From the public comments list (link to the email):

An error in the Intents sections of the W3 WAI notes on Understanding WCAG2.2 for at least one of two criteria has led me to be a bit confused, and wonder what is correct:

The two criteria in question are:

2.4.11 Focus Not Obscured (Minimum) (Level AA) (2.2)

https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG22/Understanding/focus-not-obscured-minimum

2.4.12 Focus Not Obscured (Enhanced) (Level AAA) (2.2)

https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG22/Understanding/focus-not-obscured-enhanced

So what's the problem?

Well, 2.4.11 says that semi-opaque overlaps may cause a failure of 1.4.11 Non-text Contrast.. When a focus indicator can be covered by a semi-opaque component, the ability of the focus indicator to pass 1.4.11 should be evaluated...

Meanwhile, 2.4.12 says that semi-opaque overlaps may cause a failure of 2.4.11 Focus Appearance. When a focus indicator can be covered by a semi-opaque component, the the focus indicator should be assessed against 2.4.11. ...

The error is not the duplicated use of the word ‘the’ – but hey let’s fix that too 😊

Unfortunately 2.4.11 is not the Focus Appearance criterion. The number and name of that criterion are mixed up. I initially thought that it should have been 2.4.13 Focus Appearance (Level AAA) (2.2), but then I saw that 2.4.11 references 1.4..11 Non-text Contrast in almost identical context.

Admittedly, both 2.4.13 Focus Appearance (AAA) (2.2) and 1.4.11 Non-text Contrast (AA) (2.1) have similar requirements of the focus indicator. 1.4.11 is more general, requiring the contrast of non-text elements (of which the focus indicator can be described) to have a contrast ratio of at least 3:1. Meanwhile 2.4.13 is specifically about the focus appearance and includes the same contrast requirements.

My gut feeling was initially that both 2.4.11 and 2.4.12 should reference the same criterion: either 1.4.11 (which as AA level, will be tested more often) or 2.4.13 (which as a AAA level, will sadly be tested less often).

Alternatively, maybe it's intentional that 2.4.11 as a AA criterion should reference 1.4.11 also as a AA criterion. While 2.4.12, as a AAA criterion should reference 2.4.13 as another AAA criterion, keeping the references within the same level.

Either way, the current reference of "2.4.11 Focus Appearance" needs correcting, although I suspect the error has been introduced due to a different numbering in earlier draft versions of WCAG 2.2.