What is a VPAT (and an ACR)

Updated October 23, 2026. A 9 minute read.

Fig. 1Report booklets stand in a row, and the front cover shows a blank table with one cell ringed in orange

Scroll sideways to see all four columns.

The four editions of VPAT 2.5Rev, what each reports against, and who usually asks for it
Edition	What it reports against	WCAG inside	Who usually asks
508	The Revised Section 508 Standards, with WCAG 2.0 inside them	2.0	US federal agencies and the contractors that resell to them
EU	EN 301 549, the European standard for public buying of ICT	2.1	Public bodies in the European Union
WCAG	WCAG alone, with a Yes or No for each version you report	2.0, 2.1 or 2.2	State and local governments, public colleges, school districts and companies whose paperwork names WCAG
INT	All three: Section 508, EN 301 549 and WCAG	2.0, 2.1 or 2.2	Buyers in more than one market, or a federal buyer who also wants WCAG 2.2

The current template is VPAT® 2.5Rev, released by ITI in April 2025. A federal buyer needs the 508 or INT edition; Section508.gov says so in plain words. Everyone else: use the edition the request names.

What a VPAT is, and what it is not

VPAT stands for Voluntary Product Accessibility Template. It is a free Word template published by ITI, the Information Technology Industry Council, that turns accessibility standards into a table you test a product against. Once someone has tested the product and filled the table in, the document is an Accessibility Conformance Report, or ACR. People say “send us your VPAT” when they mean the ACR; the template is the blank form, the ACR is the answer.

What an ACR is not

Not a certification. ITI says there is no VPAT certification, and nobody else can issue one.
Not approved by anyone. ITI does not review or approve reports, and there is nowhere to submit one.
Not a pass or a fail. ITI says the template has no pass/fail scale; the rows describe the product.
Not a legal finding. An ACR says how a product meets a standard such as WCAG 2.1 Level AA; it does not make anything “ADA compliant”.

VPAT® is ITI's registered service mark. Anyone may use the template free of charge, without joining ITI, as long as the report follows ITI's instructions; the official files are on ITI's VPAT page.

Which edition a buyer is asking for

The table at the top of this guide is the short answer. Two buyers make the choice for you: a US federal agency needs the 508 or INT edition, as Section508.gov's guide to writing an ACR says, and a public body in the EU expects EN 301 549, which is the EU edition. The background on the federal rule is in what Section 508 is.

Everyone else usually names a WCAG version, and the WCAG edition covers all three. A state or local government works to WCAG 2.1 Level AA, the standard in the DOJ Title II web rule, so a report for one can stop at 2.1: ITI's template marks the newer rows “2.2 only” and lets you remove them. A company's security or procurement questionnaire may ask for 2.2. Report the version the paperwork names, and if it names none, ask.

The one row with a fixed answer

4.1.1 Parsing was removed from WCAG 2.2, and WCAG 2.1 now notes that it should be considered always satisfied for HTML and XML content. Citing W3C's September 2023 errata, ITI's templates tell you to answer “Supports” on that row for WCAG 2.0 and 2.1 in every edition. A report that marks 4.1.1 as failing was written to an old reading of the rule.

Our comparison of VPAT writing services has a short picker that matches the buyer to the edition and counts the criteria each one asks you to answer.

What is inside an ACR, field by field

ITI lists the minimum a report must hold to use the VPAT® name. In order, with what to put in each:

Report title
“[Company name] Accessibility Conformance Report”, with the template version under it: “Based on VPAT® Version 2.5Rev”.
Name of product and version
The release you actually tested. A buyer who runs version 4.3 cannot use a report on 4.1.
Report date
At least the month and year. ITI asks for a date nobody can misread, such as “4 May 2025”.
Product description
Two or three sentences on what the product does and who uses it.
Contact information
Where a buyer sends questions. ITI says an email address is enough.
Notes
What the report covers and leaves out, and what changed since the last one. It may be blank.
Evaluation methods used
How the product was tested: by hand, with which assistive technology, with which tools.
Applicable standards
Which standards and which WCAG versions and levels the report covers, and only those.
Terms
The definitions of the conformance terms used in the tables.
The tables
One row per criterion, each with a conformance term and a remark.

Three rules from the same instructions catch people out. Every criterion at a level you report must be answered, so you cannot skip the awkward ones. The nine pages of instructions come out before you publish. And the report itself must be accessible: a scanned PDF of a printed table fails the first person who opens it with a screen reader. Our VPAT template ACR builder lays these fields out for a web product, with the criteria for your edition already in place.

Line drawing of a report beside a laptop showing a table, one cell ringed in orange — Fig. 2The same report lives on paper and on screen and every cell in its table needs an answer

The conformance terms, word for word

Each row of the table gets one term. ITI recommends four for Level A and AA rows and a fifth that only AAA rows may use. Use ITI's words exactly: if you change a definition, the instructions say you must flag the change in the Notes. “Partially Supports” replaced the older “Supports with Exceptions” at the request of the US Access Board, so a report that still uses the old phrase was written on an old template.

Scroll sideways to see all three columns.

The five conformance terms, ITI's definition of each, and what a buyer takes from it
Term	ITI's definition	What a buyer reads
Supports	“The functionality of the product has at least one method that meets the criterion without known defects or meets with equivalent facilitation.”	Tested and fine, or there is an accessible way to do the same thing.
Partially Supports	“Some functionality of the product does not meet the criterion.”	Mostly works; the remark must say which parts do not.
Does Not Support	“The majority of product functionality does not meet the criterion.”	A real gap. Expect the buyer to ask about a fix date.
Not Applicable	“The criterion is not relevant to the product.”	There is nothing of this kind in the product, and the remark says why.
Not Evaluated	“The product has not been evaluated against the criterion. This can only be used in WCAG Level AAA criteria.”	Allowed on AAA rows only. On an A or AA row it reads as a hole in the testing.

