Policy
Impartiality and Independence Policy
This page describes the safeguards we actually operate today for certification against the Ethicality AI Use Standard (EAUS 1.0). We will update it as the program adds reviewers.
Who decides today
Ethicality currently has one certification officer, its founder. Our advisors provide expert advice on the standard and the program; they do not approve or decide individual certifications. AI tools may help organize evidence, but every certification decision is taken by a person.
Conflict declarations
Before deciding any application, the certification officer must record whether they have a material conflict with the applicant, including ownership, employment, family relationships, financial interests, prior consulting work or any other circumstance that could affect impartiality. Our system will not accept a final decision until that declaration is recorded.
Recusal
A reviewer who declares a conflict cannot take the final decision on that application. Because we currently have one certification officer, a conflicted application waits until a reviewer with no conflict can decide it. We do not issue certificates where the only available decision-maker is conflicted.
Documented decisions
Each decision, declaration and change of status is recorded with the person, date and rationale in a permanent internal record. Historical decisions are not edited after the fact; corrections are added as new entries.
Reviewing past certificates
Where a relationship is identified after a certificate was issued, the certificate is placed in a private independence review. That review is resolved only by a reviewer with no conflict, and its outcome is documented. A review is not, on its own, a finding of wrongdoing, and the public registry changes only if the certificate's status actually changes.
Fees and outcomes
Reviewer compensation does not depend on whether an applicant passes. The fee is published and set by organization size.
Appeals and complaints
Applicants can appeal a decision and anyone can complain about a certified organization's use of the badge. Where the program has a person available who did not take the original decision, they hear the appeal; where it does not, we say so in writing and set out the full reasons.
See also Complaints and appeals and Trust.
Ethicality is a private certification program operated by Ethicality Inc., a corporation incorporated in Ontario, Canada. An Ethicality Badge reflects an independent assessment of the AI-use practices an organization disclosed to us, against the published Ethicality AI Use Standard (EAUS), as at the assessment date. It does not certify compliance with any law.