Essential Requirements Authors

The following are the minimum requirements to produce an Accessibility Conformance Report based on the VPAT®.

1. The VPAT name and template are registered service marks of ITI. Use of the VPAT template and name requires the inclusion of the registered service mark (i.e., “VPAT®”). Users of the VPAT agree not to deviate from the Essential Requirements for Authors.
2. The template file can be used as is or replicated in a different delivery format, for example as HTML or PDF. The final conformance report must be accessible.
3. A report must contain the following content at a minimum:
   • Report Title – In the heading format of “[Company Name] Accessibility Conformance Report”
   • VPAT Heading Information – Template version
   • Name of Product/Version – Name of Product being reported, including product version identifier if necessary
   • Report Date – Date of report publication. At a minimum, provide the month and year of the report publication. For example, “May 2016”. If date is included, ensure it is clear “4 May 2016” or “May 4, 2016”.
   • Product Description – A brief description of the product
   • Contact Information – Contact Information for follow-up questions. Listing an email is sufficient.
   • Notes – Any details or further explanation about the product or the report. This section may be left blank.
   • Evaluation Methods Used – Include a description of evaluation methods used to complete the VPAT for the product under test.
   • Applicable Standards/Guidelines – A clear indication of which Standards/Guidelines this Conformance Report covers.
     • The list must include only the Standards/Guidelines used to evaluate the product
     • The applicable Standards/Guidelines that are included in this edition of the VPAT template are:
       • Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 or WCAG 2.0 (ISO/IEC 40500)
       • Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 or WCAG 2.1
       • Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.2 or WCAG 2.2
     • If other Standards/Guidelines are reported then use the appropriate VPAT edition.
     • This information can be in a table format at the top of the report with the table heading ‘Standards/Guidelines’ and the reported Standards/Guidelines identified. This information can alternatively be supplied in the introductory text of the report. In the VPAT we have used a table as an example and listed “(yes / no)” for each guideline. To indicate what the report covers leave the appropriate yes or no on each guideline.
     • If multiple Guideline tables are included, each table must identify the Guideline that the criteria in that table represent.
   • Terms – The report must list the definition of the terms used in the Conformance Level column. ITI recommends the following terms. If a vendor deviates from the ITI definitions, the vendor shall reference this change in the heading Notes section. If a term is not used it can be removed from the list. The ITI definitions are:
     • Supports: The functionality of the product has at least one method that meets the criterion without known defects or meets with equivalent facilitation.
     • Partially Supports: Some functionality of the product does not meet the criterion.
     • Does Not Support: The majority of product functionality does not meet the criterion.
     • Not Applicable: The criterion is not relevant to the product.
     • Note: When filling in the WCAG tables, a response may use 'Supports' where one might otherwise be inclined to use 'Not Applicable'. This is in keeping with WCAG 2.0 Understanding Conformance: This means that if there is no content to which a success criterion applies, the success criterion is satisfied.
     • Not Evaluated: The product has not been evaluated against the criterion. This can only be used in WCAG Level AAA criteria.
   • Tables for Each Standard or Guideline – Tables showing the responses to the criteria.
4. WCAG Conformance Information – The answers in the WCAG success criteria are based on the level of conformance being reported (Level A, AA or AAA).
   • These tables are used to answer:
     • The selected levels of WCAG 2.x Guidelines.
     • When only reporting on WCAG 2.0 criteria, it is acceptable to remove the WCAG 2.1 and 2.2-specific criteria from the table. These are marked ‘2.1 and 2.2’ or ‘2.2 only’ within the row. Likewise, if only reporting on WCAG 2.1, it is acceptable to remove the rows with criteria marked ‘2.2 only’ from the table.
5. Remarks and Explanations – Detailed remarks should be provided in the Remarks and Explanations column to justify your answer in the Conformance Level column.
   • When the conformance level is ‘Partially Supports’ or ‘Does Not Support’, the remarks should identify:
     1. The functions or features with issues
     2. How they do not fully support
   • If the criterion does not apply, explain why.
   • If an accessible alternative is used, describe it.