ETSI Updates EN 301 549 to V4.1.1 Adopting WCAG 2.2 Standards
ETSI has released EN 301 549 V4.1.1 incorporating WCAG 2.2 criteria, though it currently lacks formal citation under the European Accessibility Act.
ETSI published EN 301 549 V4.1.1 on 2 September 2026, updating clauses 9 through 11 to WCAG 2.2. As of 3 November 2026, the European Commission has not cited this version in the Official Journal under the European Accessibility Act. Under Article 15(1) of Directive (EU) 2019/882, testing against V4.1.1 grants no legal presumption of conformity for EAA-scoped products and services because citation status remains tied to publication in the Official Journal.
The harmonised-standards index lists the standard only under the Web Accessibility Directive for public bodies via Implementing Decision (EU) 2021/1339, which points to V3.2.1. Unverified citation dates of 30 November 2026, 16 December 2026, and February 2027 are circulating. The November date actually corresponds to the doa entry for national standards bodies to announce the standard, not an Official Journal milestone.
Despite the citation gap, WCAG 2.2 AA functions as the practical target because V4.1.1 points to it. The upgrade from WCAG 2.1 introduces six new Level A and AA success criteria—focus not obscured, dragging, target size, consistent help, redundant entry, and accessible authentication—while dropping 4.1.1 Parsing.
Automated testing requires caution. Deque’s vendor test data reports that automated checks identified 57.38% of total issues, covering only 16 of the 50 success criteria in WCAG 2.1 Level AA, meaning manual checks with a keyboard and screen reader are mandatory for un-detectable items. Teams must keep dated records of tools, versions, and coverage dates, since a scan result alone does not prove site conformance.