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
The VPAT is the most widely used accessibility-conformance disclosure format in US federal and enterprise procurement. The current version, VPAT 2.5 (published 2024), has four editions: 508 (Section 508), WCAG (WCAG 2.x), EU (EN 301 549), and INT (combined international).
A completed VPAT lists each applicable success criterion and declares one of three statuses: "Supports", "Partially Supports", or "Does Not Support", with explanatory remarks. The accompanying Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) is the actual filled-in document; the VPAT is the empty template.
VPATs are not legally binding, but procurement officers rely on them to assess vendor accessibility before purchase. A VPAT with multiple "Does Not Support" entries can disqualify a vendor from federal contracts.
How this applies to Shopify stores
B2B Shopify stores selling to enterprise or government buyers are routinely asked to provide a VPAT. AccessComply ships a VPAT generator that turns a scan result into a draft ACR — fill in 8 fields, get a signed VPAT 2.5 .docx ready for submission.
Primary source: itic.org