The HEART Standard
A small, stable grammar for plural governance
What HEART does
HEART allows different laws, standards, domains, regions, deployments, and institutions to remain different while sharing a common way to operationalize and verify governance.
It does not supply every governance requirement, prescribe one universal method stack, or treat a score as a substitute for a traceable determination.
Applicability comes first
Before applying a HEART requirement or Profile, the verification record identifies:
- the subject and material function;
- the governing source and jurisdiction;
- the relevant domain, deployment, and modality;
- affected persons and reasonably foreseeable risks;
- the time and version in scope;
- exclusions, conflicts, and uncertainty; and
- whether HEART itself supplies any requirement being assessed.
A NOT APPLICABLE result is legitimate when supported. HEART must not expand its own scope merely because a method or Profile exists.
The five-field kernel
After applicability, every HEART verification object contains five traceable fields.
| Field | Public meaning |
|---|---|
| Requirement | What the governing source actually requires, including its authority, version, force, qualifications, and ambiguity. |
| Verifiable Condition | What must be true in operational reality, bounded to the requirement and free of hidden implementation mandates. |
| Evidence | Information sufficient for the claim, with provenance, scope, integrity, currency, uncertainty, and access constraints preserved. |
| Verification Rule | The inspection, test, comparison, calculation, or competent judgment used to evaluate the evidence, including failure and indeterminate conditions. |
| Determination | The scoped result, responsible authority, time, versions, qualifications, exclusions, and limitations. |
The fields may contain structured subfields, but none may be omitted or replaced by an unexplained score.
Existing sufficient evidence comes first
HEART can use ordinary records, policies, configurations, logs, tests, external certifications, professional assessments, scientific instruments, cryptographic attestations, or other evidence that is sufficient for the claim.
HEART-native evidence is never required merely because the Foundation created a format or method.
Minimum-sufficient method and verifier
Use the simplest competent verifier and method able to support the claim.
- deterministic or ordinary review where sufficient;
- a qualified specialist where domain competence is required;
- a Guardian only where irreducible professional judgment remains; and
- formal conformity assessment only where an official HEART claim is sought.
Method selection must state why the method is fit for purpose, what it cannot establish, and what uncertainty remains.
Profiles preserve context
The stable HEART core is extended through versioned:
- Source Profiles for a specific law, standard, policy, contract, or authority;
- Domain Profiles for a governed human or societal domain;
- Deployment Profiles for a bounded implementation and operating context; and
- Modality Overlays for material interaction modes such as voice, embodiment, or persistent agents.
A Profile is not a separate HEART Standard or certification stack. Understand the Profile architecture.
Seven constitutional protections
Every HEART claim remains subject to Seven Axioms v3.0:
- Human Authority
- System Disclosure
- Non-Discriminatory Protection
- Risk-Proportionate Protection
- Contestability and Remedy
- Evidence Condition
- Privacy and Data Boundaries
The protections are co-equal and non-compensatory. A score, benefit, market rating, or strength under one Axiom cannot average away a material violation of another.
Determinations are bounded
HEART preserves the normative force of the source. A legal requirement, voluntary framework, and internal policy do not receive the same vocabulary.
INDETERMINATE is a substantive result when evidence is insufficient or conflict remains. Voluntary alignment must not be described as legal compliance.
Verification is not certification
Anyone may use the HEART grammar for bounded verification. An official claim such as HEART conforming, HEART certified, or HVC requires the separately governed HEART Conformity Assessment Scheme, authorized roles, independent review and decision, and current Registry status.
The existence of the Scheme specification does not mean public certification intake, credential issuance, or a production Registry is currently operational.
Relationship to v1.8
HEART Standard v2.0 supersedes v1.8 as the current Standard. v1.8 remains preserved with its DOI and original architecture as a Superseded / Historical edition.
The principal change is from a Foundation-method stack to a smaller governance-interoperability grammar. RCTA/BGF, GTE, MAP-States, Behavioral Oracle, HVC, Guardians, and Divisions remain available in their current roles, but they are no longer described as universally mandatory layers of HEART.
HEART Divisions — Research-coupled stewardship programs that maintain domain knowledge and Domain Profiles without becoming separate certification stacks.