Which term fits? Four cases

Open each one to see the answer.

Your product has no video at all. What goes on 1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded)?

Either Not Applicable or Supports, with a remark saying the product has no prerecorded video. ITI's own note points out that WCAG treats a criterion with nothing to apply to as satisfied, so Supports is allowed there; many authors pick Not Applicable because it reads more plainly. Use one choice the same way across the report.

Every page meets 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum) except the grey hint text in two form fields.

Partially Supports. Some functionality does not meet the criterion, and the remark names the two fields and the measured ratio.

The drag-to-reorder list has no keyboard way to move items, but the same order can be set from a numbered field on the item's edit screen.

Supports for 2.1.1 Keyboard can be honest here, because ITI's definition allows equivalent facilitation. The remark must describe the alternative and where to find it.

The report covers Level A and AA only. What goes on 2.4.13 Focus Appearance?

Nothing: 2.4.13 is Level AAA, so it is not in an A and AA report. If you include the AAA table, Not Evaluated is the honest answer for any row you did not test.

What a good remark looks like

The Remarks and Explanations column is where a buyer decides whether to trust the report. Section508.gov says remarks are required on Partially Supports and Does Not Support rows and encouraged on Supports rows. ITI asks a remark to name the feature with the problem and how it falls short, to explain why a criterion does not apply, and to describe any accessible alternative. Here is the gap between a remark that ticks the box and one a buyer can use:

1.1.1 Non-text Content (Level A): Partially Supports
Weak
Some images are missing alt text.
Usable
Icons and photos in the app have text alternatives. The six chart thumbnails on the Reports screen have none; a screen reader announces their file names. Planned fix: version 5.1.
2.4.7 Focus Visible (Level AA): Supports
Weak
Supported.
Usable
Tested with the keyboard alone in Chrome, Firefox and Safari: every link, button and field shows a visible focus outline, including inside the date picker and the settings dialog.
1.2.4 Captions (Live) (Level AA): Not Applicable
Weak
N/A
Usable
The product has no live audio or video. Recorded help videos are covered under 1.2.2.

Takeaway

A remark says what was tested, where it fails, and what a user can do instead. Measure contrast with the contrast check so the 1.4.3 remark carries a real ratio, not an adjective.

Who writes it, and how the product gets tested

ITI says the maker of the product is likely the best source, that a third-party review is not required, and that either the maker or a reseller can complete it. The exception is a bid: a solicitation may require a third-party audit, so read its terms first. If you hire it out, our VPAT service comparison lists what to ask a firm.

Whoever writes it, the Evaluation Methods Used field has to say how the rows were reached. ITI suggests stating whether the testers know the product's common tasks, which assistive technology was used, which manual and automated tools were used, and the name, publisher and link of any published test method. An automated scan alone does not answer most rows; the keyboard and screen reader testing do. The WCAG 2.2 AA checklist gives a plain test for each criterion, which is a good first pass before you fill in a row.

ITI also publishes free training slides and videos on completing the template, linked from its VPAT page.

How often to update it

ITI sets no schedule. It says the vendor is responsible for keeping the report accurate, and that a revised report gets a new date and a note explaining the revision, or is replaced by a new report that says it supersedes the old one. In practice, a report describes one version of a product, so it goes stale the first time a release changes a screen it covers.

A workable rule for a small team: update the ACR with each release that changes the interface, and read it through at least once a year even when nothing seems to have changed. Firms that write ACRs state their own cadence; see the FAQ on our VPAT services comparison. A buyer's contract can also set one, and the contract wins.

When a small software business needs one

Nobody needs an ACR in the abstract; a buyer asks for one. Find your situation:

You sell, or want to sell, software to a US federal agency
Yes. GSA's Section508.gov recommends an ACR for any ICT marketed to the federal government, on the 508 or INT edition.
A city, county, school district or public college is buying your product
Likely. Their web rule is WCAG 2.1 Level AA and covers content they provide through contractors, so expect to be asked for proof such as an ACR.
A larger company's procurement or security questionnaire asks about accessibility
If the questionnaire names an ACR or a VPAT, send one. If it only asks whether the product is accessible, a current ACR answers in one document.
You are bidding for a public contract in the EU
Expect EN 301 549, which means the EU or INT edition.
You run a local business website and nobody is buying software from you
No. An ACR describes a product for a buyer. A public accessibility statement is the document that fits a website.

For the website case, our accessibility statement generator writes the statement. For a product, GSA also offers a free ACR Editor in the machine-readable OpenACR format; it is linked from Section508.gov's ACR page.

Quick reference

VPAT® = ITI's blank template. ACR = the completed report.
Current version: VPAT 2.5Rev, April 2025, in four editions: 508, EU, WCAG, INT.
Federal buyer: 508 or INT edition. EU public buyer: EU or INT.
A and AA rows: Supports, Partially Supports, Does Not Support, Not Applicable. Not Evaluated is for AAA only.
Remarks are required on Partially Supports and Does Not Support rows.
4.1.1 Parsing: answer Supports for WCAG 2.0 and 2.1.
No certification, no approval, no submission.

This is general information, not legal advice. For your own situation, ask a lawyer.