The California Attorney General is expected to direct his office to begin enforcing the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) on July 1, 2020. The Final Text of Proposed Regulations clarifies that businesses must make privacy and opt-out information accessible to consumers with disabilities and recommends WCAG 2.1 as the standard for accessibility compliance.
Signed into law on June 28, 2018, the CCPA went into effect on January 1, 2020. California Attorney General (CA AG) Xavier Becerra has been adamant that he remains committed to enforcing the law starting July 1, following the six-month grace-period, despite calls from some business groups and others to delay enforcement due to COVID-19.
The CCPA gives California consumers rights and control over their privacy and personal information. Businesses subject to the CCPA are required to provide California consumers what personal information is collected, used, shared, or sold; the ability to delete personal information; the ability to opt-out of their personal information being sold; and the right to non-discrimination based on exercising their privacy rights. Notices and policies that support these requirements have to be accessible to California consumers with disabilities.
Businesses should make sure they understand what their obligations are under the Final Text of Proposed Regulations (PDF), which appears to be not significantly changed from the draft submitted in March and which was sent for approval to the California Office of Administrative Law (OAL) on June 1.
Under the regulations, notices at collection of personal information, notices of right to opt-out of sale of personal information, notices of financial incentive, and privacy policies must:
Be reasonably accessible to consumers with disabilities. For notices provided online, the business shall follow generally recognized industry standards, such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, version 2.1 of June 5, 2018, from the World Wide Web Consortium, incorporated herein by reference. In other contexts, the business shall provide information on how a consumer with a disability may access the [notice or policy] in an alternative format.
CCPA regulations suggest WCAG 2.1 compliance because the standards are recognized as the best way to achieve accessibility. Our manual testing, artificial intelligence platforms, and detailed remediation suggestions are all centered around the guidance set forth in WCAG 2.1. We also provide our clients with a Letter of Reasonable AccessibilityTM, updated quarterly, to outline why we believe their websites provide appropriate accommodations for people with disabilities.
To learn more about how we can help your business meet accessibility expectations, contact us for a free consultation. Or, get started with a free and confidential website accessibility scan.
