Governance charter

Mission lock§

1. Sanad is non-profit. It has no token, no securities, no advertising.
2. The specification text is open (CC BY 4.0) and the reference code is Apache-2.0, which includes a patent grant.
3. Verifying a credential is always free.
4. Any surplus is spent on the mission.

Roles§

• Steward: Dr. Arash Kermani Kolankeh, interim. Holds the name, domains and repositories in trust for the future foundation.
• Second steward: being appointed. The name is published once the person has agreed in writing, together with a declaration of interests.
• Editor: writes and maintains the text. Interim: the steward.
• Log operator: serves the transparency log. Must not be the steward alone.
• Implementers: anyone who builds software to the specification.
• Attestors: independent assessors. They are never appointed by the steward.
• Ombudsperson: hears disputes about marks. To be appointed with the first real sittings.

Decisions§

• Proposals are made as public issues or requests for comments.
• A comment period of 14 days applies before a decision.
• Decisions are written down with their reasons.
• A change that alters the expected result of any test vector requires a new minor version.
• Vectors come before prose: where text and vectors disagree, the disagreement is a defect to be fixed.

Safeguards against capture§

A one-person start is a risk to the credibility of any standard. These rules reduce it:

• The steward does not hold the transparency-log signing keys alone. A key ceremony with at least two outside custodians (two of three) precedes the first public log.
• The log is operated by a second party.
• Stewards declare in public every relationship with organisations that take part, such as employment, ownership, management or a licence, including organisations that run assessment networks.
• No participating organisation receives special treatment in the specification or the vectors. This applies to the Kamangir project, which wrote the reference code and hosts the explainer for now: it has no privileged status in the specification, the vectors or the choice of attestors.

Sunset clause§

Before version 1.0 there must be at least three independent stewards from at least two regions. The steward then becomes one steward among equals. If this has not happened by 31 December 2028, the specification remains marked draft and the steward will transfer the name and domains to a neutral host chosen by the stewards.

Name and conformance mark§

The name is to be held by the foundation (interim: the steward, in trust). A trademark application will be filed by the steward himself; it has not been filed. Any implementation that passes the public vectors may say that it conforms to Sanad. The mark is free and never sold. See the intellectual property policy.

Succession§

A sealed instruction names a stand-by person who can transfer the domain, the repositories and the keys if the steward cannot act.

Money§

An annual public statement of income and spending. No pay-to-play: sponsors receive no influence over the text.

Contributions§

Contributions are signed off under the Developer Certificate of Origin. Contributions to the specification are made under the specification licence; code contributions under Apache-2.0.

Dissolution§

Assets pass to a non-profit organisation with a similar mission.