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14 CFR Parts 382 and 399; 49 CFR Part 27 - Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in Air Travel: Accessibility of Web Sites and Automated Kiosks at U.S. Airports - Preamble

1. Technical Standard for Web Site Accessibility

The SNPRM: The Department proposed WCAG 2.0 at Level AA (Level AA includes all the Level A success criteria) as the required accessibility standard for all public-facing Web pages involved in marketing air transportation to the general public in the United States on primary carrier and ticket agent Web sites.

Comments: The comments submitted jointly by A4A, IATA, ACI-NA, RAA, and the Air Carrier Association of America opposed mandating a single technical standard for Web site accessibility. They supported various compliance options that, for the most part, would provide increased access for passengers with disabilities to some, but not all, of the content on primary carrier Web sites through an alternative text-only or Mobile Web site conformant with any of the following standards: WCAG 1.0, WCAG 2.0 at Level A, existing Section 508 standards, or Mobile Web Best Practices (MWBP) 1.0 (if applicable). Two of the options they proposed would allow carriers to establish an alternative Web site (i.e., text-only or mobile Web site) containing only the proposed core air travel information and essential functions to which they would apply the accessibility standard of their choice. Two other options they proposed would allow them to apply the standard of choice to limited portions of a carrier's primary Web site (i.e., either to newly designed Web pages or to Web pages associated with core air travel services and information). These compliance options proposed by the carrier associations, as well as other electronic information and communication technology issues discussed in the SNPRM, are presented in greater detail below in the section on Scope. Regarding compliance with the WCAG 2.0 standard at Level AA, the carrier associations asserted that requiring carriers to comply with WCAG 2.0 would “set a very high bar that exceeds federal government Web site accessibility requirements.” They commented that no government agency currently is required to meet the WCAG 2.0 Level A and AA standards, maintaining that the section 508 Web site standard agencies are required to meet is the equivalent of the WCAG 1.0 standard. (6) They argued that the airline industry should not be the “test case” or the first to implement WCAG 2.0.

Although the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) did not specifically oppose the WCAG 2.0 standard, they noted that requiring airlines to apply the standard to primary Web sites which include covered and non-covered content could result in the airlines having to revamp Web pages and shared electronic data sources outside the scope of the requirement from which the covered Web sites obtain information. This concern was echoed by foreign carriers that commented individually, although none of the comments provided any information about the amount of non-covered content they anticipated having to change. AAPA also expressed concern that foreign carriers may eventually be required by the law of their countries to meet a different Web site accessibility standard. Another carrier commenting individually supported compliance with the WCAG 2.0 Level A standard but only for those portions of its Web site involved in providing core air transportation information and functions. Other carriers objected to the Department requiring the WCAG 2.0 standard altogether, opining that it is “not widely used on commercial Web sites” or that the technical criteria are “highly subjective.” One U.S. carrier was unopposed to the WCAG 2.0 Level AA standard as long as the Department allowed two years to achieve compliance.

The American Aviation Institute (AAI) supported the Department's proposal to require conformance with the WCAG 2.0 Level AA, but again, only on those pages involved with providing core information and functions. The Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), representing 50 leading companies in the information and communications technology industry, urged the Department not to require any technical standard other than WCAG 2.0, stating: “WCAG 2.0 is the most current and complete standard for web accessibility and is expected to be the basis for the updated Section 508 also. For harmonization purposes, ITI strongly recommends only accepting WCAG 2.0.”

With rare exception, individual commenters who self-identified as having a disability supported WCAG 2.0 as the applicable standard for Web site accessibility. Virtually all advocacy organizations representing individuals with disabilities across the spectrum also supported WCAG 2.0, with more than half specifically endorsing the Level AA success criteria as the appropriate standard. All of the advocacy organization commenters representing individuals who are blind, deaf, or hard of hearing specifically endorsed the Level AA success criteria. ACB and AFB also urged the Department to adopt the Authoring Tools Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG) 1.0, a World Wide Web Consortium  (7) (W3C) guideline that defines how authoring tools should assist Web developers in producing Web content that is accessible and conforms to WCAG. (ATAG will be discussed in a later section on Implementation Approach and Schedule.) There were a few comments suggesting that all Level A success criteria and only selected criteria from Level AA be required.

