Regulations Amending the Accessible Canada Regulations: SOR/2025-255

Canada Gazette, Part II, Volume 159, Number 26

Registration
SOR/2025-255 December 5, 2025

ACCESSIBLE CANADA ACT

P.C. 2025-886 December 5, 2025

Her Excellency the Governor General in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister of Employment and Social Development, makes the annexed Regulations Amending the Accessible Canada Regulations under paragraph 91(1)(a) and subsection 117(1) of the Accessible Canada Act footnote a.

Regulations Amending the Accessible Canada Regulations

Amendments

1 (1) The definition employee in subsection 1(1) of the Accessible Canada Regulations footnote 1 is replaced by the following:

employee
includes a dependent contractor as defined in subsection 3(1) of the Canada Labour Code. (employĂ©)

(2) Subsection 1(1) of the Regulations is amended by adding the following in alphabetical order:

broadcasting or telecommunications entity
means an entity that carries on a broadcasting undertaking or that is a Canadian carrier or a telecommunications service provider. (entité de radiodiffusion ou de télécommunication)
federal public sector entity
means a regulated entity described in any of paragraphs 7(1)(a) to (d) of the Act. (entité du secteur public fédéral)
transportation service provider
means an entity that is required to comply with any provision of regulations made under subsection 170(1) of the Canada Transportation Act. (fournisseur de services de transport)

(3) Subsection 1(3) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

Average number of employees — period of years

(3) For the purposes of these Regulations, the average number of employees during a given period of years is the sum of the average number of employees during each year in that period, divided by the number of years in the period and rounded to the nearest whole number or, if the value is equidistant between two whole numbers, rounded up to the nearest whole number.

Number of employees — exclusion

(4) For the purposes of subsections (2) and (3), the number of employees excludes

2 The portion of section 2 of the Regulations before paragraph (a) is replaced by the following:

Band

2 With respect to a band, the following entities and persons are exempt from the application of sections 47 to 49, 56 to 58, 65 to 67 and 69 to 71 of the Act and sections 3 to 19.9 of these Regulations until December 31, 2033:

3 Subparagraph 8(3)(b)(i) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

4 Subparagraph 9(6)(b)(i) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

5 Subparagraph 17(3)(b)(i) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

6 The Regulations are amended by adding the following after section 19:

PART 1.1

Information and Communication Technologies

Definitions

19.1 The following definitions apply in this Part.

employee-facing,
with respect to a web page of a regulated entity, means primarily intended for use by that regulated entity’s employees. (destinée aux employés)
heritage content
means content consisting of reproductions or representations of documents or other items that is maintained by a regulated entity primarily for reasons of historical, artistic or aesthetic interest. (contenu patrimonial)
ICT Standard
means the standard CAN/ASC - EN 301 549, Accessibility requirements for ICT products and services, published by Accessibility Standards Canada, as amended from time to time. (norme TIC)
web page
has the same meaning as in clause 3.1 of the ICT Standard. (page Web)

Day on which section first applies

19.2 In this Part, a reference to the day on which a section first applies to an entity means the later of

Feasibility of conformity

19.3 For the purposes of this Part, the following factors are relevant to determining the extent to which it is feasible for a web page to conform to the requirements of the ICT Standard:

Employee-facing web pages

19.4 (1) A federal public sector entity must, unless it is a transportation service provider to which Part 1 of the Accessible Transportation for Persons with Disabilities Regulations does not apply, ensure that each of its employee-facing web pages that is created or updated on or after the day on which this section first applies to the entity conforms, to the extent feasible, to the applicable requirements set out in clauses 4 to 7 and 9 of the ICT Standard for as long as the web page remains available to employees.

Alternative measures

(2) To the extent that conformity with the applicable requirements of the ICT Standard is not feasible, the entity must, if this non-conformity imposes barriers on users or potential users of the web page, ensure that other reasonable measures to remove those barriers are taken, including the establishment of alternative means for accessing the key information that is provided on the web page or for performing the tasks associated with the web page.

Exceptions to alternative measures

(3) Subsection (2) does not apply in respect of any maps, mapping services or technical drawings or images on the web page.

Exceptions — certain content

(4) This section does not apply in respect of heritage content, user-generated content or content that is accessed through a collaborative digital environment.

Other web pages

19.5 (1) A federal public sector entity that is not a broadcasting or telecommunications entity or a transportation service provider must ensure that each of its web pages that is not employee-facing and that is created or updated on or after the day on which this section first applies to the entity conforms, to the extent feasible, to the applicable requirements set out in clauses 4 to 7 and 9 of the ICT Standard for as long as the web page remains available to the public.

Alternative measures

(2) To the extent that conformity with the applicable requirements of the ICT Standard is not feasible, the entity must, if this non-conformity imposes barriers on users or potential users of the web page, ensure that other reasonable measures to remove those barriers are taken, including the establishment of alternative means for accessing the key information that is provided on the web page or for performing the tasks associated with the web page.

Exceptions to alternative measures

(3) Subsection (2) does not apply in respect of any maps, mapping services or technical drawings or images on the web page.

Exceptions — certain content

(4) This section does not apply in respect of heritage content or user-generated content.

Accessibility statement

19.6 (1) A federal public sector entity must publish an accessibility statement no later than the day on which any obligation under this Part first applies to it and then once every 12 months.

Requirements

(2) The accessibility statement must meet the following requirements:

Retention

(3) The entity must retain an electronic copy of the accessibility statement until the fourth anniversary of the day on which it is published.

Conformity assessment — retention

19.7 A regulated entity that conducts or obtains a conformity assessment against the ICT Standard in respect of any web page in relation to which the entity has obligations under this Part must retain an electronic copy of the report produced in relation to the assessment, including any gap analysis, until the fourth anniversary of the day on which the assessment is completed.

Training

19.8 (1) Each of the following regulated entities must ensure that each of its employees who are involved in the development, maintenance or procurement of information and communication technologies has received training on accessibility fundamentals in relation to those technologies, including refresher training at least once every three years:

Record

(2) The regulated entity must retain an electronic record of all training provided under this section until the fourth anniversary of the day on which the training is provided.

Alternatives to ICT Standard

19.9 Any requirement under this Part to conform to the ICT Standard may be satisfied by instead conforming to

7 (1) The definition employee-facing in section 19.1 of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

employee-facing,
with respect to a web page or mobile application of a regulated entity, means primarily intended for use by that regulated entity’s employees. (destinée aux employés)

(2) Section 19.1 of the Regulations is amended by adding the following in alphabetical order:

non-web document
has the same meaning as in clause 3.1 of the ICT Standard. (document non Web)

8 (1) The portion of section 19.3 of the Regulations before paragraph (a) is replaced by the following:

Feasibility of conformity

19.3 For the purposes of this Part, the following factors are relevant to determining the extent to which it is feasible for a web page, mobile application or non-web document to conform to the requirements of the ICT Standard:

(2) Paragraph 19.3(c) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

9 The Regulations are amended by adding the following after section 19.3:

Acting for another

19.31 A regulated entity described in paragraph 7(1)(f) of the Act that acts in the name of or for the benefit of an entity that has obligations under this Part has those same obligations in relation to that other entity, and any failure by the regulated entity described in paragraph 7(1)(f) of the Act to meet any of those obligations is, for the purposes of Part 3, to be considered a violation of the provision that imposes the obligation on the other entity.

10 Subsection 19.4(1) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

Employee-facing web pages

19.4 (1) Each of the following regulated entities must, unless it is a transportation service provider to which Part 1 of the Accessible Transportation for Persons with Disabilities Regulations does not apply, ensure that each of its employee-facing web pages that is created or updated on or after the day on which this section first applies to the entity conforms, to the extent feasible, to the applicable requirements set out in clauses 4 to 7 and 9 of the ICT Standard for as long as the web page remains available to employees:

11 Subsection 19.5(1) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

Other web pages

19.5 (1) Each of the following regulated entities must ensure that each of its web pages that is not employee-facing and that is created or updated on or after the day on which this section first applies to the entity conforms, to the extent feasible, to the applicable requirements set out in clauses 4 to 7 and 9 of the ICT Standard for as long as the web page remains available to the public:

12 The Regulations are amended by adding the following after section 19.5:

Mobile applications

19.51 (1) Each of the following regulated entities must ensure that any mobile application that it launches on or after the day on which this section first applies to the entity and that is not employee-facing conforms, to the extent feasible, to the applicable requirements set out in clauses 4 to 7 and 11 of the ICT Standard for as long as the application remains available for download:

Alternative measures

(2) To the extent that conformity with the applicable requirements of the ICT Standard is not feasible, the regulated entity must, if this non-conformity imposes barriers on users or potential users of the mobile application, ensure that other reasonable measures to remove those barriers are taken, including the establishment of alternative means for accessing the key information that is provided in the mobile application or for performing the tasks associated with the mobile application.

Exceptions to alternative measures

(3) Subsection (2) does not apply in respect of any maps, mapping services or technical drawings or images in the mobile application.

Exceptions — certain content

(4) This section does not apply in respect of heritage content or user-generated content.

Conformity assessment — other mobile applications

(5) If a regulated entity referred to in paragraph (1)(a) or (b) continues to make available for download a mobile application that it launched before the day on which this section first applied to the entity and that is not employee-facing, it must conduct or obtain a conformity assessment, including a gap analysis, against the applicable requirements set out in clauses 4 to 7 and 11 of the ICT Standard with respect to that mobile application.

Non-web documents

19.52 (1) Each of the following regulated entities must ensure that any non-web document that, on or after the day on which this section first applies to the entity, is made available for download from any of its web pages, or mobile applications, that are not employee-facing conforms, to the extent feasible, to the applicable requirements set out in clauses 4 to 7 and 10 of the ICT Standard for as long as the document remains available for download:

Alternative measures

(2) To the extent that conformity with the applicable requirements of the ICT Standard is not feasible, the regulated entity must, if this non-conformity imposes barriers on users or potential users of the non-web document, ensure that other reasonable measures to remove those barriers are taken, including the establishment of alternative means for accessing the key information that is provided in the document or for performing the tasks associated with the document.

Exceptions to alternative measures

(3) Subsection (2) does not apply in respect of any maps, mapping services or technical drawings or images in the non-web document.

Exception — certain content

(4) This section does not apply in respect of heritage content or user-generated content.

13 (1) Subsection 19.6(1) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

Accessibility statement

19.6 (1) Each of the following regulated entities that has an obligation under this Part must publish an accessibility statement no later than the day on which the obligation first applies to it and then once every 12 months:

(2) Paragraph 19.6(2)(e) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

(3) Paragraph 19.6(2)(g) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

(4) Paragraph 19.6(2)(i) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

14 Section 19.7 of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

Procurement

19.61 Each of the following regulated entities that initiates a process to procure products or services in connection with the development or provision of any web page or mobile application in relation to which the entity has obligations under this Part must obtain, as part of the procurement process, a conformity assessment, including a gap analysis, against the applicable requirements of the ICT Standard with respect to the web page or mobile application:

Conformity assessment — retention

19.7 A regulated entity that conducts or obtains a conformity assessment against the ICT Standard in respect of any web page or mobile application in relation to which the entity has obligations under this Part must retain an electronic copy of the report produced in relation to the assessment, including any gap analysis, until the fourth anniversary of the day on which the assessment is completed.

15 Part 3 of Schedule 1 to the Regulations is amended by adding the following after item 10:
Item

Column 1

Provision

Column 2

Classification
11 19.4(1) Minor
12 19.4(2) Minor
13 19.5(1) Minor
14 19.5(2) Minor
15 19.6(1) Minor
16 19.6(2) Minor
17 19.6(3) Minor
18 19.7 Minor
19 19.8(1) Minor
20 19.8(2) Minor
16 Part 3 of Schedule 1 to the Regulations is amended by adding the following after item 14:
Item

Column 1

Provision

Column 2

Classification
14.1 19.51(1) Minor
14.2 19.51(2) Minor
14.3 19.51(5) Minor
14.4 19.52(1) Minor
14.5 19.52(2) Minor
17 Part 3 of Schedule 1 to the Regulations is amended by adding the following after item 17:
Item

Column 1

Provision

Column 2

Classification
17.1 19.61 Minor

Coming into Force

18 (1) Subject to subsection (2), these Regulations come into force on the second anniversary of the day on which they are registered.

