STD-02 — Contestability & Recourse

Related explainers

Use these short explainers when translating the obligations for policy or product teams.

Article I: The Right to Notice & Reasons

“No decision shall be final without specific, actionable reasons.”

1. §1.1 Decision Objects: Every automated decision must produce a decision object containing reason codes, evidence sources, and scope boundaries.

2. §1.2 Plain Language: Reasons must be written in language a layperson can understand. Legalese and internal codes are insufficient.

3. §1.3 Immediate Availability: Reasons must be available at the moment of decision. Deferred explanation is not compliance.

Article II: The Right to an Appeal Path

“The decision surface must include the appeal entry point.”

1. §2.1 Accessible Intake: The appeal path must be reachable directly from the decision notification or interface.

2. §2.2 Named Authority: The appeal path must identify the accountable authority with reversal power.

3. §2.3 Binding Deadlines: Appeal deadlines must be published, time-bound, and enforced.

Article III: The Right to a Review Clock

“Unbounded review is a governance failure.”

1. §3.1 Declared Maximum: Every review process must declare a maximum duration.

2. §3.2 Auto-Escalation: When the clock expires without resolution, the case must auto-escalate to a higher authority or default to reversal.

3. §3.3 Interim Protections: While review is pending, the affected party must receive provisional protection (continued access, status quo, safe fallback).

Article IV: The Right to Remedy & Reversal

“Reversal restores; compensation acknowledges.”

1. §4.1 Reversal as Default: Upheld appeals result in reversal of the contested decision unless safety criteria explicitly prohibit it.

2. §4.2 Automatic Compensation: Wrongful harm triggers automatic credits, fee waivers, or restitution without requiring a separate claim.

3. §4.3 Verified Delivery: Remedy delivery is tracked with timestamps and verified by the affected party.

Article V: The Right to Evidence & Accountability

“If it isn’t logged, it didn’t happen.”

1. §5.1 Decision Receipts: Every decision emits a receipt with timestamp, owner, and decision object reference.

2. §5.2 Outcome Transparency: Appeal passage rates and reversal rates are published and used to improve decisions.

3. §5.3 Audit Trails: Audit trails link decisions to evidence, reviewers, and outcomes for every contested case.