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WCAG 2.2: What Changed
& What It Means for Your Clients

The 9 new success criteria, the ones removed, and a practical plan for bringing client sites up to date — no compliance team required.

Start Reading EAA Checklist Guide → →

Updated August 2026 · Reading time: 7 minutes

Why WCAG 2.2 Matters Now

WCAG 2.2 became a W3C Recommendation in October 2023, and it is now the reference standard for the European Accessibility Act (EAA), which entered into force in June 2025. If your clients sell products or services online in the EU, their sites are expected to conform to WCAG 2.1 AA as a minimum — and WCAG 2.2 is where the standard is heading.

WCAG 2.2 does not replace 2.1 — it extends it. A site that conforms to 2.2 AA automatically conforms to 2.1 AA. That makes upgrading the safest long-term target for any agency maintaining client sites in the EU.

⚖️ EAA Enforcement

Since June 2025, e-commerce, banking, transport and telecom services in the EU must be accessible. National market surveillance authorities can fine non-compliant businesses.

🎯 9 New Criteria

WCAG 2.2 adds nine success criteria focused on cognitive accessibility, mobile interaction, and forms — areas where most sites fail today.

🗑️ 4 Removed

Four old criteria were removed because they overlapped with others. Sites built to 2.0 may find some requirements gone — but none got harder without replacement.

The 9 New Success Criteria

Here is each new criterion at Level A and AA, with what it means in practice for the sites you build:

2.4.11 Focus Not Obscured (Minimum) — AA. When an element receives keyboard focus, it must not be hidden by author-created content like sticky headers, cookie banners, or chat widgets. Test: tab through the page and check nothing covers the focused element.

2.5.7 Dragging Movements — AA. Any action done by dragging (sliders, drag-to-reorder, maps) must also be achievable with a single tap or click. Provide buttons as alternatives.

2.5.8 Target Size (Minimum) — AA. Interactive targets must be at least 24×24 CSS pixels, or have enough spacing around them. This kills tiny icon-only buttons and cramped mobile navs.

3.2.6 Consistent Help — A. If a site offers help (support link, chat), it must appear in the same place on every page. Moving help links between pages fails.

3.3.7 Redundant Entry — A. Users must not have to enter the same information twice in one process. Auto-fill previously entered data in multi-step checkouts and forms.

3.3.8 Accessible Authentication (Minimum) — AA. Login must not require cognitive function tests — memorising passwords is allowed, but puzzles, retyping codes from images, or transcription tests are not. Allow paste in password fields and support password managers.

⌨️ Focus Visibility

2.4.11 + 2.4.13 together mean sticky headers must not swallow keyboard focus. The fix is usually scroll-padding-top CSS — cheap to implement, easy to demo to clients.

📱 Mobile Targets

2.5.8 target size catches thumb-fatigue problems real users complain about. Frame accessibility upgrades as UX improvements when talking to clients.

🔐 Login Flows

3.3.8 affects every client with a login. CAPTCHAs requiring transcription are a direct failure — switch to invisible risk-based checks.

What Was Removed

Four criteria from earlier versions were removed in 2.2 because they duplicated others or proved untestable:

4.1.1 Parsing — removed; duplicate IDs and malformed markup still break assistive technology, but the requirement is covered by other criteria and browser parsing behaviour. Fix duplicate IDs anyway (our scanner checks for them).

Other requirements were reorganised: 2.4.10 Section Headings and parts of the colour-contrast guidance were consolidated rather than tightened.

Practical takeaway: an audit against 2.0 will list failures that no longer exist, and miss failures that do. Re-baseline your audits against 2.2.

How to Update Client Sites

Most sites fail the new criteria in the same handful of places. Work through this order of impact:

1. Sticky headers and overlays. Add scroll-padding-top equal to header height, and ensure cookie banners close fully so they never trap focus.

2. Touch targets. Audit icon buttons, social icons, and pagination. Bump padding to reach 24×24 px minimum. On most sites this is pure CSS.

3. Drag alternatives. Any sortable list or slider needs visible click/tap controls. Many component libraries ship this behind a flag — turn it on.

4. Forms and checkouts. Auto-populate repeated fields, allow paste everywhere, remove puzzle CAPTCHAs.

5. Re-audit. Run a scan (ours is free, above), fix what it finds, then spot-check the new criteria manually. Document conformance claims against 2.2 AA going forward.

🆓 Free Scanner

Our scanner checks alt text, labels, contrast, target sizes, duplicate IDs and more — paste any URL, get a score in seconds. No signup.

📚 Platform Guides

We maintain step-by-step fix guides for WordPress, Shopify, Webflow, Wix, Squarespace, Drupal, Joomla and more — see the guides section on the front page.

📄 Statement Generator

After fixing, generate an accessibility statement for your client in minutes with our free tool.

Going Deeper

Our EAA Compliance e-books cover WCAG 2.1 AA criterion by criterion, with platform-specific fixes for WordPress, Shopify, Webflow, Wix, Squarespace and more — written for small agencies, not lawyers.

Test Any Site Free → →    EAA Checklist Guide → →

Frequently Asked Questions

Is WCAG 2.2 legally required in the EU?

The EAA references harmonised standards based on WCAG 2.1 AA today, but EN 301 549 is being updated toward 2.2. Conforming to 2.2 AA now means you are ahead of the requirement rather than chasing it.

Does WCAG 2.2 apply to my clients outside the EU?

Similar trends exist globally — Section 508 in the US, EN 301 549 procurement rules, and national laws referencing WCAG. Building to 2.2 AA satisfies nearly all of them.

We just passed a 2.1 audit. Are we compliant with 2.2?

Not automatically. Focus obscuration, target size, and accessible authentication are common new failures on sites that pass 2.1. Budget a small re-audit pass.

Which new criterion breaks the most sites?

Target Size (2.5.8). Icon-only buttons under 24px are everywhere — social share rows, carousel arrows, mobile menus. It is also the cheapest class of fixes.

Does our free scanner check WCAG 2.2?

It automates the machine-checkable subset (alt text, labels, contrast, duplicate IDs, viewport, headings and more). Some 2.2 criteria — dragging movements, redundant entry — need manual testing, and our guides walk you through those checks.

Test Any Site Free → →    EAA Checklist Guide → →

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