Suite · Methodology

Certification Evidence Requirements

Certification Evidence Requirements define the minimum information necessary to support objective, transparent, and repeatable Certifier / certification-domain determinations.

Every certification should be supported by sufficient governed evidence for independent review and long-term verification. These requirements do not automatically apply to other Suite institutions.

Scope Boundary

This is a certification-specific methodology surface. It governs certification evidence requirements, not universal Suite evidence rules.

Certification Evidence Requirements → Certifier / certification-domain methodology.
Attestor Evidence / Input Eligibility → governed by Attestor's own rules.

CERTIFICATION EVIDENCE REQUIREMENTS ≠ UNIVERSAL SUITE EVIDENCE RULES.
CERTIFICATION EVIDENCE ≠ ATTESTOR ELIGIBLE GOVERNED INPUTS.
EVIDENCE SUFFICIENCY ≠ CERTIFICATION DETERMINATION.
EVIDENCE ≠ TRUST STATEMENT.

Identity Evidence

Evidence establishing the identity of the certification target, issuer, or responsible authority.

Primary Evidence

Original records, official documents, first-hand observations, or authoritative sources directly supporting certification.

Supporting Evidence

Supplementary documentation providing additional context, corroboration, or clarification.

Independent Verification

Evidence originating from independent sources capable of confirming or strengthening the certification evidentiary foundation without independently determining certification status.

Evidence Integrity

Evidence should remain authentic, complete, unaltered, and suitable for long-term preservation. Integrity does not itself establish certification, publication, or trust.

Evidence Traceability

Every evidence item should be traceable to its source, allowing future reviewers to assess provenance, context, and authenticity without transferring source authority.

Evidence Sufficiency

Certification decisions should be based upon sufficient evidence rather than the minimum evidence available.

Evidence Preservation

Evidence should remain available for future review, auditing, appeals, and historical reference whenever practical.

Attestor Boundary

Attestor governs its own Eligible Governed Inputs, Attestations, Rule-Constrained Evaluation, and Trust Statements. Certification evidence requirements do not become Attestor eligibility or evaluation rules merely because certification-related evidence is later referenced.

Certification Evidence ≠ Attestor Eligibility.
Certification Evidence Requirement ≠ Attestor Evaluation Rule.
Evidence Sufficiency ≠ Trust Statement.

Cross-Institution Boundary

Registry, Chronicle, Anchor, Beacon, Attestor, Navigator, or other institutions may reference, preserve, integrity-reference, discover, consume, or route certification-related evidence according to their own authority.

REFERENCE ≠ EVIDENCE-RULE ADOPTION.
DOWNSTREAM USE ≠ AUTHORITY TRANSFER.
PRESERVATION ≠ SOURCE OWNERSHIP.
INTEGRITY REFERENCE ≠ EVIDENCE OWNERSHIP.

Methodology Role

Certification Evidence Requirements define what information is necessary before certification evaluation may proceed. They establish the evidentiary foundation for Certification Evaluation Criteria, certification logic, and scoring where explicitly adopted. They do not govern Attestor Trust Statements.

Strong certification begins with strong evidence.
Evidence Sufficiency ≠ Certification Determination.
Evidence ≠ Trust Statement.