Everyone is getting ready for WCAG 2.2. Two thirds of Europe's biggest sites still fail 2.1 Level A.

The next version of the European accessibility standard is scheduled for citation on 30 November 2026. EN 301 549 V4.1.1 swaps WCAG 2.1 for WCAG 2.2, and six new success criteria arrive at levels A and AA. There is a small industry of readiness checklists for it already.

So I measured what the current version looks like first. The answer is that the deadline people are preparing for is not the one they have missed.

I scanned the most-visited websites on EU country domains and counted which clauses of EN 301 549 they fail today, under the version cited right now. Not the one arriving. The one in force since before the European Accessibility Act deadline passed in June 2025.

Sixty-four per cent fail clause 9.4.1.2, Name, Role, Value. It is Level A, the lowest bar the standard has, and it has been in every version of WCAG since 2008.

Here is the full picture, and then the reasons to distrust parts of it.