Specification

This document defines the normative requirements of the Veriscopic Evidence Standard (VES) v1.0. The key words MUST, SHALL, and MAY are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119.

1. Scope

VES applies to the capture and preservation of evidence relating to human or organisational judgement, including decisions to approve, reject, accept risk, or proceed under stated conditions.

2. Definitions

• Evidence Pack — A structured record capturing the context, judgement, and confirmation of a decision at a specific point in time.
• Point-in-time — The moment at which judgement is exercised and recorded, prior to any subsequent outcomes or hindsight.
• Verifier — A party capable of independently assessing the integrity and completeness of an Evidence Pack.

3. Evidence Pack Requirements

An Evidence Pack MUST include, at minimum:

• a point-in-time timestamp
• a description of the judgement exercised
• identification of the accountable decision-maker or role
• the context or conditions under which the decision was made
• an integrity mechanism enabling later verification

4. Integrity and Hashing

Evidence Packs MUST be protected against undetected modification. A cryptographic hash or equivalent integrity mechanism SHALL be generated at the time of capture.

5. Timestamping

Timestamps MUST be generated at or immediately adjacent to the moment judgement is exercised and SHALL NOT be retroactively altered.

6. Verification

Evidence Packs MUST be independently verifiable, allowing confirmation that the record existed at the stated time and has not been altered.