(2) Sections 7 to 14, 16 and 17 come into force on the third anniversary of the day on which these Regulations are registered.

REGULATORY IMPACT ANALYSIS STATEMENT

(This statement is not part of the Regulations.)

Executive summary

Issues: More than one in four Canadians aged 15 years and over have a disability, yet 45% of persons with disabilities in Canada have reported experiencing digital accessibility barriers when interacting with federal sector entities. Digital accessibility barriers have significant negative impacts on the livelihood and well-being of persons with disabilities and other Canadians. They make it challenging to manage finances independently; apply for, access and retain jobs; and obtain information about or access programs and services.

Description: The amendments (“Phase 1 Regulations” hereafter) to the Accessible Canada Regulations (ACARs) introduce a new part titled “Information and Communication Technologies” (ICT), which sets out the first phase of new requirements for both public and private sector federally regulated entities regarding digital accessibility. ICT is sometimes referred to as “digital technologies.”

The Phase 1 Regulations set accessibility requirements for three areas of digital technologies that are priorities for persons with disabilities. These areas are the following: (1) web pages, including web applications; (2) mobile applications; and (3) non-web documents (hereafter referred to as “digital documents”).

In addition, federally regulated entities must provide training on digital accessibility fundamentals to their employees who develop, maintain or purchase digital technologies; publish accessibility statements about their web pages, mobile applications and digital documents; and assess the accessibility of certain digital technology products and services they purchase.

Private sector federally regulated entities with 99 employees or fewer (“small businesses” hereafter) are exempted from the Phase 1 Regulations. First Nations band councils have a time-limited exemption from the Phase 1 Regulations and from the planning and reporting requirements of the ACARs until December 31, 2033. This aims to provide sufficient time and space to continue engaging First Nations partners and other Indigenous stakeholders on accessibility barriers faced by Indigenous persons with disabilities and develop a tailored approach to the application of the Accessible Canada Act (ACA) on reserve.

Rationale: Removing persistent digital accessibility barriers for persons with disabilities and preventing new ones are a priority under the ACA. This is particularly important because, for most people, digital technology is key to accessing programs and services, finding jobs and staying employed. To this end, the aim of the Phase 1 Regulations is to ensure equitable access to jobs, programs, and services for persons with disabilities by promoting the use of accessible digital technologies in the federal public and private sector, thus enabling their full participation in Canadian communities and workplaces.

Extensive consultations with the disability community and regulated entities made it clear that inaccessible web pages, mobile applications and digital documents continue to create significant barriers to equitable access to information, services and programs. Consequently, these three areas were identified as priorities for regulatory action.

Having requirements around accessibility statements, training and assessing the accessibility of digital technologies that federally regulated entities purchase were identified by the disability community and regulated entities as crucial steps to enhance digital accessibility. These help support accessibility improvements and enable a shift to a culture where digital technology is designed to be accessible from the start. In addition, these lay the foundation for future amendments to the ACARs that will address more complex digital technology areas (e.g. legacy or pre-existing digital technology, application software, artificial intelligence).

While the administrative and compliance costs that will result from the Phase 1 Regulations are considered significant, the benefits are expected to outweigh the costs. Over 10 periods of 12 months, the expected total present value (PV) costs to federally regulated entities are projected to be approximately $309.95 million in 2022 constant dollars (the purchasing power of Canadian dollars in 2022). The expected total PV benefits are projected to be approximately $1,209.78 million. This results in a net PV benefit of approximately $899.83 million.

Ensuring digital accessibility from the start enables persons with disabilities, and to a lesser extent persons without disabilities, to benefit from time savings by reducing the need for in-person visits and phone calls to federally regulated entities to obtain information and conduct transactions.

Based on available information from international jurisdictions and expert consultations, federally regulated entities are expected to benefit from reduced phone calls, email exchanges, demands for production of documents, and in-person visits to their service delivery locations. In addition, since digital technologies are key tools for workers, federally regulated entities are expected to benefit from increased productivity and lower turnover rates when employees with disabilities have barrier-free access to these technologies.

Issues

Persons with disabilities represent a significant and growing part of Canada’s population. The 2022 Canadian Survey on Disabilityfootnote 2 found that nearly 8 million people, or 27% of Canada’s population, have one or more disabilities. This is an increase of 1.7 million people from 2017 when the disability rate was 22%. This increase is in part because of Canada’s aging population, as well as of other factors such as increased rates of mental health-related disabilities among youth and working-age adults.

Digital technologies are an integral part of most people’s daily lives. People now regularly use digital technologies for finding jobs and participating in workplaces, accessing programs and services, social networking, education, accessing health information, and banking. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the move to online and digital services has also accelerated, making digital technologies even more critical to the livelihood and well-being of people in Canada, a trend that is expected to continue.

However, persons with disabilities continue to face significant barriers to using digital technologies, and these barriers continue to persist in federally regulated sectors even though digital accessibility standards have existed since 1999. For example, according to the 2021 Survey on Accessibility in Federal Sector Organizations (SAFSO),footnote 3 approximately 45% of Canadians with disabilities say they have encountered a digital technology-related barrier with a federal sector organization or business.

As the reliance on digital technologies for delivering services and programs, and its importance in the workplace, continues to grow, and with an aging population, it is expected that the negative impacts of digital accessibility barriers will increase over time. Within this context, immediate action to improve digital accessibility is a key step towards achieving the ACA’s objective of building a barrier-free Canada by 2040. To this end, regulations are required to create a culture of sustained accessibility improvements from the start by federally regulated entities. These efforts must be in alignment with guidelines outlined in digital accessibility standards.

Background

Canada ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2010. The CRPD is an international human rights treaty aimed at protecting the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities without discrimination and on an equal basis with others. As a State Party to the CRPD, Canada agreed to take appropriate measures respecting accessibility and to develop and monitor minimum accessibility standards.

The Accessible Canada Act (ACA) came into force in 2019 and, together with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Canadian Human Rights Act, established the legal framework to support Canada in respecting its commitments to accessibility and the rights of persons with disabilities under the CRPD.

The ACA aims to create a barrier-free Canada for all persons in Canada, particularly for persons with disabilities by 2040, through the identification, and removal, of barriers and the prevention of new barriers in the following priority areas:

The ACA applies to regulated entities under federal jurisdiction, including government departments, agencies and Crown corporations, and parts of the private sector regulated by the Government of Canada, such as the banking, telecommunications, and transportation industries. Under the ACA, the Canadian Accessibility Standards Development Organization, known as Accessibility Standards Canada (ASC), was created in 2019 to develop national accessibility standards. Since then, ASC has been working on the development of numerous accessibility standards related to the ACA priority areas, including digital accessibility.

In December 2021, ESDC made its first set of regulations under the ACA: the Accessible Canada Regulations (ACARs). The ACARs provide details about how federally regulated entities must prepare and publish accessibility planning and reporting documents and how they must establish a process for receiving and addressing feedback from the public. The ACARs also provide a framework for administrative monetary penalties for violations of the ACA and its regulations. First Nations band councils were exempted from the planning and reporting requirements of the ACARs for five years (until December 2026) to provide the time to engage them on a tailored approach to accessibility on reserve.

In May 2024, ASC adopted the European Harmonized Standard EN 301 549 (v.3.2.1), Accessibility requirements for ICT products and services (PDF) [EN 301 549 hereafter] in its entirety and without modification as a National Standard of Canada. The Canadian standard is known as CAN/ASC - EN 301 549:2024 – Accessibility requirements for ICT products and services (EN 301 549:2021, IDT) [ICT Standard hereafter]. It is important to note that while several other standards and guidelines exist for digital accessibility (such as Web Content Accessibility Guidelines), the most comprehensive standard to date is EN 301 549.

EN 301 549 defines requirements that digital technologies should meet to enable their use by everyone, particularly persons with disabilities. In general terms, digital technologies that meet the requirements of EN 301 549 are compatible and work seamlessly with assistive technologies used by persons with disabilities. These include, among others, screen readers, text-to-speech software, and Braille keyboards. It also means that digital content and the presentation of the digital content are not confusing to users. As a result, digital technologies that conform to EN 301 549 are typically accessible to persons with disabilities.

Internationally and at provincial levels, there already exist digital accessibility regulations. Within Canada, the provinces of Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba; and Government of Canada agencies, such as the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) and the Canadian Transport Agency (CTA), have developed regulations or standards specific to digital accessibility. Internationally, the Revised Section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act is a United States (U.S.) federal law that requires federal agencies to provide persons with disabilities with equal access to electronic information and data.

The Phase 1 Regulations set accessibility requirements for new and less complex areas of digital technology and focus on increasing digital accessibility capacity in Canada to support future improvements. Future Phase 2 Regulations would focus on more complex areas of digital technology, potentially, legacy content, software, hardware and/or artificial intelligence.

Objective

The objective of the Phase 1 Regulations is to remove existing barriers, prevent future barriers from emerging, and improve accessibility in the following three areas of digital technologies of federally regulated entities:

The Phase 1 Regulations also have the objective of raising awareness and building digital accessibility capacity in Canada, particularly via greater standardization of accessible design practices for digital technology. This will ultimately shift the culture to one where digital technology is designed to be accessible from the start and lay the foundation for future amendments to the ACARs that will address more complex digital technology areas (e.g. legacy or pre-existing digital technology, desktop software, artificial intelligence).

Description

The Phase 1 Regulations establish a new Part under the ACARs called “Information and Communication Technologies” for new requirements relating to digital technologies’ accessibility, detailed below.

Incorporation by reference of CAN/ASC — EN 301 549:2024

The Phase 1 Regulations incorporate by reference the ICT Standard without modification. This incorporation is on an ambulatory basis to ensure regulatory requirements are up to date with future advancements in digital technologies and digital accessibility design practices.

Application

The Phase 1 Regulations set different requirements for the following types of federally regulated entities:

The Phase 1 Regulations only apply to digital content that is meant primarily for persons in Canada or for persons whose place of work is in Canada.

Limited application

In keeping with the sectoral approach of the ACA, the requirements do not apply to the public or consumer-facing digital technologies of Transportation Service Providers (TSPs) and Broadcasting or Telecommunications Organizations (BTOs) as these areas are regulated by the CTA or the CRTC, respectively. TSPs and BTOs are both in the public and private sectors. In case of TSPs, the Phase 1 Regulations apply only to those TSPs that are required to comply with Part 1 of the Accessible Transportation for Persons with Disabilities Regulations and who have 100 or more employees during the preceding three years.

Further details about which requirements apply to TSPs and BTOs, and how they apply, are provided in the section on requirements.

Exemptions

The requirements do not apply to federally regulated private sector entities having an average of 99 or fewer employees over the previous three calendar years (“small businesses”).

First Nations band councils are exempted from the digital accessibility requirements until December 31, 2033. As well, the current exemption for First Nations band councils in the ACARs, which covers the accessibility planning and reporting requirements of the ACA, and which is set to expire on December 31, 2026, is extended until December 31, 2033, to align with the exemption from digital accessibility requirements. The exemption also applies to entities or persons that carry on an undertaking for or on behalf of First Nations band councils or on the bands’ reserve lands, other than businesses operated for or on behalf of First Nations band councils or on a band’s reserve lands, to which the exemption continues to not apply.

Regulatory requirements for digital technologies

ICT Standard

The Phase 1 Regulations require federally regulated entities to conform to the requirements of the most recent version of the ICT Standard for their (1) web pages, including web applications; (2) mobile applications; and (3) digital documents.

The ICT Standard sets out functional performance and generic requirements that apply to all digital technologies, as well as specific requirements for different digital technologies. The following clauses will apply to the three areas that are covered by the Phase 1 Regulations:

The main elements of the Phase 1 Regulations are detailed below.

Exemptions for specialized content

Feedback and questions received from stakeholders during the Canada Gazette, Part I consultations indicated a need to add additional clarity to the regulatory requirements to ensure alignment with the intent of the Phase 1 Regulations, which is to focus on new and less complex digital technology areas over which entities have substantial control. As a result, the following types of content are exempted from having to conform to the ICT Standard:

Requirements for web pages

Federally regulated public sector entities must ensure that all their web pages (including employee-facing web pages) published or updated 24 months after the date the Phase 1 Regulations are registered, conform to clauses 4 to 7 and 9 of the ICT Standard.

