Independence safeguards
Controls affiliations, referrals, commercial relationships, and other vendor ties that could create actual or perceived pressure on certification scope or outcomes.
Controlling public principle
Clause5afe may not profit from steering certification clients toward a remediation vendor, implementation provider, tool, or other commercial relationship that could influence scope or outcome.
Governing test
Every vendor and commercial relationship is evaluated for whether a reasonable, informed third party could question Clause5afe impartiality. Revenue, growth, convenience, sponsorship, or partnership value does not override that test.
Prohibitions
Clause5afe may not accept referral, reseller, affiliate, revenue-sharing, co-selling, white-label, or similar compensation for steering a certification client to implementation, remediation, readiness, or vendor services. Other commercial relationships that do not create that economic loop still require documented independence review when they overlap with a certification subject, client, compliance tool, investor interest, or adjacent certification program.
Permitted operations
Standard software, infrastructure, legal, accounting, conference, open-source, and professional-service relationships may be permissible when they do not create certification influence. They are still registered and escalated when client overlap or another threat appears.
Register and escalation
The Vendor Affiliation Register records the relationship type, consideration, client overlap, independence assessment, mitigation, approval state, and review date. Direct overlap with the certification pipeline triggers suspension or escalation while the conflict is reviewed.
Board oversight
The Board reviews material or prohibited categories, may impose information barriers and recusals, and may direct termination when a relationship compromises or appears to compromise certification independence.
Authority boundary
Clause5afe can purchase ordinary tools and services and participate in standards work. It cannot turn certification into a channel for selling, recommending, or validating the work of an affiliated vendor.
Controlled information
Connected governance
