Legal Liability and Regulatory Requirements in Digital Accessibility

The information in this article is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice — see the full disclaimer at the end of the article. That said, this is one of the questions we get asked most: "what can actually happen to us if our site or documents aren’t accessible?" Here’s a general picture of the legal exposure in Israel, and what you can do to reduce it.

The two enforcement tracks in Israel

Digital accessibility in Israel is enforced through two parallel tracks:

• Administrative track — the Commission for Equal Rights of Persons with Disabilities is authorized to review complaints and, when necessary, issue accessibility orders against the violating party, including the possibility of administrative fines for non-compliance.
• Civil track — an affected individual can file a private lawsuit, and human rights and accessibility organizations can file class actions on behalf of an entire public of potentially affected people — for example, everyone who tried to use a site or download a particular document during a given period.

Both tracks are actively used in Israel, not just theoretical — meaning the exposure is real, even for small and mid-sized businesses.

What can actually be claimed

Under the civil track, Israeli legislation allows plaintiffs to claim compensation without proving actual damage — meaning the plaintiff doesn’t need to prove real harm occurred, only that the service wasn’t accessible. That’s what makes class actions a significant exposure: when you multiply the base compensation by the number of complaints or potential users, the cumulative amount can be far larger than the compensation in a single lawsuit. Beyond that, there’s also reputational exposure — an accessibility lawsuit is usually public information, and sometimes reaches the media too.

The exact figures (compensation caps, administrative fines) are updated periodically and vary depending on the circumstances of each case — so we won’t cite fixed numbers here. If you’re facing a lawsuit or worried about concrete exposure, that’s exactly the situation where it’s worth contacting an attorney who specializes in this field.

How to reduce your legal exposure

You can’t get to absolute "zero risk," but you can significantly reduce your exposure:

1. Proactive mapping and testing — don’t wait for a complaint or lawsuit. An automated scan of the entire site and its documents shows exactly where the gaps are, before someone else finds them.
2. Prioritized remediation — start with the most-viewed or most-critical documents and pages (forms, terms and conditions, legal documents), not necessarily the oldest ones.
3. Organized documentation of your effort — keep a history of scans and fixes. Documenting an ongoing, good-faith effort to comply can serve as a significant defense, even if not everything has been fixed yet.
4. Publishing an up-to-date accessibility statement — see more detail in the next section.

The accessibility statement: not just a recommendation

Publishing an accessibility statement on your site is part of the regulatory requirement itself, not just a best practice. Such a statement should generally include: a description of the accessibility arrangements in place on the site, a note of any known limitations, and the contact details of the organization’s accessibility coordinator for related inquiries. Our own statement, for example, includes exactly these details — you can see an example in our site’s accessibility statement.