Clause Proposal and Review Workflow

Formalizing the Lifecycle of Policy Logic—from Drafting to DAO Anchoring and Execution Eligibility

6.4.1 Why a Structured Clause Lifecycle is Necessary

In NSF, clauses are executable governance objects—like smart contracts—that encode logic for:

• Disaster response

• Financial disbursement

• Simulation enforcement

• Treaty compliance

• Credential issuance and revocation

Given their critical role, each clause must be:

• Drafted through authenticated processes

• Reviewed by credentialed participants

• Simulated and tested before activation

• Bound to governance and execution scopes

• Versioned, logged, and auditable across time

NSF introduces a Clause Lifecycle Workflow, governed entirely on-chain, with cryptographically signed transitions and governance hooks.

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6.4.2 Clause Lifecycle Stages

Each clause follows this lifecycle:

1. Draft

2. Simulate

3. Peer Review

4. DAO Proposal

5. Vote and Governance Anchoring

6. Activation

7. Monitoring / Revision / Deprecation

Each stage requires verifiable credentials, governance metadata, and simulation evidence to proceed.

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6.4.3 Clause Drafting

Drafting occurs in:

• DAO workspaces

• Treaty-authorized drafting bodies

• Proposal pipelines linked to CredentialDAOs

A draft includes:

• Clause logic (in DSL or executable DSL→IR format)

• Policy scope

• Required simulations and risk triggers

• Required credential types for execution

• Jurisdictional scope

• Version metadata

Example metadata:

{
  "clause_id": "[email protected]",
  "drafted_by": "did:nsf:org:UNDRR-DAO",
  "version": "3.1.0",
  "simulation_required": true,
  "jurisdictions": ["BGD", "IND"],
  "credential_requirements": ["Tier 2 DisasterOperatorVC"]
}

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6.4.4 Simulation Requirement and Clause-Gated Activation

Before governance approval, the clause must pass:

• Model validation from SimDAO

• Execution of forecast scenarios

• Bound output ranges

• Risk class thresholds (e.g., “trigger only if risk class > 0.85”)

Clause DSL includes simulation bindings:

if simulation("[email protected]").risk_score > 0.85 then trigger relief logic

Simulation VCs are attached to the clause as proof-of-fidelity.

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6.4.5 Peer Review and Governance Audit

Draft clauses are reviewed by:

• DAO Auditors

• Simulation Reviewers

• Policy Legitimacy Officers

• Treaty or Jurisdictional Delegates

Review process may include:

• ZK test suites

• TEE dry-run execution logs

• Disclosure compatibility checks

• Credential matching validators

• Dependency tree audits (credential + clause)

Reviews are cryptographically signed and attached to the draft payload.

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6.4.6 Proposal Submission and DAO Binding

Upon review:

• Draft is converted to a Proposal Object

• Assigned to a governing DAO (e.g., ClauseDAO)

• Credential oracles verify submitter authorization

• Quorum policy is loaded (from DAO metadata)

• DAO vote window begins

Proposal ID and hash are recorded in the Global Clause Registry.

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6.4.7 Voting and Anchoring

Voting uses the mechanics from Section 6.2:

• Role-weighted voting

• Quorum verification

• Public vote tally + zero-knowledge compatibility

• Vote logs anchored in Audit Layer

Upon approval:

• Clause hash becomes anchored to DAO governance ledger

• Clause transitions to status = "active"

• Execution environments accept the clause as valid logic

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6.4.8 Clause Activation and Usage

Active clauses are:

• Registered globally with clause hash

• Referenced by other clauses, simulations, and CAC pipelines

• Enforced by runtime environments with credential checks

• Subject to on-use audit and real-time logging

TEEs or ZK rollups use clause hash as primary fingerprint of governance logic.

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6.4.9 Revision, Forking, and Deprecation

Clauses may be:

• Revised: increment version (e.g., 3.1 → 3.1.1), require governance vote

• Forked: create new clause from prior base, new hash, new scope

• Deprecated: moved to archive, prevented from future use, replaced by successor

Governance metadata reflects transitions:

{
  "status": "deprecated",
  "superseded_by": "[email protected]",
  "deprecated_on": "2026-03-01"
}

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6.4.10 Clause Workflows as Machine-Legible Institutional Memory

Clause lifecycles turn NSF into:

• A composable operating system for law, policy, and AI

• A registry of testable, simulation-backed, and auditable governance actions

• A foundation for treaty enforcement and policy experimentation

• A scalable trust substrate across risk domains

Every clause is a living object, backed by verifiable input, simulated logic, credential governance, and institutional oversight—without centralized enforcement.