PAS 78 To Become Full Standard
Released in March 2006, Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 78 - “Guide to good practice in commissioning accessible websites” - was developed in order to tackle some of the confusion surrounding web accessibility. It is not a replacement for the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) but is a non-technical document which aims to assist site owners and managers by describing the role of standards and user testing within site development.
But, although developed by the British Standards Institute (BSi), a PAS is not a standard. It is a sponsored piece of work that can be made available quickly to suit the market need of the developers and users of a product, process or service. In comparison, a full standard requires several more stages of development and a full consensus before it can be published. However, a PAS - which must be reviewed every two years - can be the first step in the creation of a formal standard.