Re: WCAG 3.0: Conformance model - a different view

Issue related to functional needs:
https://github.com/w3c/wcag3/issues/416
Sailesh Panchang

Email: sailesh.panchang@deque.com
Deque Systems Inc | - Accessibility for Good | www.deque.com














On Fri, Nov 14, 2025 at 2:43 PM Sailesh Panchang <sailesh.panchang@deque.com>
wrote:

> 1. First the list of functional needs need to be finalized and
> requirements (foundational level / supplemental level) need to be mapped to
> these needs.
> 2. The goal is to help policy makers determine  if WCAG 3 compliance has
> helped to make digital  content accessible  in those various settings
> identified as functional needs.
> Like in WCAG 2.X an enterprise may choose to meet only Level A criteria (I
> know the recommended standard is Level AA) or Level AA or Level AAA, going
> forward, organizations should have the liberty to meet only foundational
> level requirements or both foundational and supplemental level requirements
> as they choose.
> The bronze, silver and gold route  for conformance level may become
> unnecessary IMO. With that, the complication of associating a percentage
> against those levels becomes redundant. Though one can associate some
> rationale with the percentages for bronze, silver and gold, at the end
> there will still be an element of arbitrariness to the process.
>
> 3. So consider a conformance statement  along the lines of a VPAT with one
> important caveat . It can be set out  in a format that corresponds to the
> organization's accessibility goal: only foundational level if that is the
> choice or both foundational and supplemental levels.
> The caveat: the conformance statement only tabulates all functional needs
> as identified for WCAG 3.0. Against every need there is one value:
> Satisfied / partly Satisfied / Not Satisfied.
> In other words this statement will not list all the requirements like a
> VPAT does but simply the functional needs and state whether the
> requirements for the selected level have been met or not based on the
> established mapping.
> Thanks,
> Sailesh Panchang
> Principal Accessibility Consultant
>
> Email: sailesh.panchang@deque.com
> Deque Systems Inc | - Accessibility for Good | www.deque.com
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