Version 2 of RAWeb and RAAM will be released in early 2027
Since 2 September, the European standard defining digital accessibility requirements has reached a decisive milestone. Now that it has been published, this is an opportunity for the SIP to step up its efforts in updating its web and mobile frameworks.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026
Next year will see a major update to our frameworks. Key to this is the incorporation of a revised version of the European standard EN 301 549, which is now in version 4.1.1 and notably includes WCAG 2.2.
It was approved on 2 September by CEN and ETSI, two official European bodies responsible for creating and monitoring technical standards. As a member of CEN, the Luxembourg Government’s Information and Press Service played an active role in drafting this standard.
It has yet to be published in the Official Journal of the EU before it comes into force, which is likely to be by the end of the year. The standard had not been updated for five years and, until now, its primary purpose was to support the Web Accessibility Directive (WAD, 2016, targeting websites and mobile apps in the public sector). There was a pressing need for this, particularly to meet the requirements set out in the European Accessibility Act (EAA, 2019).
The standard incorporates WCAG 2.2 and its six new success criteria – focus non obscured, dragging movements, target size, consistent help, redundant entry, accessible authentication – but is not limited to these. Numerous other criteria, primarily devised for the EAA, are being introduced or clarified, for example:
- Biometrics (it will no longer be sufficient for the proposed alternative to be biometric but of a different nature);
- Real-time communication and real-time text (RTT) rules, extended to the concept of ‘full conversation’ (voice + real-time text + video, including sign language);
- Hardware aspects relating to physical environments and machines (cash or ticket dispensers, etc.);
- User preferences.
Furthermore, the standard incorporates cross-cutting updates covering both web and non-web documents and software (now considered as non-web software).
Ultimately, this standard becomes a comprehensive tool for assessing compliance with both the WAD and the EAA. RAWeb and RAAM soon to be closer to the standard.
The standard remains a challenging document to grasp, the result of expert consensus, a ‘synthesis’ running to nearly 300 pages.
Our two frameworks, which enable accessibility to be assessed using a clear and straightforward approach, will continue to evolve, whilst maintaining their criteria-driven approach based on tests and testing methodologies. These tools will be compatible with the latest version of the standard.
Accordingly, version 2 of these frameworks aims to incorporate all the aforementioned developments, whilst continuing to focus on assessing a website’s compliance with the WAD requirements.
At the same time, we propose aligning the structure of the frameworks with that of the standard, with the aim of making them easier to use for those unfamiliar with the RGAA or RAWeb frameworks, but also to minimise differences in compliance rates between RAWeb and the standard.
It goes without saying that this work remains a proposal we are putting forward to the experts, which may be assessed by the end of the year.
As is the case every year, this overhaul will incorporate the feedback that the community regularly shares with us on GitHub (RAWeb and RAAM repositories).
We plan to publish version 2 of RAWeb and RAAM in February 2027.