understand that making your business website does not only make it compliant with the laws of other countries. It also increases your target audience exponentially.
You will be able to sell your products and services to the disability communities and others who are sympathetic to their cause. But most importantly, you will be taking a moral and ethical stance by making an effort to make their lives easier.