The leading commenters representing ticket agents (ASTA, NTA, USTOA, and ITSA) felt strongly that the Department should refrain from requiring carriers to ensure that their agent Web sites conform to the WCAG 2.0 standard or any other specific accessibility standard at this time. ITSA, in particular, advocated that the Department allow carriers, as well as agents, to adopt any acceptable standard at any compliance level. Citing the DOJ's concurrent rulemaking concerning Web site accessibility standards applicable to entities covered under ADA title III regulations, (8) ticket agent commenters also urged that both agencies coordinate the technical accessibility criteria each intends to apply so that Web site accessibility requirements are consistent. A number of these commenters felt that the Department should postpone imposing a Web site accessibility standard for ticket agent Web sites until the DOJ rulemaking is completed.

DOT Decision: After considering the arguments raised by the carrier and ticket agent associations to postpone requiring any standard until after the DOJ rulemaking on Web site accessibility is complete, we have concluded that there is no compelling reason to defer promulgating a WCAG 2.0 based standard applicable to the Web sites of carriers. Since WCAG 2.0 is by far the front-runner among the existing accessibility standards world-wide, and both the Access Board and the Department of Justice have sought public comment on incorporating WCAG 2.0 technical criteria into the existing section 508 standard or directly adopting the standard, (9) the Department believes there is ample justification for adopting WCAG 2.0 at Level AA as the accessibility standard for carrier Web sites that market air transportation to the public in the United States.

We note that well before DOT published its SNPRM in September 2011, both DOJ and the Access Board had embarked upon rulemakings that address Web site accessibility standards. The DOJ rulemakings sought comment on the standard for Web site accessibility it should adopt for entities covered by ADA titles II and III. (10) Specifically, DOJ asked whether it should adopt the WCAG 2.0 Level AA success criteria, whether it should consider adopting another WCAG 2.0 success criteria level, or whether it should instead adopt the section 508 standards rather than the WCAG 2.0 guidelines as the applicable standards for Web site accessibility. In addition, the Telecommunications and Electronic and Information Technology Advisory Committee (TEITAC) recommended to the Access Board that the Section 508 standard be harmonized with WCAG 2.0. (11) The Access Board, in turn, sought public comment in two successive advance notices of proposed rulemaking on adopting WCAG 2.0 as the successor to the current section 508 standards for Web content, forms and applications. (12)

This consensus is corroborated by many indicators that WCAG 2.0 is the most robust and well supported accessibility standard currently in use. The developers of WCAG 2.0 have made an array of technical resources available on the W3C Web site at no cost to assist companies in implementing the standard.

In addition, foreign governments increasingly are adopting WCAG 2.0 Level AA either as guidelines for evaluating nondiscrimination in providing Web site access  (13) or as the official legal standard for accessibility on government Web sites. (14) Australian government agencies are currently required to be compliant at WCAG 2.0 Level A and upgrade to Level AA by December 31, 2014. (15) In August 2011, the Canadian government adopted a requirement for government agencies to bring most content on their public Web sites into compliance with the WCAG 2.0 Level AA standard by July 31, 2013. (16) The Canadian government also released a resource tool in March 2013, to assist air terminal operators in implementing the government's voluntary Code of Practice on accessibility of non-national airports system air terminals. (17) The guidance recommends that terminal operators conform their Web sites to the WCAG 2.0 standard. All official Web sites of the European Union institutions are currently expected to follow the WCAG 1.0 guidelines for accessible Web content, and the EU Commission has proposed to require 12 categories of EU public sector Web sites to meet WCAG 2.0 at Level AA by December 31, 2014. (18) Hong Kong government sites are currently required to meet the WCAG 2.0 at Level AA. (19) New Zealand government sites must meet the same standards by July 1, 2017, with some limited exceptions. (20) France and Germany have national standards that are based on, but not identical to, WCAG 2.0 (Level AA), while United Kingdom government Web sites are required to comply with either WCAG 1.0 or 2.0 at the AA level. (21) The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) is seeking public comment on a draft proposal to adopt harmonized accessibility standards for European public information and communication technology (ICT) procurements that specifically proposes WCAG 2.0 Level AA as the Web content accessibility standard. (22)

The Department considered requiring conformance with WCAG 2.0 Level A success criteria only, which are feasible standards for Web developers and would ensure the removal of major accessibility barriers. Level AA, however, contains additional guidelines and recommendations that provide a more comprehensive level of Web site accessibility for people with various types of disabilities. Examples of Level AA success criteria that provide additional access beyond what Level A provides include minimum contrast ratios for regular and large text, capability to resize text, consistent order of the navigation links that repeat on Web pages when navigating through a site, and the availability of multiple ways for the users to find Web pages on a site. As the foregoing discussion on government Web site accessibility standards indicates, the Level AA success criteria are widely regarded as feasible for Web content developers to implement. Moreover, the Level AA success criteria appear to be most often specified when conformance with WCAG is required and are most often adopted when Web sites voluntarily use WCAG. (23) Level AAA success criteria, while providing a high level of accessibility, are not recommended for entire Web sites because they are much more challenging to implement and all criteria cannot be satisfied for some Web content. (24) For these reasons, the Department is persuaded that Level AA is the compliance level that can provide the highest practicable level of Web site accessibility.

