Re: About VPAT usage in the EU

I'd like to add a few things to what I wrote earlier.
The European Commission's implementing decision 2018/1523 of 11 October
2018 defines a "model accessibility statement in accordance with
Directive (EU) 2016/2102":

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32018D1523.
This decision does not mention ISO 17050 (nor VPAT).

I recently looked at VPATs for Linux distributions and found VPATs for
Oracle Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (though not for Fedora or CentOS)
and the variants of SUSE Linux Enterprise (though not for OpenSUSE).

I could not find any type of conformance declaration for Zorin OS
(https://zorinos.com/), even though in 2016, the Italian city of Vicenza
announced that it would replace Windows with Zorin OS
(https://zoringroup.com/blog/2016/04/29/the-city-of-vicenza-is-choosing-zorin-os/).

Best regards,

Christophe Strobbe



On 15/10/19 19:30, Christophe Strobbe 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://askus.northampton.ac.uk/Learntech/faq/188896 (Mentions WCAG 2.1
> AA but not Section 508.)
> * ZenDesk:
> https://www.zendesk.co.uk/company/policies-procedures/accessibility/
> (WCAG 2.0 and Section 508.)
> * PebblePad UK:
> https://community.pebblepad.co.uk/support/solutions/articles/13000066857-pebblepad-voluntary-product-accessibility-template-
> (Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and WCAG 2.1 Levels A and AA.)
> * ARROW@TU Dublin: https://arrow.dit.ie/accessibility.html (WCAG 2.0
> Level AA and Section 508.)
> * SWORD - South West Open Research Deposit (Cork, Ireland):
> https://sword.cit.ie/accessibility.html (WCAG 2.0 Level AA and Section 508.)
> * Communardo (German domain):
> https://support.communardo.de/display/KB/Accessibility+for+Confluence+VPAT+for+Section+508+compliance
> (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.