Platform · 05

Certificates and evidence checks

How certificates and lab results are attached to lots, how the platform says who stands behind each one, and how an evidence check lists what a company's records hold against a set of requirements.

Certificates and lab results

A certificate is attached to a lot by a lab or certifier the company trusts for that type of certificate: an organic certificate, a lab analysis, a quality grade, a sustainability scheme. The ledger records the type, who signed it, the fingerprint of the document and how long it is valid. The document itself stays with the company.

Companies choose from the standard types and can name their own, such as a soil analysis or a buyer's quality protocol.

Trusted issuers

For each type of certificate, a company decides which labs and certifiers it trusts. Trusting or no longer trusting an issuer is a change of the administration account, approved by the owner. When the company stops trusting an issuer, the certificates that issuer signed say issuer no longer trusted.

Evidence levels

Every certificate and every lot registration says who stands behind it:

Level	What it means
Declared by the company	the company stated it; nobody else has confirmed it. Every lot registration has this level
Recorded by the company for a party	the company signed it on behalf of a party, such as a lab; buyers and auditors read it as the company's statement
Signed by the party	the lab or certifier signed it from its own account, which it proved it controls
Signed by an account not in the directory	the signer is trusted for this type, but nobody in the directory is registered for it

The lot page sums it up, for example "2 of 3 valid certificates signed by their issuer". The level is quoted as it is everywhere: in reports, in shared evidence, in the assistant's answers. It is never upgraded.

Withdrawn and disputed certificates

A certificate that was replaced, issued by mistake or not confirmed is withdrawn: it stays on record as withdrawn, and rules and buyers stop treating it as in force.

Only the issuer withdraws a certificate. A company that disagrees with one, even one it trusts, marks it disputed: an owner or administrator gives a category, a reason and the evidence, and the issuer is told. The certificate then reads "Disputed by" that company next to its state, on the lot page, in reports and for verifiers. It still counts until its issuer withdraws it: the dispute makes the disagreement visible, it does not decide it.

Declared carbon footprints

A company can attach the carbon footprint a third party calculated for a product or a lot, from its PACT file or report. The platform shows the value exactly as declared, who calculated it and who verified it, or that nobody did. It never calculates, converts or adds up footprints.

Evidence checks

An evidence check lists, requirement by requirement, what the company's records hold for one or more lots or deliveries against a set of requirements:

EUDR due diligence information
FSMA 204 traceability records
Required certificates (the company chooses which)
a set the company added, such as a buyer's own rules

Each requirement gets one status:

Status	Meaning
Evidence recorded	the records hold it; that shows who declared it, not that it is true
Missing	nothing in the records for it
Expired, Withdrawn	the certificate found is past its date or was withdrawn
Not verifiable here	left to the company, such as its risk assessment; the reason is given
Not applicable	it does not apply, such as shipping records for a lot not shipped

Gaps come first, each with What would close the gap and the records behind it. After fixing a gap, Check again says whether the result changed. A check can also be started by an agent or by an outside verifier the company allowed.

An evidence check is not a legal opinion and decides nothing. It never says that a lot complies.