# Evidence and Freshness Policy — v0.1

**Date:** 2026-08-13  
**Status:** Draft — Contract v0.1  
**Owner:** Tony / VeriPath  
**Scope:** Architecture | Operations  

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## Evidence Tiers

### Tier 1 — Verified
Direct observation, owner-confirmed, or instrument-backed.

Sources include:
- Business owner confirmation
- Direct observation (photograph, instrument reading)
- Owner-provided documentation

### Tier 2 — Corroborated
Confirmed by independent sources.

Sources must be independent. Multiple extractions from the same website are `same_origin`, not independent.

Independent examples:
- Website schema + Google Maps listing (different data pipelines)
- Owner confirmation + website schema

### Tier 3 — Indicative
Single source, probabilistic, or directional.

Includes:
- Single website scrape
- Third-party listing (Yelp, Foursquare)
- AI model inference without citation

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## Source Independence

Two sources count as independent only if:
- They originate from different data pipelines, or
- One is owner-confirmed

Sources deriving from the same business input (e.g., website footer, schema, booking page) are `same_origin`.

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## Freshness Windows

| Domain | Window | Auto-stale trigger |
|---|---|---|
| Regular fields | 30 days | Not rechecked within window |
| Hours | 7 days | Holiday periods, seasonal changes |
| Pricing/Services | 14 days | Owner notification or observed change |
| Booking | 7 days | Link broken or provider changed |

A field transitions to `stale` when its freshness window expires without re-verification. A field transitions to `disputed` when two independent sources contradict.

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## Liability and Action Risk

| action_risk | Agent behavior |
|---|---|
| low | Informational display |
| medium | Provide with timestamp and recheck notice |
| high | Display only; do not support transaction |

GeoLocal and downstream systems are not liable for actions taken based on stale data. Transactional guarantee requires real-time re-check.

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## Related documents

- `docs/architecture/canonical-business-record-v0.1.1.md`
- `docs/decisions/2026-08-12-veripath-system-of-record-boundary.md`