How to Write an Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR)

An Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) is a document that describes how
a product or service meets accessibility standards. ACRs are used by
procurement teams to evaluate whether a vendor's product meets their
accessibility requirements before purchase, and by organisations to
demonstrate compliance to customers, regulators, and auditors.

The most widely used format for an ACR is the Voluntary Product Accessibility
Template (VPAT), published by the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI).
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When an ACR is needed

ACRs are most commonly requested in the following contexts:

• Government procurement — US federal agencies are required under Section
  508 to evaluate the accessibility of technology they purchase. Vendors
  selling to federal agencies are routinely asked to provide a completed VPAT.
• Enterprise procurement — Large private sector organisations increasingly
  require ACRs from software vendors as part of their procurement process.
• EU public sector procurement — The EN 301 549 standard is referenced in
  EU public procurement requirements, and ACRs may be requested to demonstrate
  conformance.
• Regulatory compliance — Organisations subject to the European Accessibility
  Act may need to produce documentation demonstrating conformance.

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Structure of an ACR

A typical ACR based on the VPAT format includes:

Product information — name, version, description, evaluation date, and
contact information for follow-up queries.

Evaluation methods — how the product was tested: automated scanning,
manual expert review, assistive technology testing, user testing. The more
rigorous and transparent the methodology, the more credible the report.

Conformance tables — the core of the document. Each applicable WCAG
success criterion is listed with one of the following conformance levels:

Level	Meaning
Supports	The product meets the criterion
Partially Supports	The product meets the criterion in some but not all instances
Does Not Support	The product does not meet the criterion
Not Applicable	The criterion does not apply to this product
Not Evaluated	The criterion has not been evaluated

Remarks and explanations — each row should include a plain-language
explanation of how the criterion is met or why it partially or does not
support the requirement.
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Writing an honest ACR

A common mistake is to mark all criteria as "Supports" without evidence.
Procurement teams with accessibility expertise will identify inflated claims,
and an inaccurate ACR creates legal and reputational risk.

Best practice is to base the ACR on a genuine audit — automated scanning
combined with manual review — and to accurately report partial conformance
and known gaps with a remediation timeline where applicable.

Automated tools such as a11ytest.ai can provide a structured baseline of
detected issues to inform the conformance claims in an ACR, though ACRs
should always be supplemented with manual review and assistive technology
testing for a credible result.
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VPAT editions

The VPAT is available in several editions targeting different standards:

Edition	Standards covered
VPAT 2.x WCAG	WCAG 2.x only
VPAT 2.x Section 508	US Section 508
VPAT 2.x EU	EN 301 549
VPAT 2.x INT	All three combined

Most enterprise and government buyers will request the edition matching their
applicable standard. When selling internationally, the INT edition is the
most comprehensive option.

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References

1. Information Technology Industry Council. VPAT and ACR resources. https://www.itic.org/policy/accessibility/vpat ↑
2. Section508.gov. Sell Accessible Products and Services. https://www.section508.gov/sell/ ↑
3. A11YTEST.AI LTD. a11ytest.ai — Automated Accessibility Scanning. https://a11ytest.ai ↑