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WCAG 2.2 · Level AA

The global accessibility baseline, tested honestly.

WCAG 2.2 AA is referenced in almost every accessibility regulation worldwide. This page explains the standard, what automation can verify, what still needs a human, and how AccessSure produces evidence reviewers accept.

Test your site against WCAG 2.2Read the W3C specification

Conformance levels

Three levels. AA is the procurement standard.

AMinimum

30 success criteria. Removes the most severe barriers — text alternatives, keyboard access, no seizure-triggering content. Required by all conformance levels.

AAProcurement standard

50 success criteria total. The level written into GIGW 3.0, the European Accessibility Act, US Section 508, ADA litigation outcomes, and most enterprise procurement.

AAAEnhanced

78 success criteria total. Aspirational for entire sites; W3C states AAA is not generally achievable for all content. Apply per-context.

The four principles

POUR — perceivable, operable, understandable, robust.

Perceivable

Information and interface components must be presentable in ways users can perceive — alt text on images, captions on video, sufficient colour contrast, content that reflows at 200% zoom.

  • · 1.1.1 Non-text Content
  • · 1.2.2 Captions
  • · 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum)
  • · 1.4.10 Reflow

Operable

Interface and navigation must be operable by everyone — full keyboard support, no keyboard traps, sufficient time to read, predictable focus order, accessible names for controls.

  • · 2.1.1 Keyboard
  • · 2.4.3 Focus Order
  • · 2.4.7 Focus Visible
  • · 2.5.8 Target Size (Minimum)

Understandable

Content and operation must be understandable — declared page language, predictable navigation, clear input labels, accessible error identification and suggestions.

  • · 3.1.1 Language of Page
  • · 3.2.4 Consistent Identification
  • · 3.3.1 Error Identification
  • · 3.3.7 Redundant Entry

Robust

Markup must be robust enough for assistive technology to interpret reliably — valid parsing, exposed roles and states, accessible names on all controls.

  • · 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value
  • · 4.1.3 Status Messages

New in WCAG 2.2

Nine added criteria, mostly about cognitive load.

If you certified to WCAG 2.1 in the past, these are the gaps to close before your next surveillance audit.

CriterionTitle
2.4.11Focus Not Obscured (Minimum)
2.4.12Focus Not Obscured (Enhanced)
2.4.13Focus Appearance
2.5.7Dragging Movements
2.5.8Target Size (Minimum)
3.2.6Consistent Help
3.3.7Redundant Entry
3.3.8Accessible Authentication (Minimum)
3.3.9Accessible Authentication (Enhanced)

What we test

About 30–40% of WCAG can be tested automatically.

Vendors that claim full WCAG coverage are misleading you. Contrast, missing alt text, missing labels, language declaration, ARIA misuse, target size — these have machine-checkable answers and AccessSure catches them with high confidence.

But success criteria like meaningful sequence, error suggestion quality, consistent navigation, and content reflow on complex layouts need a trained human. AccessSure surfaces these as “needs review” with screenshots and selectors, so the manual audit goes faster — never as “passed”.

This is what we mean by evidence over checklists: ship the auditor a pack they can sign, not a green dashboard they can't.

Common questions

What teams ask before they commit.

What is WCAG 2.2 AA?
WCAG 2.2 AA is the most widely referenced accessibility standard worldwide, published by the W3C in October 2023. It defines 50 testable success criteria across the four POUR principles. Level AA is the conformance target written into most procurement contracts, including India's GIGW 3.0, the European Accessibility Act, US Section 508, and the ADA.
How is WCAG 2.2 different from 2.1?
WCAG 2.2 adds nine new success criteria — two at Level A, four at Level AA, three at Level AAA — focused on cognitive accessibility, focus visibility, drag interactions, target sizes, and authentication. Existing 2.1 criteria remain unchanged, so 2.1 conformance is a starting point for 2.2 but not equivalent.
What percentage of WCAG can be tested automatically?
Automated tools reliably catch about 30–40% of WCAG success criteria. This includes contrast ratios, missing alt text, missing form labels, language declaration, valid landmarks, and many ARIA misuses. The remainder — including most of the Understandable principle and complex Operable criteria — needs manual evaluation by an accessibility specialist.
Is WCAG 2.2 AA legally required in India?
For Indian government and PSU websites, GIGW 3.0 explicitly mandates WCAG 2.1 Level AA conformance, with STQC empanelled auditors verifying it. The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 obligates accessible digital services in the public sector. Private sector enforcement is less direct but increasingly material to procurement, B2G contracts, and global parent-company compliance posture.
How does AccessSure test against WCAG 2.2?
AccessSure crawls real Chromium browsers across the URLs you provide, runs axe-core 4.10 plus custom checks for the WCAG 2.2 additions, captures annotated screenshots for every issue, maps each finding to the specific success criterion, and exports an audit pack in the format STQC and IAAP-aligned reviewers accept. Manual-only criteria are flagged as such, never marked passed.
Will AccessSure produce a WCAG conformance statement?
No tool can issue a true conformance statement on its own — that requires auditor sign-off. AccessSure produces the evidence pack that an IAAP-certified auditor (CPACC or WAS) reviews and signs. This shortens audits from weeks to days and makes ongoing surveillance practical between formal sign-offs.

See your WCAG 2.2 evidence pack.

Free scan, real Chromium, annotated screenshots per issue, mapped to every success criterion.

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