An ACR is a completed VPAT. The template arrives blank, you test your product against each requirement and record the result, and the filled-in document is called an Accessibility Conformance Report. Buyers ask for a VPAT and mean this one. What they receive is a self-declaration rather than a certificate, because nobody accredits an ACR and it is worth exactly the testing that produced it. The edition matters as much as the answers do. There are four of them and they carry different versions of WCAG. A report on the Section 508 edition assesses the web criteria against WCAG 2.0, alongside the software and support-documentation chapters that are not WCAG at all. The EU edition reports 2.1, and only the WCAG and INT editions reach 2.2.
In practice
Buyers ask for a VPAT and mean an ACR. The template is the empty form and the report is what you hand over, and nobody will correct you either way. The template itself is free, no membership is needed to use it, and anybody charging you for the blank form is selling something that is given away. The current version is 2.5Rev, dated April 2025. The name and the form are registered marks and altering them needs ITI's written permission, so a supplier who has quietly redrawn one into their own house layout has forfeited the right to call it a VPAT.
Check which edition you have been handed before you read a single row. Four of them exist so a vendor can report against the standard their market names, and the version of WCAG differs between them. The Section 508 edition carries WCAG 2.0, the EU edition carries 2.1, and the WCAG and INT editions carry 2.2. A buyer who accepts a 508-edition report and assumes it covers 2.2 has accepted an assessment of a standard from 2008.
Every row records one of five answers. Supports, partially supports, does not support, not applicable, or not evaluated, with a column beside it for the explanation. Not evaluated is the restricted one, because the template allows it only against Level AAA criteria, so a report using it on a Level A or AA row is defective by the form's own rules. Partially supports is the one to read closely. It replaced the older wording about supporting with exceptions at the US Access Board's request, and it is where the real findings live.
Why it matters
For software sold into government, education or large enterprise, no report frequently means no deal, which is what turns accessibility from a cost into a sales requirement. The awkward part is who is checking. Nobody accredits an ACR, so there is no body standing behind the document and it is worth exactly the testing that produced it. What fills that gap is the buyer, and federal purchasing guidance tells buyers to validate a report independently before they award. It is also not a WCAG conformance claim, which is a different instrument written about web pages and carrying five required components. A buyer who needs both has to ask for both.
Which edition are you reading
A supplier hands over an Accessibility Conformance Report and it looks thorough. Check the cover before the rows. If it is the Section 508 edition, its web rows report conformance against WCAG 2.0, and the 2.2 criteria your contract names were never assessed at all.
Where this shows up on the site
Related terms
- VPATA VPAT is the blank form vendors fill in to report how their product measures against accessibility standards, one row per requirement, using one of five verdicts.
- ConformanceConformance means satisfying all the requirements of a standard, and WCAG has five of them rather than one.
- Section 508Section 508 is the US law requiring federal departments and agencies, plus the Postal Service, to make their digital products accessible.
- EN 301 549EN 301 549 is the European standard for accessible information and communication technology, written first for public procurement and now the document European accessibility law reaches for when it needs a technical answer.
- Accessibility auditAn accessibility audit is a structured evaluation of a website against WCAG, ending in a documented pass or fail for every applicable rule with the evidence attached.
Knowing the word is the easy part.
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