Large and medium-sized businesses must ensure that all their web pages (including employee-facing web pages) published or updated 36 months after the date the Phase 1 Regulations are registered, conform to clauses 4 to 7 and 9 of the ICT Standard.

For the purpose of these Phase 1 Regulations, web pages are defined using the definition in the ICT Standard. This means that the term “web page” covers all web pages, including those associated with web applications and those that require permissions such as login access.

Employee-facing web pages include all those web pages that are primarily intended to be used by the employees of a federally regulated entity, including contractors, e.g. a web application that is accessed by a contractor for submitting expense claims.

An “update” to a web page means any change to a web page’s content. This means that republishing content without any changes will not generally constitute an “update.”

Limited application: TSPs and BTOs in the public or private sectors must ensure their employee-facing web pages conform to the ICT Standard. The dates on which requirements to conform to the ICT Standard will begin to apply are the same: 24 months after the date the Phase 1 Regulations are registered for public sector TSPs and BTOs, and 36 months after the date the Phase 1 Regulations are registered for private sector TSPs and BTOs.

Requirements for mobile applications

Federally regulated public sector entities and large businesses, excluding those that are TSPs or BTOs, must ensure that all their mobile applications that are not employee-facing and are initially launched 36 months after the date the Phase 1 Regulations are registered conform to clauses 4 to 7 and 11 of the ICT Standard for as long as the application remains available for download.

In addition, federally regulated public sector entities and large businesses, excluding those that are TSPs or BTOs, must conduct or obtain a conformity assessment with gap analysis against clauses 4 to 7 and 11 of the ICT Standard for all their mobile applications that are not employee-facing, are initially launched before the date the Phase 1 Regulations are registered and are still available for download. They must complete these conformity assessments within 36 months of the date the Phase 1 Regulations are registered.

Requirements for digital documents

Federally regulated public sector entities and large businesses, excluding those that are TSPs or BTOs, must ensure that any new and updated digital document they make available for download 36 months after the date the Phase 1 Regulations are registered, from their web pages (excluding employee-facing web pages) or from their mobile applications that are not employee-facing, conforms to clauses 4 to 7 and 10 of the ICT Standard.

An “update” to a digital document means any change to a digital document’s content. This means that republishing a digital document without any changes will not generally constitute an “update.”

Alternative means of accessibility

ESDC recognizes that it may not always be feasible for a federally regulated entity to conform to the ICT Standard. In circumstances where conformity cannot be achieved within the timelines set out in the Phase 1 Regulations and it can be reasonably expected that persons with disabilities would experience barriers as a result of non-conformance with the ICT Standard, the Phase 1 Regulations allow federally regulated entities to instead take other reasonable measures to remove barriers that are related to the non-conforming web page(s), mobile application(s) or digital document(s). This includes putting into place alternative ways for accessing information or performing tasks associated with digital technologies that do not conform to the ICT Standard; additional details will be provided in regulatory guidance. This is consistent with the ultimate goal of the Phase 1 Regulations, which is to provide equitable access to jobs, programs and services for persons with disabilities.

That said, ESDC’s expectation is that such alternative measures would be temporary in nature and provide for equitable access while the federally regulated entity works towards achieving conformance with the ICT Standard. This is because the scope of what is feasible is anticipated to grow over time due to factors such as the growing availability of new products and services that conform to the ICT Standard, advances in digital accessibility design practices and the regulated entity’s own efforts to resolve any challenges to conforming to the ICT Standard. Factors that are considered relevant to determining whether it is feasible to conform to the ICT Standard include

Content exempted from requirement to provide an alternative means of accessibility

Based on feedback received during the Canada Gazette, Part I consultations, the Phase 1 Regulations have been modified to clarify that entities are not required to provide alternative means of access for maps and mapping services, or images and technical drawings (e.g. blueprints) on a regulated entity’s web pages, mobile applications or digital documents. Given the technical and specialized nature of this content, it is not clear how alternative means of access could be provided. That said, entities are still required to ensure such content conforms to the ICT Standard to the extent that it is feasible to do so.

Other requirements

Training requirements

Federally regulated public sector entities and large and medium-sized businesses must provide training on digital accessibility fundamentals within 24 months after the date the Phase 1 Regulations are registered, as well as refresher training at least every 3 years, to all their employees involved in the development, maintenance or purchasing of digital technologies. This includes full-time or part-time employees, contractors, and students.

ESDC’s expectation is that such training, at a minimum, provides these employees with a baseline level of knowledge and awareness about digital accessibility concepts as they relate to their job-specific roles and responsibilities. The operations of every entity are unique, including how they use digital products and services. Therefore, such entities have the flexibility to identify their employees’ needs and design training that responds to those needs.

Accessibility statement

Federally regulated public sector entities and large businesses are required to publish at least one accessibility statement covering the following digital technology areas that are required to comply with the Phase 1 Regulations:

Requirements pertaining to the contact information required for accessibility statements and where accessibility statements must be published on a regulated entity’s websites and mobile applications have been modified based on feedback received during the Canada Gazette, Part I consultations, as described in the “Consultation” section below.

Accessibility statements do not need to address digital content that is not subject to the Phase 1 Regulations. For example, a large business in its accessibility statement does not have to address its mobile applications that were launched prior to the coming-into-force date of the requirements for mobile applications.

Limited application: Federally regulated public sector entities and large businesses that are TSPs or BTOs are only required to publish an accessibility statement covering their employee-facing web pages.

Content and form of an accessibility statement

An accessibility statement must address the federally regulated entity’s regulated digital technologies and must

Regulated entities have the flexibility to have one or more accessibility statement(s) if they address all digital content (i.e. web pages, mobile applications and digital documents) subject to the Phase 1 Regulations. The digital content of each entity is unique. Therefore, the accessibility statement(s) may be developed in the most logical way that is suitable for the entities’ operational context.

Publication deadlines for accessibility statement

Federally regulated public sector entities, including those that are TSPs or BTOs, are required to publish their first accessibility statement(s) for their web pages within 24 months of the date the Phase 1 Regulations are registered.

Federally regulated public sector entities, excluding those that are TSPs or BTOs, are required to publish their first accessibility statements for their mobile applications as well as digital documents on their web pages and mobile applications within 36 months of the date the Phase 1 Regulations are registered.

All large businesses, including those that are TSPs or BTOs, are required to publish their first accessibility statement(s) within 36 months of the date the Phase 1 Regulations are registered.

Accessibility statements also have to be updated at least once every 12 months from the date they were previously required to be published, i.e. one year from their first publication and every year thereafter.

Procurement requirements

Beginning 36 months from the date the Phase 1 Regulations are registered, when purchasing products or services related to their new or updated web pages and new mobile applications, federally regulated public sector entities and large businesses must conduct or obtain a conformity assessment with gap analysis against the ICT Standard. A conformity assessment and gap analysis describes which requirements from the ICT Standard apply to the digital technology being purchased, and whether the digital technology conforms to those applicable requirements or not, and why.

Limited application: Federally regulated public sector entities and large businesses that are TSPs are only required to conduct or obtain a conformity assessment with gap analysis when purchasing products or services related to their employee-facing web pages.

This requirement does not apply to BTOs, whether in the public or private sectors.

Conformity assessments and gap analysis help entities understand if the digital technology they intend to procure conforms with the ICT Standard. They also help entities identify gaps in the accessibility of their digital technologies. Conformity assessments with gap analysis may be obtained during the purchase of digital technology products and services and are typically provided by vendors or suppliers. Alternatively, entities may choose to conduct these assessments, either using in-house experts or contractors. It is ESDC’s expectation that such assessments will be produced in good faith.

Conformity assessments are not required for digital documents and for digital technologies that are not subject to the Phase 1 Regulations.

Record retention

Federally regulated public sector entities and large and medium-sized businesses must retain an electronic copy of the following:

Alternatives to the ICT Standard

Administrative monetary penalties framework

Under the ACA, administrative monetary penalties (AMPs) are meant to promote compliance and not to punish. In accordance with the AMPs framework of the ACARs, non-conformance to the ICT Standard for web pages, mobile applications and digital documents are classified as “minor” violations. As well, failure to conform to the requirements for training, accessibility statements, procurement and retention of records, as applicable, are also classified as “minor” violations.

Regulatory development

Consultation

ESDC’s early engagement on the development of future accessible digital technology regulations was launched on November 24, 2022. It included the following four components:

Sixty-nine organizations participated in early engagement activities. This included 15 disability organizations, 8 digital technologies vendors and service providers and 46 federally regulated entities from both the public and private sectors. The participating disability organizations represented persons with diverse disabilities, such as vision, auditory, physical, neurological and cognitive disabilities. Five individuals also provided comments on their own behalf.

ESDC received extensive feedback from participating stakeholders, some of which are highlighted here (additional information is available in the What we heard report). Overall, participants from both the disability community and federally regulated entities highlighted the importance of accessible digital technologies. A brief summary of the views and feedback received and how they are reflected in the Phase 1 Regulations is provided here.

Feedback on digital technology areas

Participants from the disability community identified several digital accessibility barriers that negatively impact their economic and social well-being, such as inaccessible web content and digital documents. They highlighted digital barriers faced by persons with disabilities in the employment context that make it more difficult for persons with disabilities to find employment and progress in their careers. For example, job recruitment platforms, especially those developed in-house by employers, can present accessibility barriers for persons with disabilities, which can make it difficult or impossible for persons with disabilities to find and apply for jobs. Employees with disabilities also experience barriers when using employee-facing websites, including web applications, and software in their daily work, which can limit their career progression and lead to frustration and higher rates of turnover.

In addition, participants from the disability community identified the accessibility of websites, digital documents (e.g. portable document formats, word processing files) and mobile devices (e.g. smartphones and tablets), as priorities for immediate action. In their view, mobile devices are now ubiquitous, and digital documents are important both in customer service and employment contexts.

Federally regulated entities indicated that websites, web applications and digital documents are the most common means by which they interact with customers. These are also areas where federally regulated entities generally have more control over development processes, and in the case of web content, areas for which significant capacity and knowledge of accessible design already exist. In other digital technology areas, such as application and enterprise software and digital devices (e.g. smartphones and tablets), federally regulated entities said they can only purchase what is offered by major vendors or suppliers, and in certain cases, knowledge and capacity of accessible design are more limited. Considering this feedback from stakeholders, the Phase 1 Regulations require that web pages, including web applications, as well as digital documents, conform to the ICT Standard.

While disability community stakeholders indicated accessibility barriers in using mobile devices, businesses that design, develop and produce these devices are generally outside the federal jurisdiction and therefore not under the authority of the ACA. Furthermore, the accessibility of mobile devices that are sold to consumers, such as smart phones offered by wireless service providers, falls under the jurisdiction of the CRTC, which already has requirements in this area. That said, further conversations revealed that the accessibility of the mobile environment is just as much about the accessibility of mobile applications as it is about mobile devices. As well, federally regulated entities typically develop and publish their own customer-facing mobile applications, allowing for a greater degree of control over their design and development. Therefore, mobile applications are instead included in the other digital technology areas (i.e. web pages, digital documents) that must conform to the ICT Standard. These three digital technology areas (i.e. web pages, mobile applications and digital documents) are the primary ways all Canadians, including persons with disabilities, interact with federally regulated entities and over which federally regulated entities typically have significant control.

More complex digital technology areas and areas that entities have less control over (e.g. legacy or pre-existing digital technologies, application software, and artificial intelligence) will be included in future ACA regulatory proposals dealing with digital accessibility.

Feedback on regulatory application and timelines

Federally regulated entities indicated that digital technology builds are complex and require multi-year efforts through various stages: governance, planning and investment decision-making; procurement and purchasing; design, building and implementation; quality assurance and updates. Entities can also be constrained by pre-existing, multi-year contracts with digital technology vendors, which can limit what changes can be made to their digital technologies. The rapid evolution of digital technology was also highlighted as an implementation challenge.

While web accessibility expertise is well established across federal public and private sectors and within entities of different sizes, ESDC heard there is less capacity and expertise for other digital technology areas, especially within businesses with more limited operational scale. Small businesses indicated they had little to no in-house capacity to implement and/or improve digital accessibility measures, as they are generally completely dependent on external contractors to provide these services. Furthermore, a large majority of small businesses that fall under the federal jurisdiction are in industries with little to no interaction with the public and whose clients are typically other businesses.

