Re: WCAG 3.0: Conformance model - a different view

Note: The first message (Nov 14, 2025) does not mention assertions at all.
This is deliberate.
View about Assertions:
Assertions are mere statements in the nature of representations that may
need to be validated. As such, they cannot be used to establish conclusive
evidence of conformance.
Refer to a previous email that suggests how assertions  might be used:
https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-gl/2025OctDec/0057.html
Thanks
Sailesh Panchang
Principal Accessibility Consultant

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














On Fri, Nov 14, 2025 at 2:46 PM Sailesh Panchang <sailesh.panchang@deque.com>
wrote:

> Issue related to functional needs:
> https://github.com/w3c/wcag3/issues/416
> Sailesh Panchang
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> Email: sailesh.panchang@deque.com
> Deque Systems Inc | - Accessibility for Good | www.deque.com
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> On Fri, Nov 14, 2025 at 2:43 PM Sailesh Panchang <
> sailesh.panchang@deque.com> wrote:
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>> 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.
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>> 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
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>> Email: sailesh.panchang@deque.com
>> Deque Systems Inc | - Accessibility for Good | www.deque.com
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