Regarding the carrier associations' assertion that requiring airlines to comply with the WCAG 2.0 standard sets “a very high bar that exceeds federal government Web site accessibility requirements,” we believe they overstate the actual differences between the section 508 and WCAG 2.0 standards. From a practical standpoint, WCAG 2.0 success criteria largely standardize best practices that were developed in response to the requirements of the current section 508 standards. In addition, WCAG 2.0 success criteria that do not correspond to the current section 508 standards were developed to address perceived gaps and deficiencies in the current section 508 standards. Overall, the WCAG 2.0 success criteria spell out more specific requirements for aspects of the Web site coding function than section 508 provides, such as consistent identification of functional elements that repeat across Web pages, specific standards for color contrast, multimedia player controls, and compatibility with assistive technology.

(6) See 36 CFR 1194.22, Note par. 2, stating that “Web pages that conform to WCAG 1.0, level A (i.e., all priority 1 checkpoints) must also meet paragraphs (l), (m), (n), (o), and (p) of this section to comply with this section.”

(7)  The World Wide Web Consortium is an international community that develops open standards to ensure the long-term growth of the Web. One of its primary goals is to make the benefits that the Web enables, including human communication, commerce, and opportunities to share knowledge, available to all people.

(8)  75 FR 43460-43467 (July 26, 2010).

(9) See 75 FR 43452-43460 (title II) and 75 FR 43460-43467 (title III) (July 26, 2010); see also 75 FR 13457 (March 22, 2010) and 76 FR 76640 (December 8, 2011).

(10) See 75 FR 43460-43467 (July 26, 2010).

(11)  TEITAC was established in 2006 to review the existing Section 508 standards and Telecommunications Act accessibility guidelines and advise the Access Board concerning needed changes, including the need for standardization across markets globally. Its members represented the electronic information technology industry, disability groups, standard-setting bodies in the United States and abroad, and government agencies. TEITAC recommended in its 2008 final report that the Access Board seek to harmonize the Section 508 standards with the WCAG 2.0 standards to improve accessibility and facilitate compliance.

(12) See 75 FR 13457 (March 22, 2010) and 76 FR 76640 (December 8, 2011).

(13) See 76 FR 76640, 76644, nt. 4 (December 8, 2011).

(14) See 76 FR 76640, 76644, nt. 5 and 6 (December 8, 2011).

(15)  See Australian Government Web Guide, http://webguide.gov.au/accessibility-usability/accessibility/ (last visited July 2, 2013).

(16)  See Government of Canada Standard on Web Accessibility, http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pol/doc-eng.aspx?section=text&id=23601 (last visited July 2, 2013).

(17)  See Accessibility of Non-National Airports System Air Terminals: Code of Practice, http://www.otc-cta.gc.ca/eng/publication/accessibility-non-national-airports-system-air-terminals-code-practice (last visited August 26, 2013).

(18)  See Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Accessibility of Public Sector Bodies' Web sites, http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/news/proposal-directive-european-parliament-and-council-accessibility-public-sector-bodies-Web sites (last visited July 2, 2013).

(19)  See Guidelines on Dissemination of Information Through Government Web sites, http://www.ogcio.gov.hk/en/community/web_accessibility/doc/disseminationguidelines.pdf (last visited July 2, 2013).

(20)  See New Zealand Government (Web Accessibility Standard 1.0), https://webtoolkit.govt.nz/standards/web-accessibility-standard/ (last visited July 2, 2013).

(21)  See Powermapper Software Blog, Government Accessibility Standards and WCAG 2.0, http://blog.powermapper.com/blog/post/Government-Accessibility-Standards.aspx (last visited July 9, 2013

(22) See Draft EN 301 549 V1.0.0, Human Factors (HF); Accessibility Requirements for Public Procurement of ICT products and services in Europe, (2013-02). The public comment period on the draft closes July 28, 2013.

(23)  See WCAG 2.0 Overview, http://www.evengrounds.com/wcag-tutorial/overview (last visited July 2, 2013).

(24)  See Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/ (last visited August 22, 2012.)

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