Based on these factors, the Phase 1 Regulations are tailored to the capacity and realities of regulated entities of different sizes, including whether they are in the public or private sectors. More specifically, the requirements only apply to new digital technologies. Pre-existing and legacy digital technology will be dealt with in future accessible digital technology regulations. Additionally, federally regulated entities are generally provided with three years to conform to the ICT Standard. This provides regulated entities with sufficient time to plan and adjust their internal operations and contractual relationships, minimizing disruptions to entities’ ongoing operations. At the same time, the three-year lead time ensures that the accessibility of entities’ digital technologies improves over time.

As federally regulated public sector entities must already ensure their web pages that are not employee-facing are accessible, the deadline for their web pages, including employee-facing web pages, to conform with the ICT Standard is one year before that for the private sector.

Since mobile applications can have much longer lifespans than, for example, web pages, it is possible that entities may not launch a new mobile application for many years after the regulatory requirements come into force. To support greater awareness, capacity building and cultural change, federally regulated public sector entities and large businesses are also required to assess the accessibility of their existing mobile applications within 36 months of registration of the Phase 1 Regulations.

To address capacity concerns of medium-sized and small businesses

Feedback on digital accessibility barriers and best practices

Participants from the disability community indicated the burden is often placed on persons with disabilities to demonstrate that a digital product or service is inaccessible. To address this issue, they indicated that the future accessible digital technology regulations should aim to improve accountability and transparency.

Federally regulated entities also highlighted several key challenges, such as reliance on third-party vendors and service providers who do not always have incentives for creating accessible solutions.

Participants from the federally regulated entities shared some of the best practices they use to remove digital accessibility barriers. These included raising awareness among senior leaders and offering accessibility training for information technology (IT) staff.

Considering this feedback, the Phase 1 Regulations require federally regulated entities to provide training to their employees involved in the purchasing, development, or maintenance of digital technology. This helps build capacity on digital accessibility within federally regulated entities and equip their employees with knowledge and skills to deal with external contractors and to plan future digital accessibility improvements.

As well, the Phase 1 Regulations require public sector entities and large businesses to conduct or obtain a conformity assessment with gap analysis against the ICT Standard when purchasing products or services related to their regulated web pages and mobile applications. This ensures that federally regulated entities understand the accessibility of the digital technologies they purchase and where the gaps are, and provides them with the information they need to plan for future accessibility improvements. Digital technology vendors will also be encouraged to understand and improve the accessibility of their products and services.

The Phase 1 Regulations also require federally regulated public sector entities and large businesses to publish accessibility statements covering their regulated digital technologies. Among other requirements, these accessibility statements must clearly identify regulated digital technologies that do not conform to the ICT Standard; alternative means of access that federally regulated entities have put into place to address barriers caused by nonconforming digital technologies; and their plans for closing these conformance gaps. This encourages transparency and accountability and provides persons with disabilities with the information they need to use the alternative means of access.

Feedback on choice of accessibility standard

Digital technology vendor representatives indicated that they have been testing products and services against globally recognized accessibility standards, such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), Revised Section 508 Standard of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act and EN 301 549.

Most digital technology vendors and suppliers recommended that accessible digital technology regulations be based on the requirements of EN 301 549. They indicated that EN 301 549 is the most up to date and comprehensive digital accessibility standard. They also noted that the harmonization of digital accessibility standards across jurisdictions will promote innovation and interoperability. In their view, adopting EN 301 549 will be beneficial for Canadian technology companies, as they could build once and sell globally.

In May 2024, ASC adopted EN 301 549 as a National Standard of Canada. Considering ASC’s decision to adopt EN 301 549 and feedback from digital technology vendors and suppliers, the ICT Standard is incorporated by reference on an ambulatory basis in the Phase 1 Regulations.

Feedback on alternative means of accessibility

Disability stakeholders and federally regulated entities flagged that it may not be reasonable or realistic to always expect 100% conformance 100% of the time with any digital accessibility standard. They flagged the importance of providing alternative ways for people to access information or to perform transactions to ensure equitable access for persons with disabilities for instances where conformance with an accessibility standard is not feasible.

The Phase 1 Regulations therefore require federally regulated entities to put into place alternative means of access to address barriers caused by digital technologies that do not conform to the ICT Standard.

Prepublication in the Canada Gazette, Part I

On December 21, 2024, the Phase 1 Regulations were prepublished in the Canada Gazette, Part I, for a 60-day comment period. Seven technical briefings were held in February and early March 2025 with approximately 800 participants from disability organizations, industry associations, federally regulated private businesses and federal public sector entities. ESDC received 170 written comments from approximately 57 stakeholders and individuals through the Canada Gazette’s Online Regulatory Consultation System and by email.

Overall, all stakeholders received the Phase 1 Regulations favourably, as an important step to advance the accessibility of digital technologies for Canadians.

Stakeholders from the disability community and individuals who self-identified as persons with disabilities called for a more ambitious approach than what was proposed. Recommendations included shorter compliance timelines, coverage of additional digital technology areas, inclusion of small businesses and strengthened monetary penalties for non-compliance.

Conversely, stakeholders from federally regulated entities asked for a more cautious approach, including longer compliance timelines and reduced requirements. They also emphasized the need for guidance to assist with compliance, with many requesting to be involved in guidance development.

The following paragraphs provide a thematic summary of the consideration given to key comments submitted by stakeholders when finalizing the Phase 1 Regulations. As detailed below, in some cases, changes have been made to the Phase 1 Regulations in response to stakeholder feedback. In the case of other comments that sought clarification of the regulatory requirements, relevant sections of the Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement (RIAS) are now updated with additional explanations. ESDC’s guidance material will further elaborate and explain how entities can meet the regulatory requirements.

Theme 1: Clarification of Phase 1 policy intent and regulatory focus

Some stakeholder comments highlighted potential ambiguity in the regulatory requirements, which could lead to inconsistent application of the stated policy intent for Phase 1 Regulations. Public and private sector entities inquired about the following:

Additional clarification questions included

Before addressing these comments, ESDC wishes to reiterate the policy intent of this first phase of accessible digital technology regulations, which is to focus on new and less complex digital content (i.e. web pages, mobile applications and digital documents) that federally regulated entities can modify to meet the accessibility requirements, while building capacity in Canada for future improvements. The next phase (Phase 2) would deal with more complex and challenging areas of digital technology, such as legacy content, third-party content, software and artificial intelligence.

Given this intent, several requirements have been clarified in the regulatory text to ensure alignment with the policy approach for Phase 1. The Phase 1 Regulations

As well, the RIAS has been updated to better explain certain regulatory requirements that elicited questions from stakeholders, including those that related to

Theme 2: Application and regulatory timelines

Some disability stakeholder organizations expressed the view that medium-sized private sector businesses (100–499 employees) could easily comply, and therefore should be required to meet all requirements of the Phase 1 Regulations. As well, they proposed the exemption for small businesses should be limited to businesses with fewer than 10 employees. They indicated that private sector businesses with 10 to 99 employees should not be exempted, and if necessary, could face a later compliance timeline.

In contrast, federally regulated entities and industry associations welcomed the exemption of small businesses of 100 or fewer employees. They asked for longer compliance timelines to meet the requirements of the Phase 1 Regulations. They indicated that entities would need more time to redesign internal processes and timelines to be able to meet the requirements of the Phase 1 Regulations within the proposed deadlines.

Overall, the timelines and applicability requirements in the Phase 1 Regulations balance the views of different stakeholder groups. Notably, these requirements were developed based on more than 18 months of extensive early consultations with disability stakeholders, federally regulated public and private sector entities and accessible digital technology vendors and suppliers in the lead-up to the development of the regulatory design. Based on these consultations, the Phase 1 Regulations provide a generous lead time of three years for federally regulated private sector entities to make their new and updated web pages, new mobile apps and new and updated digital documents conform to the ICT Standard. The goal of these timelines is to ensure that accessibility is built into digital content over time without major burden and disruptions to systems of Government or industry.

Regarding feedback on small businesses, it is important to note that most of those regulated under the ACA operate in business-to-business contexts and represent a small portion of employment within federal sectors. Therefore, the benefits of capturing such entities would be limited. In addition, they have little to no back-office or IT capacity, which means they would not have the capacity to comply with the Phase 1 Regulations.

As a result of these considerations, no changes have been made regarding which entities are captured by the Phase 1 Regulations and the times for complying with regulatory requirements.

Theme 3: Technical requirements

Disability stakeholders expressed concerns that the Phase 1 Regulations mainly focus on preventing new digital accessibility barriers and do not sufficiently address existing barriers. They advocated for the application of the Phase 1 Regulations to existing web content. Moreover, they highlighted that internal digital documents pose significant barriers for employees with disabilities, and therefore should be included in the Phase 1 Regulations.

Other technology-specific feedback included reducing or eliminating the use of PDFs in favour of formats such as HTML or accessible online forms; and conformity assessments and gap analyses for web pages and digital documents launched before the coming into force of the Phase 1 Regulations.

While the feedback received is valid, these suggestions either go beyond the intended scope of Phase 1 or propose requirements that are overly technical and risk quickly becoming outdated. The first phase of accessible digital technology regulations focuses on “stopping the bleed” by prioritizing the accessibility of new, less complex digital content. This approach reflects the reality that federally regulated entities often manage large volumes of existing or legacy content, which would require significant time and resources to assess and remediate.

Internal digital documents, in particular, are typically generated by employees in their day-to-day work and federally regulated entities have little control over their production. Therefore, existing mobile applications, legacy web pages, as well as employee-facing digital documents, are being deferred to Phase 2.

As well, since digital technology is complex and rapidly evolving, the Phase 1 Regulations have been designed to remain as technologically neutral as possible. Consequentially, prescribing specific file formats, such as HTML over PDF, would not be appropriate.

Lastly, three federally regulated private sector stakeholders expressed concern that the ICT Standard differs from those referenced in other federal and provincial regulations, indicating a need for harmonization across accessibility regulatory frameworks. However, this perception is not accurate, as the ICT Standard fully incorporates all requirements for Level AA conformance with the WCAG, which is the standard referenced in other provincial and federal digital accessibility regulations. As a result, entities that conform to the ICT Standard will also meet the requirements of other applicable digital accessibility regulations. Now that the ICT Standard is a National Standard of Canada, other regulators in Canada are also considering its adoption. As well, in most cases, federally regulated entities are different from those regulated at the provincial/territorial level. As such, it is not generally expected that the digital content of federally regulated entities would also be subject to provincial digital accessibility regulations.

As a result, no changes have been made to the technical requirements of the Phase 1 Regulations.

Theme 4: Training

All stakeholders reacted positively to the requirement for entities to provide training on digital accessibility fundamentals to certain employees.

Stakeholders from the disability community stressed that training should be provided more frequently and must be compulsory for all employees, including leaders/management of federally regulated entities, and for contractors and consultants during onboarding.

An anonymous commentator noted that implementing additional training requirements could be burdensome for employees, emphasizing the challenges of fostering a culture that successfully incorporates accessible digital technology education into practice.

An industry association highlighted that training must be continuous to keep pace with emerging technologies. Collaborating with accessibility experts and persons with disabilities was suggested to enhance training effectiveness. Stakeholders from federally regulated entities also stressed the need for guidance on training subjects and components, as well as the need for resources to develop robust training programs.

The intent behind the training requirements in the Phase 1 Regulations is to enhance employees’ knowledge and skills related to accessible digital technologies, ultimately fostering culture change over time towards accessibility of digital technologies from the start. However, requiring training for all employee categories, coupled with an increased frequency compared to current requirements, could be overly burdensome for federally regulated entities. Therefore, no changes to the training requirements have been made in the Phase 1 Regulations. ESDC will provide guidance with tools, resources, and recommendations to help federally regulated entities develop effective training programs for accessible digital technology.

Theme 5: Procurement and conformity assessment

One individual suggested that accessibility should be integrated into the development phase of digital technologies. ESDC agrees. By requiring conformity assessments when purchasing products or services related to an entity’s new digital content, the Phase 1 Regulations aim to foster a culture of prioritizing accessibility from the outset.

