Guide
Section 508 compliance: what it is and who it applies to
Last updated: 29 June 2026
Section 508 is the US law that requires federal agencies' information and communication technology (ICT) — including websites, software, and documents — to be accessible to people with disabilities. If you're a federal agency, or a company that sells digital products to one, "508 compliance" is likely a procurement requirement. Here's what it means in practice. (General information, not legal advice.)
What Section 508 is
Section 508 is part of the Rehabilitation Act. It directs federal agencies to make their ICT accessible — both what they build and what they buy. The current technical requirements come from the Revised 508 Standards (sometimes called the "ICT Refresh"), which adopted the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines as the measuring stick for web content.
Who has to comply?
- US federal agencies — directly, for their websites, apps, documents, and internal systems.
- Vendors/contractors selling ICT to the federal government — agencies generally can't buy products that aren't accessible, so 508 conformance becomes a condition of the sale.
- Often, organisations that receive federal funding or are otherwise contractually bound.
Private companies with no federal connection usually aren't directly bound by Section 508 — for them the relevant US driver is typically the ADA (see ADA website compliance). But because 508 points to the same WCAG standard, building to WCAG AA covers both.
How it maps to WCAG
The Revised 508 Standards incorporate WCAG 2.0 Level A and AA for web content. In practice, teams today build to the newest WCAG (2.2 AA), which includes everything in 2.0 AA and more — so targeting WCAG 2.2 AA puts you comfortably above the 508 web baseline. If you're unsure how the standards relate, see WCAG vs EAA (the same "law points to WCAG" pattern applies to 508).
The VPAT: how 508 conformance gets documented
When selling to government, you're usually asked for a VPAT (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template) — a standardised document stating, criterion by criterion, how your product conforms. It's how agencies compare options. See what a VPAT is for the details.
How to check where you stand
Start with an automated scan to clear the machine-detectable WCAG failures, then do manual testing for the rest (keyboard, screen reader, forms). Scan your site free with WCAGwise to find issues mapped to the exact WCAG criteria — the same criteria 508 relies on — and where each one is in your code. WCAGwise is an audit aid, not a legal guarantee or an official VPAT.