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Re: It's Official - New Sec. 508 is out

for

From: Duff Johnson
Date: Feb 20, 2015 10:35AM

Hi Dona,

> I've tried to propose to
> my company that we use PDF/UA as a standard and this would force us to.
>
> Or am I reading it wrong?

This Rule will not *force* any / every company to use PDF/UA as a standard for PDF documents (or WCAG 2.0 for web pages) unless Section 508 already applied.

The Rule itself could be slightly more clearly stated, IMO, but PDF/UA is required "when applicable".

On this page

http://www.access-board.gov/guidelines-and-standards/communications-and-it/about-the-ict-refresh/proposed-rule/v-major-issues

The Access Board says:

"The proposed rule would address these deficiencies in the existing 508 Standards by clearly delineating the scope of covered electronic content, as well as specifying concrete, testable, technical requirements to ensure the accessibility of such content. The Board proposes that all covered electronic content would be required to conform to WCAG 2.0 Level A and Level AA Success Criteria and Conformance Requirements specified for Web pages or, where applicable, ISO 14289-1 (PDF/UA-1)."

And two paragraphs further on they give an example:

"The central principle underlying the accessibility requirement for public-facing content is the notion that federal agencies must ensure equal access to electronic information that they themselves directly make available to the general public by posting on a public fora. So, for example, if a federal agency posts a PDF version of a recent settlement agreement on its website as part of a press release, that document would need to comply with PDF/UA-1."

Duff.