One industry association and one individual indicated that it is not common practice to obtain accessibility conformity assessments for digital documents. More specifically, requiring conformity assessments when procuring digital documents — regardless of the nature or purpose of the document being procured — would greatly complicate procurement processes with little to no added value. In most cases, it is easier to procure an accessible document, and since new digital documents that are on web pages and mobile applications that are not employee-facing must already be accessible under the Phase 1 Regulations, this requirement is largely covered. In response to this feedback, ESDC has removed the proposed requirement for conformity assessment for digital documents in the Phase 1 Regulations. As a result, federally regulated entities must conduct or obtain conformity assessment only for procurement processes in respect of web pages or mobile applications.

Some federally regulated public and private sector entities expressed concerns about potential pushback from vendors. Smaller suppliers may not have the capacity to provide conformity assessments, while larger suppliers may not receive sufficient demands for conformity assessments against the ICT Standard to justify producing them proactively. Stakeholders inquired if conformity assessments obtained for other standards, such as the U.S. Revised Section 508, would be considered acceptable.

During ESDC’s early engagement with digital technology vendors, feedback from vendors indicated they were familiar with conformity assessments, and that they regularly provided them for their digital technology products and services, including against EN 301 549. It is important to note that the ICT Standard is a global standard that has been adopted in several countries. Therefore, it is expected that large federally regulated entities would not face difficulties in obtaining a conformity assessment against the ICT Standard. As a result, this requirement has been maintained in the Phase 1 Regulations.

Additionally, stakeholders from federally regulated entities sought clarity on how to obtain conformity assessments; they also requested templates. To provide flexibility to federally regulated entities and to avoid undue regulatory burden, such details are not specified in the Phase 1 Regulations. However, ESDC will be publishing guidance that will provide further information on conformity assessment processes and links to optional industry-recognized templates.

Theme 6: Accessibility statements

Disability organizations and federally regulated entities’ stakeholders welcomed the requirement to publish accessibility statements regarding an entity’s digital technologies.

Stakeholders from the disability community requested these statements be written in simple, clear, and concise language, that organizational contact information relevant to accessibility be included, and that the statements be located in an easy-to-find place on regulated organizations’ digital platforms.

Some federally regulated entities and individuals inquired about the content and format of accessibility statements, for example, if a single accessibility statement could cover all digital technologies. An industry association raised the question of whether accessibility conformance reports (ACRs) could serve as acceptable forms of accessibility statements.

In response to this feedback, the Phase 1 Regulations now require that accessibility statements be placed in a prominent location on entities’ digital platforms. Additionally, the contact information included in the accessibility statement must refer to a person or group within the entity responsible for accessibility.

The Phase 1 Regulations provide federally regulated entities with the flexibility to decide whether to have one accessibility statement for all their regulated digital technologies or separate statements for each technology. It is important to note that the purpose and content of an accessibility statement differ from those of an ACR; ACRs cannot replace accessibility statements.

Regulatory guidance is available to provide further clarification on accessibility statements, links to optional templates and will be updated as needed.

Theme 7: Cost-benefit analysis

One individual indicated that the Phase 1 Regulations would also benefit those over age 65. However, it is currently not possible to reliably estimate the benefits for this population, since limited data exists on the benefits of digital accessibility for seniors. Thus, the current model conservatively monetizes benefits by focusing on individuals aged 15 to 64. Therefore, no change has been made to the cost-benefit analysis based on this feedback.

Another individual indicated that the current costing model for training does not appear to account for the expenses related to employees learning to apply newly acquired skills from training on the job, nor does it account for the costs to accommodate persons with disabilities who are hired to develop accessible digital content.

These considerations are already reflected in the cost-benefit model: ESDC’s cost estimates are based on the U.S. Revised Section 508 RIAS (2017), which takes a comprehensive approach to estimating the costs associated with developing, deploying and managing accessibility digital content through the entire IT lifecycle. It is important to note that federally regulated entities are already required to provide accommodations (including those related to digital technologies) under the Canadian Human Rights Act. Therefore, no change has been made to the cost-benefit analysis based on this feedback.

Several other individuals sought clarifications or suggested editorial changes to make the text in the RIAS that presented the cost-benefit analysis results less complex. The “Regulatory analysis” section of the RIAS has been updated in response to these comments.

Theme 8: Compliance and enforcement

Some stakeholders from the disability community suggested that non-conformance should be categorized as a more serious violation rather than a minor one, advocating for increased penalties. They believe that a strong enforcement strategy coupled with higher penalties could encourage federally regulated entities to invest in accessible digital technologies, resulting in a more inclusive environment for all users.

A federally regulated business noted that effective implementation should involve regular audits or self-assessments to monitor compliance, along with incentives for early adopters and penalties for non-compliance. They also recommended creating feedback platforms to report challenges and continuously refining the Phase 1 Regulations based on input.

Given the complexity and rapidly evolving nature of digital technology, it may not be realistic to expect 100% adherence to any digital accessibility standard at all times, a point raised by numerous stakeholders and digital accessibility experts during regulatory engagement. For example, accessibility can be inadvertently compromised when systems update, or new features are rolled out. For these reasons, contraventions of the regulatory requirements are classified as minor violations according to the administrative monetary penalties framework outlined in the ACAR. Consequently, no changes have been made regarding the classification of contraventions to regulatory requirements.

Theme 9: Regulatory guidance development

Stakeholders from federally regulated entities appreciated past consultations regarding guidance development and recommended ongoing engagement for future guidance.

Some stakeholders requested more specific details about training, conformity assessment, and accessibility statements, as well as additional clarity on

Some of these points have been clarified in the “Description” section of the RIAS. Additional guidance, along with tools and resources, will also provide further clarity regarding expectations related to regulatory requirements. It is important to note that regulatory guidance will evolve over time to keep pace with advancements in digital technology.

Theme 10: Additional comments and general observations

ESDC received a wide variety of comments and suggestions that, while not directly addressing the regulatory requirements, provided insights into challenges faced by persons with disabilities as well as federally regulated entities.

Some individuals and disability stakeholders highlighted that there are factors that prevent some persons with disabilities in Canada from being able to fully benefit from accessible digital technology. These factors include the expense of purchasing assistive technology and/or modern devices such as the latest smartphones; lack of knowledge or comfort with using digital technologies’ security; privacy concerns; and limited network coverage and capacity in rural and northern communities. Stakeholders also raised concerns regarding the impact of rapid updates and newer versions of software and increased use of multi-factor authentication.

Some comments, while beyond the scope of ESDC’s jurisdiction under the ACA, dealt with issues related to digital accessibility, and are thus noted here. For example, disability stakeholders proposed improving the accessibility of digital displays and signage, providing accessible digital displays for radio announcements, and establishing standards for digital billboards and online advertising that prioritize accessibility and public safety. These stakeholders noted that TSPs and BTOs should deploy digital displays and signage to promote inclusive technology use.

Other commenters raised broader concerns related to accessibility or proposed ideas that go beyond the scope of the ACA. For example, several individuals who self-identified as persons with disabilities noted that while accessible hiring platforms are important, they do not address other persistent barriers to employment, particularly discrimination. One disability stakeholder indicated that small businesses such as convenience stores, house cleaning services or private accountants that serve the public should be regulated. Another individual who identified as a person with a disability suggested old government issued iPhones be provided to disability stakeholder groups, who could refurbish and distribute them to persons with disabilities, given these devices come pre-equipped with voice readers. Additionally, a commenter suggested compensating members of the public when a reasonable alternative is not provided in a timely manner for an inaccessible product or service. One individual who identified as a person with a disability indicated that the increased cost of living and financial constraints continue to affect their life.

Lastly, ESDC received a number of editorial comments that aimed to reduce the complexity of the language in the RIAS. Where possible, ESDC made these editorial changes to the RIAS text.

Indigenous engagement, consultation and modern treaty obligations

The ACA applies to any entity that operates a work or carries on an undertaking or business that is within the legislative authority of Parliament. A First Nations band council, when acting in its core functions, is generally considered to be operating a work or carrying on an undertaking or business that is within the legislative authority of Parliament. An entity created by a band council may also be considered to fall within this category, depending on the nature of the entity, operations, and habitual activities. Therefore, the ACA and regulations under the ACA apply to First Nations band councils, and potentially certain entities created by them. However, the Government of Canada committed that the ACA would not immediately be applied to First Nations band councils to allow time to engage them on the application of the ACA.

During the Accessible Canada consultations in 2016–2017, funding was provided to three Indigenous organizations to engage their members and communities on accessibility legislation. In addition, modern treaty holders were informed of the intention of the Government to develop legislation. Government officials met in person with 11 Yukon modern treaty holders and reached out to all 28 modern treaty holders by letter.

In 2019, one-time grant funding was provided to the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) and the British Columbia Aboriginal Network on Disability Society (BCANDS) to engage their membership on possible approaches to the application of the ACA to band councils. The reports received highlighted that First Nations communities on reserve do not currently have the capacity or expertise to comply with the ACA and that the ACA is not aligned with the First Nations world view of disability. In 2023, the AFN was funded to engage their membership on accessibility barriers in First Nations communities and preferences for a legislative or regulatory tailored approach. This work uncovered preferences for distinct First Nations accessibility legislation.

Beginning in spring 2024, the Department met with officials from the AFN, and continues to meet with Indigenous stakeholders to discuss the current exemption for First Nations band councils and accessible digital technology regulations generally. During the Canada Gazette, Part I consultations, ESDC continued to work with National Indigenous Organizations (NIOs) to arrange for targeted communications with NIOs and other Indigenous organizations.

Feedback to date indicates that First Nations face pressures in health and infrastructure on reserve; however, there is a desire to advance accessibility for First Nations persons with disabilities. Additionally, there is a need to build capacity to support the effective identification and prioritization of accessibility needs, and for funding to remove accessibility barriers on reserve. There is also a significant gap in data regarding accessibility barriers and priorities for First Nations.

Given the complexity and scope of these issues, the process to engage and co-develop a tailored approach to the application of ACA on reserve is anticipated to take several years. More specifically, this includes sufficient time to continue engaging First Nations partners and other Indigenous stakeholders on accessibility barriers faced by Indigenous persons with disabilities, as well as related concerns, and to identify an approach for tailoring the ACA. It would also include time to implement this approach, such as enacting new legislation, legislative amendments, developing new regulations and/or standing up new structures.

Therefore, to provide sufficient time and space for this necessary work, the current exemption from ACA planning and reporting requirements is extended to December 31, 2033, and First Nations band councils are also exempted from the Phase 1 Regulations until that date.

Instrument choice

Digital accessibility standards have existed since as early as 1999, when the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 1.0 were first published. Conformance to digital accessibility standards has mostly been voluntary across the globe. Due to this, persons with disabilities continue to have inequitable access to programs and services.

Most countries have enacted, or are enacting, regulations for digital accessibility, as voluntary conformance has failed to provide equitable opportunities for persons with disabilities. During consultations with disability stakeholders, participants indicated that digital accessibility regulations would promote a greater commitment to accessibility.

In other jurisdictions, such as the United States, disability stakeholders have emphasized the need to maintain and strengthen digital accessibility regulations to enable equitable access to telecommunications and information services for persons with disabilities.footnote 4

Voluntary or self-regulatory mechanisms are therefore unlikely to be an effective option to remove and prevent digital accessibility barriers and realize a barrier-free Canada. This is why new accessible digital technology requirements are now being introduced via an amendment to the ACARs, which incorporate by reference the most recent version of the ICT Standard.

The ICT Standard is technology-neutral and largely outcome-based. This means it does not favour one kind of technology over another, nor does it set rigid requirements for how digital technology must be designed. Instead, it focuses on the desired outcome, which is that digital technology is accessible to persons with disabilities. More specifically, more than 80% of the requirements under the ICT Standard, applicable to the digital accessibility components being regulated, are outcome-based. As a result, the ICT Standard allows for flexibility and innovation when it comes to designing accessible digital technologies.

Incorporation by reference

The ICT Standard, which is incorporated in the Regulations, is the most comprehensive digital accessibility standard, as it covers multiple digital components, such as web pages, digital documents, stationary digital technology, software, and biometrics, among others. The ICT Standard is also publicly available in both English and French and at no cost. Given that digital technology is constantly changing and evolving, it is necessary to incorporate the ICT Standard on an ambulatory basis to ensure regulatory requirements are up to date. This ensures that digital technologies used by federally regulated entities remain accessible in the future. When ASC updates the ICT Standard, federally regulated entities have to ensure all their regulated digital technology area conform with the updated version of the standard.

