Re: About VPAT usage in the EU

More anecdotes... US-based ICT suppliers often do use the VPAT
International edition when they want to reach buyers in both the US and
Europe public sectors. Suppliers might be using VPAT for disclosure to
European buyers more often than a web search would suggest, because only a
small fraction of companies post their VPAT reports publicly (examples:
Microsoft
<https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/trust-center/compliance/accessibility>,
Adobe <https://www.adobe.com/accessibility/compliance.html>). Most
companies provide them directly to buyers on request.

...and more questions...

> We have been doing business for more than two decades in Europe,
including many public sector bodies, and have never encountered anyone
asking for a VPAT document

Joppe, what kinds of accessibility documentation do they request?

> The term I would expect in a European context is "Supplier's Declaration
of Conformity"

Christophe, this sounds reasonable. How common is it in practice, as a
means of accessibility disclosure to buyers? Searches for
"Konformitätserklärung" and "BITV" on ted.europa.eu yield few results.

Thanks,
Mitchell

Mitchell Evan
+1 (510) 375-6104
mtchllvn@gmail.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitchellrevan/

On Mon, Oct 21, 2019, 2:52 AM Joppe Kroon <J.Kroon@topdesk.com> wrote:

> Hi Sailesh,
>
>
>
> Another anecdote,
>
>
>
> We have been doing business for more than two decades in Europe, including
> many public sector bodies, and have never encountered anyone asking for a
> VPAT document.
>
> Only since entering the American market we have had our first request for
> a VPAT.
>
>
>
> We found that there are several VPAT versions available, including an
> international VPAT where Section 508, WCAG 2.1, and EN 301 549 are all
> included.
>
>
>
> I think it is fair to say that a VPAT is not usually required in the EU,
> but I found the (full) VPAT helpful to collect all issues and cover all our
> bases.
>
>
>
> Cheers,
>
> Joppe
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *From: *James A. <A.James@soton.ac.uk>
> *Sent: *Friday, October 18, 2019 8:17 PM
> *To: *Sailesh Panchang <sailesh.panchang@deque.com>
> *Cc: *Christophe Strobbe <strobbe@hdm-stuttgart.de>; w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
> *Subject: *Re: About VPAT usage in the EU
>
>
> From my experience with UK universities, VPATs cause more confusion than
> assistance as they are structured for the US regulatory framework. They
> create more questions than answers.
>
> Public sector organisations are increasingly asking vendors to provide
> details of compliance due to new regulations that make them responsible for
> the accessibility of 3rd party content on their digital platforms if they
> have paid for it.  Organisation want vendors to provide  details of what
> does and doesn't comply with WCAG 2.1 AA /en 301 549 so that they can add
> details to their accessibility statements. This includes description of
> accessibility limitations in layman’s terms for users to understand. There
> is growing interest in using Mandate 376 procurement toolkit based
> http://mandate376.standards.eu/standard which is based on EN 301 549.
>
> Best wishes
>
> Abi James
>
> University of Southampton
> AbilityNet
>
>
> On 16 Oct 2019, at 20:07, Sailesh Panchang <sailesh.panchang@deque.com>
> wrote:
>
> Thanks very much Christophe for the confirmation and the  supporting
> details.
> Best wishes,
> Sailesh
>
> On 10/15/19, Christophe Strobbe <strobbe@hdm-stuttgart.de> wrote:
>
> Hi Sailesh
>
>
> On 10/10/19 19:31, Sailesh Panchang wrote:
>
> Is it customary  in the EU to require ICT vendors  to provide a VPAT
>
