1 Purpose
This document establishes governance requirements for Public Identity Claims and Independence Rules within the defined Good Taste Awards standards system.
2 Scope
This document applies to the requirements, decisions, records, controls, and outputs expressly identified under Public Identity Claims and Independence Rules. Award scope and exclusions are defined by GTA-STD-100; this document shall not create an additional award dimension. Operational prerequisites identified here affect assessment validity and never constitute product certification.
3 Authority and interpretation
The Standards Authority owns GTA-GOV-006; the Standards Authority approves it. formal verbs, defined terms, stable requirement identities, policy constants, and generated representations shall be interpreted under GTA-GOV-002, GTA-GOV-005, and the defined registers.
3.1 Registered relationships
| Relationship | Direction | Related document |
|---|---|---|
governs_claims_in | outbound | GTA-STD-500 |
governed_by | outbound | GTA-GOV-001 |
4 Requirements
GTA-GOV-006-R001 — Independent identity
The Standards Authority shall present the standards, method, decisions, and marks as defined solely by Good Taste Awards.
GTA-GOV-006-R002 — External identity exclusion
The Standards Authority shall exclude the name, mark, endorsement, or implied authority of another organization from published standards.
GTA-GOV-006-R003 — Commercial separation
The Standards Authority shall prevent fees, sponsorship, advertising, entrant importance, and commercial relationships from affecting assessment or result.
GTA-GOV-006-R004 — Assessor identity
The Standards Authority shall prohibit an assessor from representing an employer, client, association, or commercial interest during assessment.
GTA-GOV-006-R005 — Public wording
The Standards Authority shall limit statements to the exact taste-only product result and approved method description.
GTA-GOV-006-R006 — Evidence claims
The Standards Authority shall require a traceable result object and confirmed product scope for every star claim.
GTA-GOV-006-R007 — Comparative claims
The Standards Authority shall require a separate established quantitative substantiation route and prohibit inference or post-result conversion from an ordinary award result.
GTA-GOV-006-R008 — Misrepresentation
The Standards Authority shall correct, suspend, or withdraw wording or marks that imply unsupported certification, ranking, universality, or endorsement.
5 Independence controls
| Influence source | Required separation | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Entrant | no assessor selection, score access, panel contact, confirmation participation, or result authorization | communication and access record |
| Fee or commercial relationship | no effect on acceptance criteria, assessment route, thresholds, comment, result, or review | financial-separation declaration and decision trace |
| Sponsor or advertiser | no method authority, product influence, panel influence, or preferential publication | authority and publication record |
| Assessor affiliation | individual participation only; no representation of an employer, client, association, or commercial interest | conflict declaration and assignment clearance |
| Internal commercial function | no access capable of influencing blind identity, locked responses, calculation, or confirmation | role and access review |
| External identity | no name, mark, endorsement, approval, or implied authority in published standards | publication and identity review |
6 Public claim authority
| Claim class | Ordinary award authority | Required condition |
|---|---|---|
| Exact product received a named star level | authorized | active result, exact product scope, approved phrase, and permitted mark state |
| Exact product was assessed under the Good Taste Awards method | authorized | traceable valid assessment and accurate method wording |
| Product has an confirmed evidence-supported comment | authorized | final comment and publication authorization |
| Product family, range, reformulation, or different market equivalent | not authorized | separate scope evidence and explicit authorization required |
| More liked, preferred, superior, equivalent, non-inferior, unsurpassed, best within a defined set, or ranked | not confirmed by an ordinary result | separate established quantitative comparative substantiation required |
| Universally delicious or representative of all consumers | prohibited | incompatible with the defined target-population and small-panel inference boundary |
| Health, nutrition, safety, sustainability, value, or broader certification | prohibited as an award implication | outside award scope |
The exact product name, variant, format, preparation scope, market scope, star level, phrase, comment, mark, and verification reference shall agree with the active publication object. A qualifying statement shall be displayed with the claim where omission could broaden meaning.
An ordinary award result is product_specific_noncomparative_recognition. Where several products are served in one session, each product remains an independent monadic assessment object. Cross-product score ordering, a difference between award outcomes, or a difference between publication indexes shall not be represented as evidence that one product is preferred to another.
A separate comparative route shall define, before participant exposure, exact_claim_wording, primary_endpoint, relevant_population, comparator_set, product_and_sample_representation, sample_size_and_decision_risk, blind_presentation_and_order_design, analysis_method, unambiguous_decision_criteria, evidence_strength_and_challenge_risk. Ordinary award records may support that route only where the separate route and its intended claim were confirmed before exposure and the records satisfy every applicable design requirement. Post-result selection of products, endpoints, thresholds, comparators, or wording is prohibited.
7 Misuse response
Suspected misuse shall be captured with the statement or asset, channel, product scope, publisher, evidence, affected result, and apparent consequence. The Data and Publication Custodian shall classify factual correction, scope correction, mark restriction, suspension, withdrawal, or escalation. The former publication evidence shall be preserved.
Correction shall be proportionate to the public meaning at risk and shall not imply that a product failed an excluded construct. Restoration requires verified correction, current result authority, current product scope, and renewed publication authorization.
8 Conformity and records
Conformity with Public Identity Claims and Independence Rules requires evidence comprising the source evidence, defined decision, accountable role, and independent or automated verification. The record for each applicable GTA-GOV-006 requirement shall permit reconstruction without relying on an unrecorded explanation.
Evidence created under GTA-GOV-006 shall use stable identifiers, immutable event sequence numbers, and machine event timestamps. A correction shall be append-only. A nonconformity shall place the affected object in a non-releasable state until its consequence and confirmed disposition are recorded. Role combination remains subject to the mandatory separation rules.