ESDC regularly communicates with ASC regarding their standards development work. To ensure that federally regulated entities are kept well informed of potential future updates to the ICT Standard, ESDC will also promote opportunities to participate in ASCs technical committees related to this standard in collaboration with industry associations representing federally regulated businesses. As well, ESDC will inform entities when ASC conducts consultations regarding new potential versions of the ICT Standard, and when new versions of the standard are ultimately adopted by ASC. ESDC will also monitor future versions of the ICT Standard to ensure they remain within the scope of the enabling authorities provided by the ACA.

Regulatory analysis

Benefits and costs

The cost-benefit analysis has been done over 10 periods of 12 months using a 7% discount rate.

Overall, based on the projected time frame of the analysis (10 periods of 12 months), the present value of costs to regulated entities is estimated to total $309.95 million in 2022 constant dollars, with an annualized average cost of $44.13 million. The present value of total benefits is estimated to be $1,209.78 million in 2022 constant dollars, with an annualized average benefit of $172.25 million. As a result, the present value net benefit is estimated to be $899.83 million in 2022 constant dollars, with an annualized average benefit of $128.12 million.

A complete cost-benefit analysis report is available from the Accessible Canada Directorate at ESDC upon request, by sending an email to accessible.canada.directorate-direction.canada.accessible@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca.

Impacted stakeholders

The Phase 1 Regulations are expected to primarily benefit working age (15 to 65 years old) persons with disabilities in Canada. Based on current data, it is projected that for the age group 15 years or older, there will be over 10 million Canadians with disabilities and over 25 million Canadians without disabilities by 2025, all of whom will benefit from the Phase 1 Regulations.

The Phase 1 Regulations are expected to apply to approximately 183 federally regulated public sector entities, 199 large businesses, and 719 medium-sized businesses beginning in period 1. The Phase 1 Regulations apply to 112 First Nations band councils, beginning in period 10. Federally regulated entities will incur costs towards making their digital technologies accessible; however, they are also expected to benefit from the Phase 1 Regulations. A total of 1.47 million employees of federally regulated entities are also expected to benefit from the Phase 1 Regulations.

Data sources

Data regarding persons with disabilities were sourced from the 2017footnote 5 and 2022footnote 6 Canadian Survey on Disability (CSD) and other related reports published by the Government of Canada. Due to very limited availability of data in Canada, the U.S. Revised Section 508 Final Regulatory Impact Analysisfootnote 7 and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to revise the regulation implementing title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (hereinafter the U.S. 2023 proposed changes to the ADA regulations)footnote 8 were used to infer costs and benefits related to the different digital technology areas. As well, ESDC sought feedback from federally regulated public and private sector entities on key costing assumptions via a questionnaire.

Baseline and regulatory scenarios
Baseline scenario

Digital technology accessibility standards have existed since 1999, with the introduction of WCAG 1.0. Therefore, in the baseline scenario, it is assumed that federally regulated entities are already conforming to varying degrees with accessibility standards, depending on their size and sector. As well, due to growing awareness and the trend towards accessibility, the digital technologies of federally regulated entities are expected to generally improve over time, even in the absence of the Phase 1 Regulations. The improvement is expected to vary, depending on size and sector. An overview of the assumptions used for the baseline scenario is presented below.

Federally regulated public sector entities

Due to pre-existing mandatory Treasury Board (TB) accessibility requirements for public-facing web pages, mobile applications, digital documents, and procurement processes, it is assumed that federal public sector entities will be fully compliant with TB requirements by period 10, if they are not already. This will make them fully compliant with the requirements for these areas in the Phase 1 Regulations.

Based on ESDC’s internal data, the employee-facing web pages of federal public sector entities are assumed to be partially compliant with accessibility requirements, and while improvements are expected over the time frame of the analysis even without regulation, employee-facing web pages will still not be fully compliant by period 10. As well, since federal public sector entities must already comply with mandatory TB accessibility requirements for certain digital technologies, ESDC assumes that half of the employees involved in the development, maintenance or purchasing of digital technologies have already received training on digital accessibility.

As a result, the incremental compliance costs for federal public sector entities are only for the accessibility of employee-facing web pages, conformity assessment of existing mobile applications, providing accessibility training and document retention.

Federally regulated private sector entities

Currently, Canada does not have digital technology accessibility regulations for federally regulated private sector entities that are not TSPs or BTOs. However, large businesses that serve the public have a financial incentive to provide a better and more accessible customer experience and also have more resources to do so. ESDC is therefore assuming that the web pages and mobile applications, that are not employee-facing, of large businesses currently have some degree of conformance to accessibility standards, and this is assumed to increase modestly by period 10 without the Phase 1 Regulations; however, they would not be fully compliant. Similarly, it is assumed that large businesses have already provided some accessibility training to a small portion of relevant employees to support their current level of conformity assessment, and this is assumed to increase modestly by period 10, even without the Phase 1 Regulations; however, again, only a portion of implicated employees will receive training.

The current and future conformance rates for the web pages of medium-sized businesses are assumed to be half of that of large businesses without regulation, as their capacity and financial resources are limited, compared to large businesses.

For all other areas that are being regulated (i.e. employee-facing web pages, digital documents, procurement processes), large and medium-sized businesses are assumed to have zero baseline conformance and are not expected to make any progress by period 10 without the Phase 1 Regulations.

The CTA and CRTC currently have regulations, policies and instruments that set digital technology accessibility requirements for TSPs and BTOs, respectively. It is therefore expected that federal public and private sector TSPs and BTOs have some existing internal capacity and knowledge of conformity assessment, better positioning them to comply with the Phase 1 Regulations compared to other private sector entities. As a result, large and medium-sized businesses that are TSPs or BTOs are assumed to currently meet some level of conformance with the training requirement, which is expected to increase by period 10, even without the Phase 1 Regulations.

First Nations band councils’ businesses

The Phase 1 Regulations apply to First Nations band councils’ businesses with 100 or more employees only in the final period of the analysis (period 10). As a result, ESDC has estimated the costs for First Nations band councils for the final period only.

Regulatory scenario

Under the regulatory scenario, the requirements of the Phase 1 Regulations will differ for federally regulated entities based on whether they are part of the federal public or private sector and their number of employees. Table 5 details the requirements for different entities.

Federally regulated public sector entities are expected to be fully compliant with the regulatory requirements related to public facing web pages, mobile applications, digital documents and procurement. There will be some incremental compliance costs above the baseline compliance rates for these entities in the areas of employee-facing web pages, testing of existing mobile applications and employee training.

For regulated private sector entities, ESDC is assuming that regulated entities will fully comply with all regulatory requirements that apply to them. The regulatory scenario therefore considered the incremental compliance rates to achieve full compliance from the assumed baseline compliance rates. Large businesses will experience higher costs than medium-sized businesses because of the greater number of requirements that apply to them.

Private sector TSPs and BTOs will experience lower costs because of their pre-existing internal capacity on digital accessibility and the fact that fewer requirements apply to them.

First Nations band councils have to begin complying with the Phase 1 Regulations beginning in period 10. ESDC assumed the cost implications for them would be the same as that of medium-sized businesses.

Cost-benefit statement
Table 1: Monetized benefits ($M)
Impacted stakeholder Description of benefit Base year Other relevant years (period 4, nominal) Final year (period 10, nominal) Total present value Annualized value
Federally regulated public sector entities Increased productivity of employees with disabilities, time savings from telephone calls and in-person visits, etc. 0.00 $1.02 $2.06 $5.54 $0.79
Federally regulated private sector entities 0.00 $45.63 $98.14 $270.98 $38.58
First Nations band councils None (applicable for period 10 only, no benefit is expected to realize) 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Canadians with disabilities Time savings due to accessible information and services 0.00 $91.48 $217.57 $544.33 $77.50
Canadians without disabilities Time savings due to accessible information and services 0.00 $70.53 $145.97 $388.94 $55.38
All stakeholders Total benefits 0.00 $208.66 $463.73 $1,209.78 $172.25
Table 2: Monetized costs ($M)
Impacted stakeholder Description of cost Base year Other relevant years (period 4, nominal) Final year (period 10, nominal) Total present value Annualized value
Federally regulated public sector entities Costs for developing/testing accessible digital technologies, training of employees, procurement, administration, and compliance $3.87 $5.66 $5.72 $37.37 $5.32
Federally regulated private sector entities $1.34 $47.50 $52.12 $272.58 $38.81
First Nations band councils 0.00 0.00 $0.05 $0.02 $0.00
Canadians with disabilities 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Canadians without disabilities 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
All stakeholders Total costs $5.21 $53.15 $57.88 $309.95 $44.13
Table 3: Summary of monetized benefits and costs ($M)
Impact Base year Other relevant years (period 4, nominal) Final year (period 10, nominal) Total present value Annualized value
Total benefits 0.00 $208.66 $473.76 $1,209.78 $172.25
Total costs ($5.21) $53.15 $57.88 $309.95 $44.13
Net impact ($5.21) $155.50 $415.88 $899.83 $128.12
Monetized benefits

The Phase 1 Regulations will require federally regulated entities to ensure that any regulated digital technology area (i.e. new and updated web pages, new mobile applications, new and updated digital documents) they publish beginning in either period 3 or 4 (24 to 36 months after registration) conforms to the ICT Standard. Federally regulated entities will not be required to ensure their pre-existing digital technologies in these three areas conform to the ICT Standard.

As a result, the accessibility of regulated entities’ digital technologies will gradually improve over time as a growing proportion of entities’ web pages, mobile applications and digital documents will conform to the ICT Standard, beginning in periods 3 and 4. Consequentially, the benefits of the Phase 1 Regulations will gradually increase over the 10 periods of the analysis, starting in periods 3 and 4.

It is estimated that the PV of total incremental benefits of the Phase 1 Regulations over 10 periods of 12 months will be $1,209.78 million in 2022 constant dollars, with an annualized average benefit of $172.25 million.

Benefits estimation
Benefits to persons with disabilities

Research and ESDC’s consultations with persons with disabilities (PDF) suggest that, due to inaccessible web pages, mobile applications and digital documents of federally regulated entities, persons with disabilities spend more time finding information and accessing programs and services.

As the accessibility of federally regulated entities’ digital technology improves because of the Phase 1 Regulations, persons with disabilities will experience fewer barriers when using entities’ web pages, mobile applications and digital documents. Persons with disabilities will consequentially experience fewer barriers when applying for programs, services and jobs and conducting transactions online.

ESDC is therefore estimating the benefits of the Phase 1 Regulations to persons with disabilities in three categories:

The value of time saved is taken at the average wage rate. ESDC estimates that this time savings will increase every period (beginning in period 4) as a growing number of web pages, mobile applications and digital documents become subject to the requirements under the Phase 1 Regulations.

Overall, the PV of benefits for persons with disabilities is estimated to be $544.33 million over 10 periods of 12 months in 2022 constant dollars, with an annualized average benefit of $77.50 million. An explanation of the assumptions for each of the three benefit areas for persons with disabilities is provided below.

(a) Time savings from easier browsing of accessible web pages, mobile applications and digital documents

ESDC is assuming that, beginning in period 4, persons with disabilities will each save 2.50 minutes per year, on average, which will increase to 5 minutes in period 10, as a growing proportion of federally regulated entities’ web pages, mobile applications and digital documents conform to the ICT Standard. ESDC’s time savings estimates were based on those identified by the U.S. Revised Section 508 RIAS (2017).

(b) Time savings from having to make fewer in-person visits

Due to improved accessibility of new and updated web pages, mobile applications and digital documents, persons with disabilities will be able to conduct a larger proportion of their transactions online and will have a reduced need to physically go to entities’ service locations. ESDC is assuming that this time savings will be 20 minutes per year, on average, for persons with disabilities, beginning in period 4 and increase to 40 minutes by period 10, as a growing proportion of regulated entities’ web pages, mobile applications and digital documents conform to the ICT Standard. ESDC’s time savings estimates were based on those identified by the U.S. 2023 proposed changes to the ADA regulations (PDF).

(c) Time savings from having to make fewer telephone calls

Due to improved accessibility of new and updated web pages, mobile applications and digital documents, persons with disabilities will be able to conduct a larger proportion of their transactions online and thus save time from having to make fewer telephone calls to federally regulated entities. This includes time spent being on hold and time needed for completing transactions or obtaining information. ESDC is assuming that persons with disabilities will, on average, save 2.5 minutes per year from having to make fewer telephone calls, beginning in period 4 and increase to 5 minutes in period 10. ESDC’s time savings estimates were based on those identified by the U.S. 2023 proposed changes to the ADA regulations (PDF).