> to support an accessibility claim for ICT-product / service?
>
> In other words, do public sector bodies   or corporations in the EU
>
> require  a VPAT from their ICT vendors?
>
>
> The VPAT is something I only know from the context of Section 508 of the
>
> USA's Rehabilitation Act.
>
> When I searched a number of European top-level domains for VPAT
>
> (combined with the terms "accessibility" and "template"), I found
>
> companies and institutions that mention Section 508. I have listed a few
>
> examples below.
>
>
> The term I would expect in a European context is "Supplier's Declaration
>
> of Conformity", but since that is based on an ISO standard (ISO 17050),
>
> there is not specifically European about it.
>
>
> * University of Northampton: The Kaltura Accessibility statement:
>
>
> https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Faskus.northampton.ac.uk%2FLearntech%2Ffaq%2F188896&amp;data=01%7C01%7Ca.james%40soton.ac.uk%7C4ed8f19d91a042752c8a08d7526c0955%7C4a5378f929f44d3ebe89669d03ada9d8%7C0&amp;sdata=RKN5anthheQV5BawpxnEleB7Z%2BkBg6%2BKEA3Y8AmPn3w%3D&amp;reserved=0
> (Mentions WCAG 2.1
>
> AA but not Section 508.)
>
> * ZenDesk:
>
>
> https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zendesk.co.uk%2Fcompany%2Fpolicies-procedures%2Faccessibility%2F&amp;data=01%7C01%7Ca.james%40soton.ac.uk%7C4ed8f19d91a042752c8a08d7526c0955%7C4a5378f929f44d3ebe89669d03ada9d8%7C0&amp;sdata=dZCYyRnUOlGyDMIVaRbSVZIns8ncP0A5QncDdyF2OOA%3D&amp;reserved=0
>
> (WCAG 2.0 and Section 508.)
>
> * PebblePad UK:
>
>
> https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcommunity.pebblepad.co.uk%2Fsupport%2Fsolutions%2Farticles%2F13000066857-pebblepad-voluntary-product-accessibility-template-&amp;data=01%7C01%7Ca.james%40soton.ac.uk%7C4ed8f19d91a042752c8a08d7526c0955%7C4a5378f929f44d3ebe89669d03ada9d8%7C0&amp;sdata=TwLh2F7RYeF1lPVGu4nDh3T6egjVPbh4bSzEksgeLmM%3D&amp;reserved=0
>
> (Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and WCAG 2.1 Levels A and AA.)
>
> * ARROW@TU Dublin:
> https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Farrow.dit.ie%2Faccessibility.html&amp;data=01%7C01%7Ca.james%40soton.ac.uk%7C4ed8f19d91a042752c8a08d7526c0955%7C4a5378f929f44d3ebe89669d03ada9d8%7C0&amp;sdata=kmfLmIkRuzVJwdfl%2Fm7E8qvTUd%2FWUQhQzMS2f892BiA%3D&amp;reserved=0
> (WCAG 2.0
>
> Level AA and Section 508.)
>
> * SWORD - South West Open Research Deposit (Cork, Ireland):
>
>
> https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsword.cit.ie%2Faccessibility.html&amp;data=01%7C01%7Ca.james%40soton.ac.uk%7C4ed8f19d91a042752c8a08d7526c0955%7C4a5378f929f44d3ebe89669d03ada9d8%7C0&amp;sdata=rEYKBtkzGHYfMbNsap9RbIJ%2FmhNcCoX6Chnn6YSG%2Fio%3D&amp;reserved=0
> (WCAG 2.0 Level AA and Section
>
> 508.)
>
> * Communardo (German domain):
>
>
> https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsupport.communardo.de%2Fdisplay%2FKB%2FAccessibility%2Bfor%2BConfluence%2BVPAT%2Bfor%2BSection%2B508%2Bcompliance&amp;data=01%7C01%7Ca.james%40soton.ac.uk%7C4ed8f19d91a042752c8a08d7526c0955%7C4a5378f929f44d3ebe89669d03ada9d8%7C0&amp;sdata=OMaGrDNEyjmNutL4ZLP8c%2BmMY1roLznJxsrykfRcBq4%3D&amp;reserved=0
>
> (Confluence is developed by the Australian company Atlassian.)
>
>
> Best regards,
>
>
> Christophe Strobbe
>
>
> --
>
> Christophe Strobbe
>
> Akademischer Mitarbeiter
>
> Responsive Media Experience Research Group (REMEX)
>
> Hochschule der Medien
>
> Nobelstraße 10
>
> 70569 Stuttgart
>
> Tel. +49 711 8923 2749
>
>
> “I drink tea and I know things.”
>
> Falsely attributed to Christophe Lannister.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> Sailesh Panchang
> Principal Accessibility Consultant
> Deque Systems Inc
> 381 Elden Street, Suite 2000, Herndon, VA 20170
> Mobile: 571-344-1765
>
>