The regulations are a result of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998. This law included Section 508, which amended the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Section 508 required a federal Access Board to publish standards that defined EIT as well as set technical and functional performance criteria. The Board published its standards and performance criteria on December 21, 2000.

Federal agencies and departments have six months to evaluate the accessibility of their current EIT systems to disabled individuals. The departments and agencies will also have to comply with Section 508 within the six-month period and submit a report to the attorney general by the end of the six-month period.

The federal General Services Administration ordered on January 22, 2001, that the Section 508 standards be included in the Federal Acquisitions Regulations (FAR) within six months. The FAR is the definitive set of rules for doing business with the federal government.

Section 508 is comprehensive in its coverage. It applies to federal departments and agencies when they develop, procure, maintain, and use EIT. Departments and agencies must ensure that disabled persons have comparable access to EIT. Section 508 does not define "disabled" or "comparable access." Instead, it sets out very technical and functional performance criteria. By complying with the technical criteria, the Access Board assumes that EIT will be available to disabled person. Generally, in order to comply with Section 508, EIT must be usable in more than one way or usable in a way that is not dependent on a single sense or ability. For example, a website must be accessible not only visibly but audibly.

Section 508 provides two exceptions for noncompliance. One exception regards highly sensitive EIT vital to the nation's defense. The other exception is the "undue burden" exception. A department or agency will not have to render its EIT accessible if doing so imposes an undue burden on the agency.

What is an undue burden? Section 508 does not define this term. It relies on the standards set out in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other civil rights legislation.

The ADA has been in existence since 1990. There is a wealth of information and court cases interpreting undue burden under the ADA. Generally, under the ADA whether a remedy imposes an undue an undue burden is decided on a case-by-case basis by looking at the degree of difficulty and the expense associated with providing the alternative.

For example, most courts would consider it an undue burden to require a company with assets of $500,000 to spend $100,000 to make a service accessible to a disabled employee.

Section 508 does not have its own enforcement provisions. It relies on the enforcement provisions of the FAR, if the matter involves procures. If the matter involves an employee, Section 508 uses the administrative complaint process of Section 504 of the ADA. Under that process, a person may file a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC). EEOC investigates the complaint and follows up with the department or agency. If EEOC believes that there has been a violation, it will attempt to resolve the matter. If no resolution can be reached, the complaining person may bring a private lawsuit against the department or agency.