Status: Normative
This document defines the normative requirements for conformance with Accountable Entities (AE).
AE is a downstream specification that conforms to Structural Explainability (SE). All SE neutrality constraints apply.
AE defines an accountability-facing structural projection of SE profile kinds. AE does not define new identity regimes, persistence rules, transformation semantics, interpretation, governance authority, or enforcement.
Keywords MUST, MUST NOT, SHOULD, and MAY are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119.
Use of terms such as "canonical" denotes structural role only and does not imply epistemic, causal, or normative preference.
This specification does not prescribe editorial structure, terminology preference, or documentation layout beyond identifier semantics.
Some requirements describe what accountable entity structures MAY represent, while others constrain how such representations MUST NOT be interpreted.
Overlap between these classes is intentional: representation permissions do not imply explanatory, epistemic, causal, normative, authoritative, or enforcement commitment.
Each requirement in this document is identified by a stable identifier
of the form AE.*.
Identifiers are the sole normative reference for conformance. Textual wording MAY be clarified over time without changing meaning; any change that alters the requirement MUST result in a new identifier.
Renaming, reordering, or relocating identifiers constitutes a semantic change and is therefore intentionally diff-visible.
Repository paths, filenames, and section ordering are non-normative and do not affect identifier meaning.
Any system claiming conformance with this specification MUST also conform to the Structural Explainability (SE) specification.
AE MUST NOT weaken, override, or reinterpret any SE neutrality constraints.
Accountable Entities defines a closed accountability-facing set of entity kinds that map to upstream SE profile kinds.
AE defines accountable entity kinds as structural classifications only.
AE does not define:
- new identity regimes
- new persistence rules
- new transformation semantics
- domain vocabularies
- interpretation semantics
- governance authority
- legitimacy
- obligation
- enforcement
Accountable entity kinds inherit identity-and-persistence behavior from their corresponding upstream SE profile kinds.
Any extension to the accountable entity kind set in a future version MUST satisfy all of the following criteria:
- conformance with Structural Explainability
- explicit mapping to upstream SE profile-kind structure
- demonstration that the new kind cannot be represented as a specialization, composition, or interpretation of an existing accountable entity kind
- neutrality with respect to epistemic, causal, normative, authoritative, legitimacy-bearing, obligation-bearing, and enforcement interpretation
- explicit versioning under a new major version of this specification
Failure to meet any criterion renders the extension inadmissible.
Extension of the accountable entity kind set is permitted only in a new major version of this specification.
No extension is permitted within AE v1.
Each accountable entity kind MUST map to exactly one upstream SE profile kind.
The upstream SE profile kind determines identity-and-persistence behavior.
AE MUST NOT redefine:
- identity regimes
- profile kinds
- persistence outcomes
- transformation behavior
- identity relevance
- identity preservation
- identity breakage
Mappings MUST be structurally explicit and interpretation-neutral.
The set of accountable entity kinds defined by AE v1 is closed.
All conforming systems MUST classify each accountable entity into exactly one defined accountable entity kind.
No conforming system MAY classify one accountable entity into multiple AE kinds or into no AE kind.
AE v1 defines exactly nine accountable entity kinds.
No additional accountable entity kinds are permitted for conformance.
The nine accountable entity kinds correspond to the nine upstream SE profile kinds used by AE v1.
The AE.KIND.PER.CTX_E accountable entity kind is defined explicitly.
It maps exactly to the upstream CTX_E profile kind.
The identifier is structural. It MUST NOT be interpreted as defining domain meaning, epistemic authority, legal status, social role, or enforcement effect.
The AE.KIND.PER.CTX_S accountable entity kind is defined explicitly.
It maps exactly to the upstream CTX_S profile kind.
The identifier is structural. It MUST NOT be interpreted as defining domain meaning, epistemic authority, legal status, social role, or enforcement effect.
The AE.KIND.PER.ENR_I accountable entity kind is defined explicitly.
It maps exactly to the upstream ENR_I profile kind.
The identifier is structural. It MUST NOT be interpreted as defining domain meaning, epistemic authority, legal status, social role, or enforcement effect.
The AE.KIND.PER.ENR_L accountable entity kind is defined explicitly.
It maps exactly to the upstream ENR_L profile kind.
The identifier is structural. It MUST NOT be interpreted as defining domain meaning, epistemic authority, legal status, social role, or enforcement effect.
The AE.KIND.PER.NOR_C accountable entity kind is defined explicitly.
It maps exactly to the upstream NOR_C profile kind.
The identifier is structural. It MUST NOT be interpreted as defining domain meaning, epistemic authority, legal status, social role, or enforcement effect.
The AE.KIND.PER.NOR_S accountable entity kind is defined explicitly.
It maps exactly to the upstream NOR_S profile kind.
The identifier is structural. It MUST NOT be interpreted as defining domain meaning, epistemic authority, legal status, social role, or enforcement effect.
The AE.KIND.PER.OBL accountable entity kind is defined explicitly.
It maps exactly to the upstream OBL profile kind.
The identifier is structural. It MUST NOT be interpreted as defining domain meaning, epistemic authority, legal status, social role, or enforcement effect.
The AE.KIND.PER.OCC accountable entity kind is defined explicitly.
It maps exactly to the upstream OCC profile kind.
The identifier is structural. It MUST NOT be interpreted as defining domain meaning, epistemic authority, legal status, social role, or enforcement effect.
The AE.KIND.PER.REC accountable entity kind is defined explicitly.
It maps exactly to the upstream REC profile kind.
The identifier is structural. It MUST NOT be interpreted as defining domain meaning, epistemic authority, legal status, social role, or enforcement effect.
This specification does not define:
- domain vocabularies
- behavioral models
- causal explanations
- epistemic evaluation
- authority
- legitimacy
- obligation
- normative judgment or enforcement
- exchange or interaction mechanisms
- governance, approval, or lifecycle rules
- contextual evidence, explanation, or attestation interfaces
- new identity regimes
- new persistence rules
- new transformation semantics
These concerns are explicitly out of scope.