Meeting a contractual requirement
Public tenders and many large buyers require attested WCAG 2.1 or 2.2 level AA conformance.
What are the WCAG? Definition, levels and application
WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) are the W3C recommendations that define how to make web content usable by people with disabilities. They are organised around four principles — perceivable, operable, understandable, robust — broken down into verifiable success criteria across three levels of requirement: A, AA and AAA.
In one sentence
WCAG defines, criterion by criterion, what makes web content genuinely usable by everyone.
Key points
- Four principles structure the whole: perceivable, operable, understandable, robust (POUR).
- Three levels exist: A (minimum), AA (the target most regulations adopt) and AAA (rarely required across a whole site).
- Each success criterion is written to be verifiable, not to be interpreted.
- Version 2.2, a W3C Recommendation since October 2023, adds criteria on keyboard navigation and authentication.
- Some criteria can be automated, but most require human testing: keyboard navigation, screen reader, clarity of labels.
Term at a glance
- WCAG
- Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
- French term
- Règles pour l'accessibilité des contenus web
- Domain
- UX and performance
- Category
- Accessibility
- Published by
- W3C — Web Accessibility Initiative
- Current version
- WCAG 2.2 (Recommendation, 2023)
- Level targeted in practice
- AA
What the WCAG actually cover
WCAG is not a statement of good intentions but a list of success criteria, each written so it can be declared met or not met. That is what allows regulations to lean on it without rewriting technical requirements of their own.
The four principles act as the classification. Perceivable: information must be receivable through different senses — alternative text on images, captions on video, sufficient contrast. Operable: everything must be reachable by keyboard, with no arbitrary time limits and no content that triggers seizures. Understandable: declared language, explicit labels, form errors explained. Robust: the markup must stay interpretable by assistive technologies, current and future.
The three levels are not tiers of increasing quality to be applied everywhere. A covers what makes content unusable for some audiences when missing. AA is the reference level in most legal frameworks. AAA contains criteria that can be impossible to satisfy across an entire site — the W3C itself advises against requiring it globally.
WCAG, a technical recommendation, must be distinguished from the laws that reference it. In Quebec, SGQRI 008 applies to public bodies; in Canada, the Accessible Canada Act covers federally regulated entities. A private company is not always legally bound, but carries commercial and reputational exposure.
How to apply WCAG concretely
- 01
Set the level and the scope
Level AA is the usual target. List the pages and journeys genuinely in scope: home, forms, checkout, customer area. An unwritten scope makes assessment impossible.
- 02
Run the automated tools
A scanner such as axe or Lighthouse quickly finds insufficient contrast, images without alternatives and fields without labels. It covers a minority of criteria but clears the background noise.
- 03
Test with the keyboard alone
Go through each page without a mouse: tab order must follow the reading order, focus must stay visible, and no trap should prevent leaving a component.
- 04
Test with a screen reader
NVDA, VoiceOver or JAWS reveal what automation cannot: a button named "click here", a table without headers, a modal that never takes focus.
- 05
Fix at the source
Most fixes come down to semantic HTML and shared components. Fixing in the design system avoids redoing the work page by page.
- 06
Set up a recurring check
Accessibility decays with every publication. A check at code review plus a periodic verification beats an annual audit.
A concrete example
A Quebec mutual insurer has its member portal audited ahead of a public tender. The automated tool flags 40 contrast issues, fixed in one pass through the design system's colour tokens. The keyboard test uncovers something more serious: the payment confirmation modal never receives focus, so a screen reader user can approve a transfer without ever hearing the amount. That single defect, invisible to automated tools, would have been enough to disqualify the bid.
What the WCAG are used for
Widening the real audience
The criteria help far beyond permanent disability: reading in sunlight, one hand busy, unstable connection, older users.
Structuring a design system
Encoding contrast, focus handling and labels into shared components makes accessibility automatic for every screen that follows.
Reducing legal exposure
For bodies under SGQRI 008 or the Accessible Canada Act, documented conformance is the only useful defence.
What the WCAG bring, and their limits
- Verifiable criteria that replace opinion-based debate about what counts as "accessible"
- A stable international reference that regulations can point to directly
- Real side benefits: better structured HTML, therefore better machine comprehension
- A level-by-level path, with no need for perfection on day one
- Most criteria cannot be automated: human testing remains essential
- Formal conformance does not equal real usability for a person with a disability
- Level AAA is often unreachable across a whole site
- Daily published content decays unless editorial checks accompany the technical work
WCAG and web accessibility: what is the difference?
| WCAG | Web accessibility | |
|---|---|---|
| Nature | A reference set of criteria published by the W3C | The general goal: making the web usable by everyone |
| Scope | Web content and browser-based applications | Also documents, native apps, human service |
| Use | Measured and attested, criterion by criterion | Observed in use, with no single grid |
Why this matters strategically
Roughly one adult in five reports a disability in Canada: an inaccessible site therefore cuts out a real share of your market, and it never shows in your statistics — those visitors leave without a usable trace. Add to that access to public procurement, where AA conformance is increasingly an eligibility condition. Handled at design time, accessibility costs little; retrofitted onto a live site, it means reworking components already replicated everywhere.
Frequently asked questions
Which WCAG version should we target today?
Version 2.2, a W3C Recommendation since October 2023. It is backwards compatible: a site conforming to 2.2 also conforms to 2.1 and 2.0. If a contract still names 2.1, targeting 2.2 satisfies it.
Is level AA enough?
Yes in almost every case. It is the level adopted by regulations and by tenders. AAA contains criteria the W3C itself does not recommend requiring across a whole site.
Can an automated tool certify conformance?
No. Scanners cover a minority of success criteria. They find real errors, but a site with no automated errors can still be unusable by keyboard or screen reader.
Are WCAG mandatory for a private company in Quebec?
Not directly: SGQRI 008 targets public bodies. A private company remains exposed through commercial risk, its clients' requirements and the tenders it bids for.
Does accessibility help SEO?
Indirectly, yes. Structured headings, alternative text, explicit labels and semantic HTML also help search engines understand the content. It is not a ranking factor in itself.
Related terms
Sources and references
Need to reach level AA on a site already in production, or answer a tender requirement?
Get your accessibility assessed