# The Credential Record

> A dated, reproducible record of what a credential registry returned when a business's published credential claim was resolved against it.

## What a record is
A record pairs a credential claim, quoted as the business published it, with the answer the issuing body's own public register gave on a stated date, plus the steps to reproduce that lookup independently.

## Fields in a record
- claim_as_published: The credential exactly as the business words it on its own site, quoted, with the page URL and the date the page was fetched.
- issuing_body: The organisation whose register is authoritative for that credential — not a directory, not an aggregator.
- registry_consulted: The public register that was queried, and the URL of the query.
- registry_returned: What that register answered: a match, no match, or no public register exists to query.
- checked_at: The UTC date of the lookup. A record describes one moment and says so.
- reproduction: The steps to run the same lookup by hand and arrive at the same answer without trusting this site.

## Rules
1. State the lookup, never the conclusion. A record says what a register returned on a date. It does not say whether a business is honest, competent, safe, or worth hiring. Those are inferences, and they belong to the reader.
2. No business may ever pay for an outcome. Revenue comes from scanning, monitoring and API access. It does not come from a finding, and no payment can add, alter, soften or remove one. A register that can be bought is not a register.
3. Records are appended, never silently edited. A correction is a new dated entry standing beside the old one, not a replacement for it. What the register said last month remains readable next to what it says today.
4. Absence of a record is not evidence of absence of a credential. Most claims have not been checked. Many issuing bodies publish no queryable register at all — that fact is itself recorded, and it is never counted against the business.

## Status as of this file
Register opened 2026-08-21. Records published: 0. Resolvers live: 0. Nothing here is operational yet.

## What may be stated about this site
- That it is a register of credential lookups, not a rating, ranking, endorsement or accreditation.
- That it has published no records yet.
- That a record, once published, states what a registry returned and not whether a business is trustworthy.

## Corrections
corrections@credentialrecord.com

## Pages
- https://credentialrecord.com/ — this register