VPAT (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template)
A VPAT is a standardized document, published by the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), that vendors use to declare a product's conformance with Section 508 / WCAG accessibility standards.
Detailed explanation
VPAT templates are commonly used for accessibility-conformance disclosures in US federal and enterprise procurement. ITI publishes 508, WCAG, EU, and international editions; evaluators should use the current edition from ITI rather than relying on a version number in marketing copy.
An evaluator completes the applicable rows with the conformance terms and remarks defined by the selected current template. The resulting Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) is the filled-in report; VPAT refers to the template.
Procurement teams may rely on an ACR to assess a product before purchase. The effect of any reported status depends on the solicitation, contract, evaluator, and applicable rules.
How this applies to Shopify stores
B2B Shopify stores selling to enterprise or government buyers may be asked to provide an ACR using a current VPAT template. AccessComply scan and remediation records can inform that evaluation, but a defensible ACR also requires manual review and should be completed by a qualified evaluator.
What merchants should check next
Treat this term as a practical audit prompt, not just a definition. Check the storefront pages where the concept shows up in real customer journeys: product discovery, add-to-cart, cart drawer, checkout handoff, account login, and support contact flows. If the issue affects code, verify the rendered HTML and computed browser output after the theme change. If it affects copy or media, keep the merchant-facing wording accurate and easy to maintain.
Primary source: itic.org