HEART Verification Credential

An HVC communicates an authorized HEART conformity decision for a precisely identified subject and scope. It does not create truth, legal approval, safety, accreditation, or scientific validity beyond the underlying evidence and authority.

What an HVC identifies

credential subject and certified scope;
applicable sources and Profile versions;
verified conditions and determination summary;
implicated Axiom states;
evidence period and references;
methods and responsible authorities;
assurance basis;
qualifications, exclusions, limitations, and uncertainty;
issue, validity, surveillance, and material-change terms; and
Registry and supersession references.

No universal tier or score

HVC v4.0 has no universal Gold, Silver, Bronze, Phi, or BGF meaning. A score may appear only where the governing requirement and verification rule make it valid, and it cannot compensate for an unsatisfied requirement or violated Axiom.

Credential and Registry are different

The credential carries the decision. The Registry resolves current status, lineage, corrections, suspension, withdrawal, expiry, and supersession. Cryptographic validity and Registry status are necessary trust signals where applicable, but neither independently proves present conformity.

Technical profile

HVC semantics are separated from the HVC W3C Verifiable Credential Technical Profile v1.0, which governs interoperable representation and proof. A technical proof is evidence about a credential; it does not expand the decision’s meaning.

Production gate

Production issuance requires authorized bodies and issuers, an active technical profile, versioned contexts and schemas, tested key management, privacy and security review, operational Registry services, interoperability testing, and recovery/continuity controls. No current HVC should be inferred from a legacy example or a specification alone.