Benefits to persons without disabilities

Accessible web pages and other digital technologies provide a better user experience to all users, not just persons with disabilities, and therefore, also benefit persons without disabilities. Persons without disabilities are, therefore, also expected to save time from easier browsing, fewer phone calls and in-person visits. It is assumed that these time savings will be in similar ways but considerably lower compared to persons with disabilities: 28% of that of persons with disabilities, which is based on the analysis from the U.S. 2023 proposed changes to the ADA regulations (PDF).

Overall, the PV of benefits for persons without disabilities is expected to be $388.94 million in 2022 constant dollars, with an annualized average benefit of $55.38 million.

Benefits to federally regulated entities

Federally regulated entities are expected to benefit from accessibility improvements to their digital technology in the following ways:

The benefits for federally regulated entities will begin in period 4 and grow over time as a growing number of web pages, mobile applications and digital documents become subject to the Phase 1 Regulations.

Overall, the total PV of benefits for federally regulated entities over 10 periods of 12 months is expected to be $276.52 million, and the annualized benefit is expected to be $39.37 million. An explanation of the assumptions for each of the three benefit areas for federally regulated entities is provided below.

(a) Increased productivity of employees with disabilities

ESDC estimates that in 2025, there will be 32 627 persons with disabilities employed in the federal public sector and 33 061 employees with disabilities employed in federally regulated private sector entities with 100 or more employees. When digital work tools are inaccessible, employees with disabilities require more time to complete their daily tasks. Therefore, providing an accessible digital technology-enabled work environment, particularly employee-facing web pages, is expected to increase the productivity and efficiency of employees with disabilities, ultimately benefiting their employers.

Based on the U.S. Revised Section 508 (2017) RIAS, it is estimated that employees with disabilities spend around 20 hours per week online (all web pages including employee-facing web pages) and lose about 15% of their work time due to web inaccessibility. It is projected that starting in period 4, when the Phase 1 Regulations will apply to employee-facing web pages of private sector entities, 1.25% of this lost time (1.88 hours) will be recovered. The time savings are expected to increase each year to reach 2.5% (3.75 hours) by period 10 as a growing number of employee-facing web pages become subject to the requirements.

The PV of benefits to regulated entities from increased productivity of their employees with disabilities is expected to be $14.33 million in 2022 constant dollars, with an annualized average benefit of $2.04 million.

(b) Reduced workload for federal entities’ call centres and in-person service locations

Due to improved accessibility of web pages, mobile applications and digital documents, persons with disabilities will have a reduced need to call federally regulated entities or visit their physical service locations to obtain assistance with tasks that could be completed online. As a result, entities could expect to see a reduction in call volumes at their call centres and fewer client visits to their physical service locations. Federally regulated entities will therefore be able to serve the same customer base with fewer resources, which will free up resources that could be deployed to other productive activities.

The benefits from reduced telephone calls and in-person visits are only considered in cases where the Phase 1 Regulations will apply to web pages other than employee-facing web pages, mobile applications that are not employee-facing and digital documents on web pages and mobile applications other than employee-facing ones. This benefit is therefore estimated only for private sector entities. The time savings for federally regulated entities are calculated as a portion of the time savings for persons with disabilities from reduced telephone calls and in-person visits. Based on the U.S. 2023 proposed changes to the ADA regulations (PDF), ESDC is assuming that, due to the decreased workload for call centres and physical service locations, federally regulated entities will save 7.5 minutes per year (5 minutes from in-person services and 2.5 minutes from telephone services) for every client with a disability they serve in period 4, which will increase to 15 minutes by period 10.

The PV of benefits for federally regulated entities from reduced telephone calls and in-person visits are estimated to be $259.73 million over 10 periods of 12 months in 2022 constant dollars, with an annualized average benefit of $36.98 million.

(c) Reduced employee turnover

Providing an accessible digital technology-enabled work environment, particularly employee-facing web pages, will give employees with disabilities a greater sense of control over their work environment, reducing their levels of stress and ultimately lead to reduced rates of employee turnover.

When an employee leaves their job, the cost of turnover will be that of replacing the employee. Replacing an employee results in numerous direct and indirect costs, including recruitment, training, increased supervision and lower productivity during the new employee’s early years on the job. Overall, this is estimated at 50% of annual salary for entry-level positions, 125% for mid-level positions and over 200% for senior executives.

Based on research commissioned by ESDC, it is assumed that the turnover rate among persons with disabilities in federally regulated public and private entities is 6%. As a result of the Phase 1 Regulations, it is assumed that the overall turnover costs to federally regulated entities will be reduced by 0.25% starting in period 4 and the turnover cost reduction will grow to 0.50% in period 10. The turnover cost is estimated to be 1.25 times the average annual salary or equivalent to that of a mid-level employee.

The PV of benefits for federally regulated entities from reduced turnover of employees with disabilities over 10 periods of 12 months is expected to be $2.46 million in 2022 constant dollars, with an annualized average benefit of $350,411.43.

Table 4: Summary of monetized benefits of digital technologies accessibility ($M)
Benefit area PV of benefits over 10 periods of 12 months (in 2022 constant dollars) Annualized benefits (in 2022 constant dollars)
Benefits to persons with disabilities $544.33 $77.50
Benefits to persons without disabilities $388.94 $55.38
Benefits to federally regulated entities $276.52 $39.37
Total $1,209.78 $172.25
Monetized costs: Cost estimation

The Phase 1 Regulations will have different requirements for regulated entities based on their sector and size, and therefore different cost impacts on regulated entities based on these same factors. The costs are estimated based on the compliance timelines and incremental compliance rates above those in the baseline scenario for the different requirements under the Phase 1 Regulations.

Overall, the total PV of incremental costs of the Phase 1 Regulations over 10 periods of 12 months is estimated to be $309.95 million in 2022 constant dollars, with an average annualized cost of $44.13 million. A breakdown of this cost is presented in Table 6 and a description of each cost component is provided in the sections below.

Cost areas and impacted entities

Federally regulated entities will incur costs pertaining to the development of new and updated web pages, new mobile applications and new and updated digital documents that conform to the ICT Standard. In addition, federally regulated entities will incur costs related to training on digital accessibility for relevant employees, conformity assessments when buying products and services related to their web pages and mobile applications, and publishing accessibility statements for applicable digital technology areas, and administrative costs for retention of certain records.

First Nations band councils have received a time-limited exemption from the regulatory requirements that will expire on December 31, 2033. This implies that out of the time frame of 10 periods of 12 months for this cost-benefit analysis, the requirements will only apply to First Nations band councils during period 10.

Table 5 presents an overview of regulatory requirements and their application to federally regulated entities, considering their sector and size.

Table 5: Digital accessibility requirements, by federally regulated entities
Cost area Entities that will be affected Number of affected entities (2025) table b5 note a
Development of accessible web pages other than employee-facing ones Federal public sector entities that are not TSPs or BTOs 762
Large businesses that are not TSPs or BTOs
Medium-sized businesses that are not TSPs or BTOs
Development of accessible employee-facing web pages All federal public sector entities 1 102
All large businesses
All medium-sized businesses
Development of accessible mobile applications that are not employee-facing Federal public sector entities that are not TSPs or BTOs 298  
Large businesses that are not TSPs or BTOs
Development of accessible facing digital documents on web pages and mobile applications that are not employee-facing Federal public sector entities that are not TSPs or BTOs 298  
Large businesses that are not TSPs or BTOs
Obtaining and interpreting conformity assessment when purchasing digital technology products and services Federal public sector entities that are not BTOs 341  
Large businesses that are BTOs
Digital accessibility training for relevant employees All federal public sector entities 1 102
All large businesses
All medium-sized businesses
Publishing accessibility statements All federal public sector entities 383  
All large businesses
Administrative costs — Retention of records All federal public sector entities 1 102
All large businesses
All medium-sized businesses
Table b5 note(s)
Table b5 note a

ESDC’s projection based on internally sourced Labor Program administrative data.

Return to table b5 note a referrer

A total of 1 102 federally regulated entities as of 2025 are expected to be impacted by the Phase 1 Regulations. In addition, 122 First Nations band councils having 100 or more employees are expected to be impacted by the Phase 1 Regulations in period 10.

Key costing assumptions relating to digital technology areas

Cost data regarding conformance with EN 301 549 is very limited in Canadian context. However, since EN 301 549 (which ASC adopted in whole and without modification as the ICT Standard) was designed to closely align with the Revised Section 508 regulations in the United States, the cost parameters of web development, audiovisual production and digital documents from the 2017 U.S. Revised Section 508 RIAS were considered equivalent to those for the Phase 1 Regulations.

Compliance cost per employee was used as a proxy to estimate compliance costs for regulated entities, as there is a relationship between the number of employees and the size of an entity’s operating budget, which includes spending on digital technology, and direct data on digital technology budgets is very limited. The U.S. cost figures from the 2017 RIAS were calculated on a per-employee basis and then transposed to annual average cost per employee for Canadian federally regulated entities by adjusting for currency exchange rates and inflation.

Based on findings from a 2019 U.S. studyfootnote 9 also cited by the U.S. 2023 proposed changes to the ADA regulations (PDF), the average development cost of a new mobile application is assumed to be Can$145,000.00. While the 2019 study also argued that the cost to build an accessible mobile application from the ground up is the same as that of an inaccessible application, ESDC took a more conservative approach and assumed it would cost 10% more to build an accessible mobile application. Based on internal research conducted by ESDC, the average cost of conformity assessment of existing mobile applications is assumed to be approximately 15% of the application’s development cost, slightly higher than that of a new application.

For digital documents, the cost estimation was based on the compliance cost for electronic documents and other electronic content from the 2017 U.S. Revised Section 508 RIAS. The figures were transposed to annual average cost per employee for Canadian federally regulated entities using the same methodology used for web content. Since the U.S. Revised Section 508 regulations apply to both external and internal documents, whereas the Phase 1 Regulations will only regulate external documents, ESDC assumed that external documents make up 5% of all documents produced by federally regulated entities and adjusted the cost estimate for digital documents accordingly.

Compliance costs for training

Based on the questionnaire responses received from federally regulated entities, ESDC is assuming that, on an average, 10% of the federally regulated entities’ workforce will require training. In addition, these employees will require 5 hours of training in each of periods 2 and 3, totalling 10 hours. ESDC is assuming that an additional 1 hour of recurring and refresher training will be needed for relevant employees every year after period 3. ESDC is including the value of the wages paid to an employee during the time they will be receiving training as part of training compliance costs and is considering the cost of accessibility training to be $80 per hour, based on internal research.

Compliance costs for accessibility statements and administrative costs for record retention

Federally regulated entities will have compliance costs for the preparation and publication of accessibility statements related to the digital technology areas that will be regulated by the Phase 1 Regulations. Federally regulated entities will also have administrative costs to retain records pertaining to training and conformity assessments.

ESDC used the same methodology as its previous planning and reporting regulations,footnote 10 to estimate these two cost areas. The estimate assumes that, on average, it will take an average time of 37.50 hours for a manager to prepare and publish an entity’s accessibility plan. This is assumed to be the same for preparing and publishing an entity’s accessibility statement.

Regarding the retention of records, it was assumed that an entity, regardless of their size and business sector, will have to spend 20 minutes per year on average on record retention. Since records will have to be retained electronically, the cost of storage is assumed to be negligible. These retention costs are assumed to be similar for the Phase 1 Regulations.

Enforcement costs for the Canadian Human Rights Commission

The Office of the Accessibility Commissioner at the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) will incur costs to enforce the Phase 1 Regulations. The estimated enforcement costs provided by the CHRC factor salaries for new employees (PV of $5.75 million over 10 periods in 2022 constant dollars). There will be additional costs for licensing of software to assess conformance of digital technologies to the ICT Standard (PV of $2.15 million over 10 periods in 2022 constant dollars) and a one-time enabling architecture cost (PV of $380,000 over 10 periods in 2022 constant dollars). The PV of enforcement costs is estimated to be $8.27 million over 10 period of 12 months in 2022 constant dollars, with an annualized average cost of $1.18 million.

