Five names come up in almost every customer accessibility conversation IFS has. Here’s what each one actually is, who it binds, and how they relate — so a designer or engineer can point to the right one without guessing.
WCAG 2.2 — the technical foundation
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, published by the W3C’s Web Accessibility Initiative, are the technical success criteria almost every other standard on this page ultimately references. WCAG 2.2 organises criteria into A (minimum), AA (the level nearly every law and contract requires), and AAA (enhanced, applied selectively). IFS’s baseline is 2.2 AA across new and materially changed work.
WCAG isn’t itself a law — it becomes binding when a law or contract references it, which almost all of the following do.
Section 508 — U.S. federal procurement
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires U.S. federal agencies to procure and build accessible information and communication technology. The 2017 “508 Refresh” incorporated WCAG 2.0 Level A and AA by reference for web content, software, and electronic documents, with compliance required from January 2018. It’s the standard behind most U.S. federal RFPs, and the reason we maintain a Section 508 edition VPAT.
ADA — U.S. state, local, and public accommodation
The Americans with Disabilities Act doesn’t name a technical standard itself, but the Department of Justice’s 2024 rule for Title II now specifies WCAG 2.1 Level AA as the compliance standard for state and local government web and mobile content. Compliance deadlines were extended in 2026: large public entities (population 50,000+) by 26 April 2027, smaller entities and special districts by 26 April 2028. This is directly relevant to public-sector customers running any product in the IFS portfolio.
EN 301 549 — the European ICT standard
EN 301 549 is the harmonised European standard for accessibility requirements for ICT products and services. It incorporates WCAG success criteria and extends them to non-web software, documents, and hardware. It’s the technical standard EU public procurement points to, and the one the European Accessibility Act leans on for its own technical detail.
European Accessibility Act (EAA) — EU legislation
The EAA is EU-wide legislation requiring accessibility for a defined set of products and services sold to consumers, including e-commerce, banking, and — directly relevant to IFS — software and digital services with a consumer-facing component. It has been in force since 28 June 2025. Where IFS products fall in scope, EN 301 549 conformance is our practical route to demonstrating it.
How they relate
| Standard | Type | Binds | Technical basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| WCAG 2.2 | Technical guideline | Adopted by reference elsewhere | Itself |
| Section 508 | U.S. federal law | Federal agencies & their vendors | WCAG 2.0 A/AA |
| ADA Title II | U.S. federal law | State & local government | WCAG 2.1 AA |
| EN 301 549 | European standard | EU public procurement | WCAG (extended) |
| European Accessibility Act | EU legislation | In-scope consumer products/services | EN 301 549 |
IFS designs to WCAG 2.2 AA by default because it’s the newest, strictest, and most portable target on this list — meeting it puts us ahead of every dated standard above rather than chasing each one separately.