The six Title II exceptions, and what each one actually requires

Your web compliance date is decided by the population you serve, and both dates moved a year later under a DOJ interim final rule. The standard is the same either way. If the date is all you came for, the extension is covered in full here.

The six exceptions

Each one below is the value carried in this site’s claim register. The first line is what the exception does; the line under it is the condition set you would have to meet.

Archived web content

Four cumulative conditions; failing any one removes the exception

Archived web content is excepted from WCAG 2.1 AA only where all four conditions hold: created before the compliance date (or reproducing pre-compliance physical media), kept only for reference/research/recordkeeping, stored in a designated archive area, and unchanged since archiving

Preexisting documents

Exception lost the moment the document is still in active service use

Preexisting conventional electronic documents (word processing, presentation, PDF, spreadsheet) posted before the compliance date are excepted — but NOT where they are currently used to apply for, access, or participate in a service

Third-party content

Exception does not reach vendor-posted content or the posting tool itself

Content posted by third parties on a public entity's site is excepted, but not content the entity itself posts, not contractor- or vendor-posted content, and not the platform or tool that enables third-party posting

Password-protected documents

Conventional electronic document (word processing, presentation, PDF or spreadsheet), AND about a specific person, property or account, AND password-protected or otherwise secured

Individualized password-protected documents are excepted where all three conditions hold

Social media posts

No conditions attached — pre-compliance-date posts are out of scope; posts on or after the date are in scope

Social media posts made by a state or local government before its compliance date are excepted, unconditionally

Conforming alternate versions

Very limited circumstances only; not a general-purpose remedy

Conforming alternate versions may substitute for inaccessible content only in very limited circumstances — where technical or legal limitations prevent making the original accessible

Every date and condition on this page was re-verified against its primary source on 2026-09-04. Source: ADA.gov — Fact Sheet: New Rule on the Accessibility of Web Content and Mobile Apps.