Table 6: Summary of incremental costs imposed by the Phase 1 Regulations ($M)
Cost area PV of costs over 10 period of 12 months (in 2022 constant dollars) Annualized cost
(in 2022 constant dollars)
Development of accessible web pages including
employee-facing web pages		 $74.34 $10.58
Development and testing of mobile applications that are not employee-facing $10.52 $1.50
Development of accessible digital documents on web pages and mobile applications that are not employee-facing $29.77 $4.24
Conducting or obtaining and interpreting conformity assessment when purchasing digital technology products and services $55.56 $7.91
Digital accessibility training for relevant employees $128.18 $18.25
Publishing accessibility statements $3.24 $0.46
Retention of records $0.07 $0.01
Enforcement by the CHRC $8.27 $1.18
Total $309.95 $44.13
Non-monetary and qualitative impacts

The Phase 1 Regulations are expected to have the following non-monetary positive impacts on persons with disabilities:

In addition, since persons with disabilities will require less assistance when interacting with federally regulated entities, persons without disabilities who provide unpaid caregiving services or assistance to persons with disabilities, such as family members and friends, will also be expected to benefit from reduced caregiving responsibilities.

The Phase 1 Regulations will also benefit retirees and others aged over 65 years who interact regularly with federally regulated entities. However, ESDC has taken a conservative approach to monetize the benefits for the working-age population (15 to 65 years old).

Federally regulated entities will also experience a number of benefits that cannot be monetized:

Digital technology vendors and suppliers will also benefit from greater standardization of accessible design practices for digital technologies, as they will be able to develop accessible solutions for both domestic and international markets and be able to take advantage of accessible digital technology products and services developed internationally.

Small business lens

Small businesses, defined as federally regulated private sector entities with 99 employees and less, will not be subject to any of the requirements being put forward in the Phase 1 Regulations. As a result, the Phase 1 Regulations will not result in cost impacts on small businesses and therefore the small business lens does not apply.

One-for-one rule

The one-for-one rule applies, since there will be an incremental increase in the administrative burden on businesses, and the Phase 1 Regulations are considered an “in” under the rule. No regulatory titles are repealed or introduced.

Under the Phase 1 Regulations, federally regulated entities will be required to retain for four years

The estimated costs of the administrative burden were based on the methodology used by ESDC for the previous planning and reporting regulations under the ACA. The methodology examined estimates of similar regulatory requirements (notification, retention) from different federal departments and subject matter experts. Incremental administrative costs relate to the time spent by employees on activities related to the retention of records. ESDC assumes that every private sector organization will have to spend 20 minutes of one employee’s time per year to comply with the retention of records requirements. This time requirement is monetized using the average wage rate in federally regulated sectors, including overhead costs and non-wage benefits.

The Phase 1 Regulations will apply to all federally regulated public sector entities, as well as federally regulated private sector entities with 100 and more employees. However, the one-for-one rule will only apply to federally regulated private sector entities with 100 and more employees starting from period 1 (ESDC estimates 1 102 such entities in period 1) for the administrative costs related to retention of records.

Table 7: Administrative cost to the federally regulated entities
Entity type Annualized administrative cost per entity over 10 periods of 12 months (in 2012 constant dollars, discounted at 7% as per the Red Tape Reduction Regulations)
Cost per entity $5
Total annualized administrative costs for all concerned federally regulated entities $4,904

Regulatory cooperation and alignment

The Phase 1 Regulations are not related to any commitment under a formal regulatory cooperation forum. That said, the Phase 1 Regulations align with similar regulations in other jurisdictions across the globe and within Canada.

Currently, three digital accessibility standards are mostly prevalent as part of digital accessibility regulations in other jurisdictions — the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), Revised Section 508 Standards of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act and the Harmonised European Standard Accessibility requirements for ICT products and services (EN 301 549) (PDF). EN 301 549 integrates WCAG 2.1 Level AA and is closely aligned with the Revised Section 508 Standards in the United States.

Within Canada, Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba have developed digital technologies–specific regulations or standards based on WCAG. Other provinces and territories refer to WCAG in their current/forthcoming standards or guidelines.

By incorporating by reference the most recent version of the ICT Standard, the Phase 1 Regulations minimize regulatory differences with other jurisdictions and Canada’s major trading partners.

Effects on the environment

In accordance with the Cabinet Directive on Strategic Environmental and Economic Assessment, a preliminary scan concluded that a strategic environmental assessment is not required because these Regulations have no environmental impact.

Gender-based analysis plus

The Phase 1 Regulations benefit Canadians, particularly persons with disabilities, by improving the accessibility of web pages, mobile applications, and digital documents. By removing digital accessibility barriers, it is expected that many daily tasks and services requiring access to web pages, mobile applications, and digital documents of federally regulated entities (such as online banking, applying for government programs or navigating a federal government website) will be easier for people to perform.

There are many complex and intersecting factors that affect the extent to which certain populations will benefit from the Phase 1 Regulations. The following gender-based analysis plus (GBA+) considerations related to Canadians with disabilities were identified.

Age: According to the 2022 Canadian Internet Use Survey, 95% of Canadians aged 15 years and older used the Internet in 2022, an increase of 3% from 2020. The largest increases were among older Canadians, with over 8 in 10 (82.6%) seniors (those aged 65 years and older) using the Internet in 2022, up 6.3% from 2020. For those aged 75 years and older, the increase was even larger: up by 10 percentage points to 72%.footnote 11 It is anticipated that seniors in Canada who use digital technologies will benefit more from the Phase 1 Regulations compared to most other age groups. This is because the rate of disability (as well as the complexity and interaction between disabilities) increases with age. For example, nearly half (42%) of seniors with a disability had four or more co-occurring disabilities, while similar or small proportions of youth (43%) and working-age adults (36%) were most likely to have two or three disabilities.footnote 12

That said, younger Canadians are also expected to benefit, as they commonly obtain information and conduct transactions online. For example, 95% of Canadians aged 25 to 44 conducted their shopping online in 2020,footnote 13 and 90.3% of Internet users who do their banking online are young Canadians aged 25 to 34.footnote 14

Gender: Young men (aged 16 to 24) with disabilities could benefit more from improvements to the accessibility of workplace digital tools, as their employment rate in 2022 (47.8%) was significantly lower than that of young women with disabilities (59.9%).footnote 15 Similarly, it is possible that older women (aged 55 to 64) with disabilities could benefit more than older men with disabilities as their employment rate (46.9%) was also lower than that of older men with disabilities (56.0%); however, this effect is less certain, as the employment rate gap between older men and women without disabilities was of similar magnitude.footnote 15 A recent report on disability and accessibility in Canada shows that 2SLGBTQ+ persons with disabilities (20%) are more likely than their non-2SLGBTQ+ counterparts (17%) to experience at least one barrier to accessibility related to Internet use.footnote 16

Multiple disabilities: Canadians with multiple disabilities will be more likely to benefit from the Phase 1 Regulations, as they are more likely to encounter digital technologies barriers compared to persons with a single disability. More specifically, Canadians with one disability (27.0%) face almost half as many digital technologies accessibility barriers as those identified to have multiple disabilities (48.4%).footnote 17 Generally, persons with multiple disability types are also less likely to access the Internet from home compared to persons without disabilities and persons with a single disability type.footnote 18

Income: Research shows that people with low income are more likely to face digital accessibility barriers. For example, Canadians living in households that earned less than $40,000 (51.7%) were more likely to report experiencing digital technologies barriers compared to those in households with an income of $40,000 to $80,000 (44.2%) and those with an income over $80,000 (38.6%).footnote 17 This suggests that lower-income households may benefit more from the Phase 1 Regulations compared to higher-income households.

However, people with lower incomes are also less likely to be able to afford assistive technologies, which can be expensive to purchase and require newer and more expensive devices to operate.footnote 19 Therefore, lower-income persons with disabilities who do not have access to expensive assistive technology may benefit less from the Phase 1 Regulations.

Rural and urban distribution: Canadians living in rural areas and the Territories may benefit less from the Phase 1 Regulations than those in urban areas, as they are less likely to have access to broadband or high-speed Internet. As of December 2023, the number of Canadians that had access to high-speed Internet service that met the CRTC benchmark of 50 Mbps (megabits per second) download, 10 Mbps upload speeds and unlimited data was 99.4% in urban areas and 67.4% in rural areas. There is also limited availability of high-speed Internet access in the Territories, with 70.4% of the population having access in the Yukon, 82.0% in the Northwest Territories, and no service providers being available in Nunavut.footnote 20

Immigrant status: Additional data related to Internet use released from the 2022 Canadian Survey on Disability indicates that among persons with disabilities, immigrants (19%) were more likely than non-immigrants (16%) to experience at least one barrier to accessibility related to Internet use.footnote 16

Implementation, compliance and enforcement, and service standards

Implementation

Coming into force

The requirements applying to the web pages of federal public sector entities, and accessibility statements pertaining to these web pages, as well as the training requirements for all affected entities, will come into force 24 months after the date the Phase 1 Regulations are registered. All other requirements will come into force 36 months after the date the Phase 1 Regulations are registered. The intention of these dates is to provide between 24 and 36 months of lead time for entities to comply with the requirements.

ESDC will proactively communicate with federally regulated entities, including industry associations representing federally regulated entities, to ensure a maximum number of stakeholders are aware of the publication of the Phase 1 Regulations and have adequate lead time to comply with the regulatory provisions. Technical briefings will also be provided after the Phase 1 Regulations are published in the Canada Gazette, Part II.

In recognition of the continued engagement between the Government of Canada and Indigenous governments and federally regulated entities on the application of the Act, First Nations band councils are exempted from the Phase 1 Regulations until December 31, 2033. In addition, the existing exemption from the planning and reporting requirements of the ACARs is extended until December 31, 2033. The exemption also applies to entities or persons that carry on an undertaking for or on behalf of First Nations band councils or on the band’s reserve lands, other than businesses operated for or on behalf of First Nations band councils or on the band’s reserve lands, to which the exemption continues not to apply.

Implementation of the Phase 1 Regulations is supported by guidance material to inform federally regulated entities and Canadians. The guidance materials include templates, examples, guidelines and best practices and will be updated as necessary. Extensive guidance from third party expert entities also exists for how to design and develop accessible web content, mobile applications and digital documents. For example, the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C’s) Web Accessibility Initiative has already published comprehensive guidance on how to understand and implement digital accessibility.

ESDC is monitoring the ICT Standard that is incorporated by reference in the Phase 1 Regulations, on an ongoing basis, to ensure it continues to meet all requirements, as well as remain clear and consistent in its intent and application. Any update to the ICT Standard will be communicated to stakeholders on a regular basis.

Compliance and enforcement

The Accessibility Commissioner within the CHRC is responsible for compliance and enforcement activities for federally regulated entities.

There are several previously mentioned factors that are relevant to determining the feasibility of conforming to the ICT Standard. In such circumstances, federally regulated entities could be required by the Accessibility Commissioner to provide evidence to substantiate non-feasibility and demonstrate, to the satisfaction of the Accessibility Commissioner, that they took reasonable measures to remove barriers, including establishing alternative methods of access that address barriers associated with non-conformance with the ICT Standard. Entities could also be asked by the Accessibility Commissioner to provide evidence of efforts to overcome challenges to conform to the ICT Standard even though they have established alternative means of access.

The ACA provides the Accessibility Commissioner with a range of enforcement tools to verify, promote, and enforce compliance with the ACA and its regulations, including the power to conduct inspections and issue orders and notices of violation, including with penalties, and enter into compliance agreements.footnote 21 That said, compliance and enforcement are typically conducted on a continuum that starts with outreach and education to prevent or address non-compliance before notices of violation are issued.

Failure to conform to any of the requirements of the Phase 1 Regulations is classified as “minor” violations. The ACARs establish, for minor violations, a penalty range of $1,000 to $10,000 for the first violation within a five-year period for a regulated organization that is not a small business. Federally regulated entities with four or more previous violations in a five-year period will face penalties in the range of $50,000 to $75,000. The Accessibility Commissioner can also publish the names of federally regulated entities who commit violations, as well as the nature of the violation and any penalties imposed.

Contact

Marzieh Tafaghod
Executive Director
Programs and Regulations Division
Accessible Canada Directorate
Employment and Social Development Canada
105 De l’HĂ´tel-de-Ville Street
Gatineau, Quebec
J8X 4H7
Email: accessible.canada.directorate-direction.canada.accessible@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca