Title II Dates Are Set: What Public Sector Sellers Should Already Have Done

The DOJ's Title II rule names WCAG 2.1 Level AA and compliance dates in 2026 and 2027 by entity size. What that means for campus stores, transit shops, and other public sellers.

Private stores argue about WCAG in the shadow of lawsuits. Public ones have a rule with dates in it. In April 2024 the Department of Justice published its Title II regulation for web and mobile accessibility, adopting WCAG 2.1 Level AA as the technical standard for state and local government digital services, with compliance dates in 2026 for larger entities and 2027 for smaller ones and special district governments.

That covers more commerce than people assume: university stores, transit agency shops, municipal recreation bookings, public hospital gift shops. If the seller is a public entity, the question is no longer which standard a court might pick. This post lays out the rule's shape and the readiness work that should already be under way.

The rule, without the fog

Title II of the ADA covers state and local governments. The 2024 rule, published at 28 CFR Part 35, subpart H, requires covered web content and mobile apps to conform to WCAG 2.1 Level AA, subject to limited exceptions for things like archived content and preexisting conventional documents. Entities serving populations of 50,000 or more were given the earlier compliance date in 2026; smaller entities and special district governments follow in 2027.

Two points are routinely misunderstood. First, the standard named is WCAG 2.1, not 2.2, because rulemaking froze the reference; building to 2.2 AA still satisfies 2.1 AA in substance for nearly everything, since 2.2 is a superset. Second, buying a platform does not transfer the obligation. The public entity answers for its storefront even when a vendor hosts it, which is why procurement language and vendor conformance reports matter here more than in private retail.

What readiness looks like at this point

With the first compliance date arriving in 2026, a covered store should already have: an inventory of its web properties including the shop and booking flows, a conformance evaluation of the transaction templates, remediation tickets owned by named people, and contract terms requiring the platform vendor to maintain conformance through updates. An accessibility conformance report from the vendor, read rather than filed, is the centre of that file.

The remaining gap in most public stores is documents and media: PDF schedules, captioned video of facilities, and third-party payment and ticketing embeds. Those are exactly the categories a readiness programme can still close fastest, because they are finite in number compared with a product catalogue.

Exceptions are narrower than the rumour

Staff sometimes hear 'exception' as 'exempt'. The rule's exceptions are specific: genuinely archived material kept only for reference, preexisting documents not needed for current services, content posted by third parties outside the entity's control, and a few others, each with conditions. A current price list, a registration form, and the store itself fit none of them. Treating an exception as a strategy is how an entity ends up explaining itself to the DOJ instead of to its own auditor.

Related reading: Accessible Loyalty Points and Rewards Dashboards, Accessible Split Payment and Instalment Selectors at Checkout, Accessible Gift Wrapping, Gift Messages, and Receipt Options.

Frequently asked questions

Which WCAG version does the Title II rule require?

WCAG 2.1 Level AA. The Department of Justice adopted 2.1 in its April 2024 final rule for state and local government web content and mobile apps. Building to WCAG 2.2 AA is compatible in practice, because 2.2 keeps the 2.1 criteria and adds new ones.

When are the Title II compliance dates?

The rule phases dates by entity size: larger public entities, serving populations of 50,000 or more, have the 2026 date, while smaller entities and special district governments have the 2027 date. Entities should confirm their exact date against the rule text and their population category.

Does the rule cover a university or transit agency shop?

If the seller is a state or local government entity, or acting for one, its public web storefront is covered web content. A shop selling tickets, merchandise, or bookings to the public is not carved out merely because it is commercial in character.

If our platform vendor hosts the store, who is responsible?

The public entity remains responsible for conformance of its web content. That is why covered entities need current vendor conformance documentation and contract language covering accessibility through updates, rather than assuming the obligation moved with the hosting.