Certificate Policy — École Française de Création

Status: provisional staging draft — replace before real go-live > Aligned with: SPEC §19 (honest technical claims) > Owner: Registrar + Legal

1. Purpose

This policy governs issuance, verification, correction, reissue and revocation of ÉFC credentials.

2. Credential types

| Type | Meaning | |------|---------| | Attendance | Sufficient attendance on a short course | | Completion | Completion criteria met | | Professional | Assessed professional programme | | Diploma | Longer programme award rules |

The programme page states which type applies.

3. Issuance

Certificates are issued only when enrolment status is `completed` and registrar approval is recorded. Issuance creates an immutable snapshot of programme title, type, hours/ECTS (if any), campus, mode and outcomes.

4. Public verification

Anyone may verify a credential on the institution’s `/verify` page using the public code printed on the PDF:

`{ORG}-{PROG}-{YYYY}-{NNNNNN}[-V{n}]`

Example: `EFC-FDP-2026-000184`

### What verify shows

Status, official recipient name, programme title (snapshot), credential type, relevant dates, and links when superseded.

### What verify does not claim (honest disclosure)

- ÉFC does not currently claim cryptographic document signatures, blockchain anchoring, or third-party timestamping unless and until those controls are implemented and this policy is updated. - Verification authenticity is based on the institution’s system of record on its own domain (public code lookup + status).

5. QR codes

QR payloads encode the verification URL only (no PII in the QR payload). Changing `primary_domain` after print requires a migration plan.

6. Corrections & reissue

Name corrections follow registrar review. A reissue creates a new version (`-V{n}`); the previous code becomes `superseded` and points to the new code.

7. Revocation

The registrar may revoke a credential for cause (fraud, error, policy breach). Public verify shows `revoked`; an optional public reason may be displayed. Internal reasons are retained in audit logs.

8. Expiry

Most ÉFC credentials do not expire. If a programme enables expiry, verify returns `expired` after `expires_at`.

9. Retention

Credentials are never hard-deleted. Soft archival for UI filtering is allowed.

10. Contact

Registrar: registrar@staging.efc.example (provisional staging address)