CVAA Accessibility Rules: Penalties and FCC Complaints

The Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, known as the CVAA, sets the federal accessibility rules that modern phones, messaging apps, video calling tools, streaming captions, set-top boxes, and internet browsers on mobile devices have to follow. Signed into law on October 8, 2010, it updates telecommunications rules written in the 1980s and 1990s for the broadband and internet era.¹ Companies that fall short face FCC forfeitures of up to $144,329 per violation, and if you run into an inaccessible product or service you can bring a complaint directly to the agency.

The statute splits into two halves. Title I governs communications equipment and services. Title II governs video programming and the devices used to watch it.²

What Title I Requires for Communications Products

Title I applies to what the FCC calls Advanced Communications Services, or ACS. That covers interconnected and non-interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol, electronic messaging such as email and text messaging, and interoperable video conferencing. Internet browsers pre-installed on mobile phones must also be accessible to people who are blind or visually impaired.³

Under 47 U.S.C. § 617, any manufacturer of equipment used for these services has to make its products accessible to and usable by people with disabilities. That duty reaches end-user devices, network equipment, and software. Providers who deliver ACS carry the same duty, and accessibility is supposed to be built in during design rather than added later.⁴

When Full Accessibility Isn’t Achievable

The law does not demand the impossible. If direct accessibility would take unreasonable effort or expense, the manufacturer has to make the product compatible with commonly used assistive devices instead, things like refreshable braille displays, visual signaling devices, and screen magnifiers. If even that compatibility is not achievable, the obligation ends, but the company has to document why.³

Whether accessibility is “achievable” turns on four statutory factors:

The nature and cost of the steps needed to make the product or service accessible.
The technical and economic impact on the manufacturer’s or provider’s operations, including on the development of new technologies.
The type of operations the company runs.
Whether the company already offers accessible versions of its products at different price points and functionality levels.

Those factors come from the statute itself.⁴ In practice, the larger and better-resourced the company, the harder it is to argue accessibility is out of reach.

What Title II Requires for Video Programming

Title II handles what happens when video content leaves broadcast television and shows up online. The core rule: programming that aired on TV with closed captions must keep those captions when it is redistributed over the internet. Programming that has only ever appeared online is not covered by that requirement.¹ The FCC sets implementation timing that treats prerecorded, edited-for-internet content differently from live or near-live content.⁵

Captioning for live internet video can be delayed or waived when compliance would be economically burdensome. The FCC weighs the cost of captioning, the financial impact on the provider’s operations, the provider’s financial resources, and the type of operations involved.⁶

Audio description is a separate obligation aimed at blind viewers. A narrator describes key visual elements during natural pauses in dialogue so the viewer can follow the story without seeing the screen. The CVAA restored audio description rules the FCC had first adopted in 2000 and authorized the agency to expand them.¹

Devices matter too. Set-top boxes, digital video players, and similar equipment must have user interfaces a person with a visual impairment can operate independently, and on-screen menus and program guides must be navigable without sighted help. The law also requires a dedicated button, key, or icon on the device or remote for turning on closed captioning, rather than burying the setting inside nested menus.¹

Penalties for Non-Compliance

A manufacturer or service provider that violates the CVAA’s accessibility requirements under 47 U.S.C. § 617 or § 619 can be assessed a forfeiture of up to $144,329 per violation, or per day for a continuing violation. The total penalty for any single act or failure to act that continues over time caps at $1,443,275. Those figures are inflation-adjusted and current as of 2026.⁷

The FCC often resolves investigations through consent decrees rather than litigated forfeitures. These negotiated settlements typically require a monetary payment, a compliance plan, and monitoring for a set period.

Small Businesses and Multipurpose Equipment

The CVAA originally included a temporary exemption for small businesses meeting the Small Business Administration’s size standards. That exemption expired in October 2013 and is no longer available, so a company cannot avoid the accessibility rules today by pointing to its size.

A case-by-case waiver process still exists for multipurpose equipment or services. If a product can technically access advanced communications services but was designed primarily for another use, a manufacturer, provider, or other interested party can ask the FCC for a waiver. The agency looks at whether the product was designed and marketed for ACS use by the general public. The Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau handles these requests, with a public comment period of at least 30 days, and aims to act within 180 days. A waiver can cover a single product or an entire class of equipment.

How to File a CVAA Complaint With the FCC

The complaint process has a mandatory first step that trips up a lot of people: before you can file an informal complaint, you have to submit a Request for Dispute Assistance, or RDA. The FCC’s Disability Rights Office then works with you and the company for at least 30 days to try to resolve the problem. You can ask for more time if talks are progressing.⁸

You can submit the RDA online through the FCC’s consumer complaint portal, by email to dro@fcc.gov, by fax to 866-418-0232, or by mail to the FCC Disability Rights Office, 445 12th Street SW, Washington, DC 20554. Include your contact information, the name and address of the company, a description of the accessibility barrier, and any supporting documentation.⁸

Informal Complaints

If the dispute assistance process does not resolve your issue after 30 days, you can file an informal complaint with the FCC Enforcement Bureau. The Disability Rights Office will help you complete the form, which needs your contact information, the company’s name and address, a summary of the problem, and what you want the company to do.⁹ The informal complaint has to address the same issue you raised in the RDA, so a detailed initial submission matters.

Once the FCC serves the complaint, the company has 30 days to respond to both you and the commission. If the FCC considers the response sufficient, it closes the file. If you think the response falls short, you can submit a rebuttal, which may trigger a further response obligation.¹⁰

Formal Complaints

If the informal process still does not resolve things, you can escalate to a formal complaint. The filing fee is $605, and you have six months from the response to your informal complaint to file.¹⁰ Formal proceedings look more like court cases, with procedural rules, filings, and legal arguments. Most complainants at this stage hire a communications attorney, and the FCC does not award attorney’s fees. The full procedural rules are in 47 C.F.R. §§ 1.720 through 1.740.

You can also file by phone at any stage. The FCC’s TTY line for people with hearing or speech disabilities is 1-888-835-5322.

1
Federal Communications Commission. 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA)
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Federal Communications Commission. Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act
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Federal Communications Commission. Accessibility of Advanced Communications Services and Equipment
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 47 US Code 617 – Access to Advanced Communications Services and Equipment
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 47 USC 613 – Video Programming Accessibility
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Federal Communications Commission. Economically Burdensome Exemption from Closed Captioning Requirements
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eCFR. 47 CFR 1.80 – Forfeiture Proceedings
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Federal Communications Commission. Request for Dispute Assistance (RDA Form)
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FCC Complaints. File an Informal Accessibility Complaint
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Federal Communications Commission. Filing a Complaint Questions and Answers