# GOV-02 Agent Behavior Charter (Critical)

Domain: GOV Governance & Accountability · HI-AAF v1.3 · Public review · https://humanintel.net/standard/gov/gov-02

Each agent has a published Agent Behavior Charter documenting intended purpose, authorized scope, permitted tools and data, prohibited actions, escalation paths, and review cadence.

The Behavior Charter is the controlling document for an agent in production. It captures the agent's intended purpose, authorized scope, permitted tools and data sources, prohibited actions, escalation paths, and review cadence. It is the single artifact an assessor reviews first and the document against which all other controls are measured.

Critical control: a Critical failure precludes HI-AAF Certification regardless of the maturity level achieved on any other control.

## Maturity

- L1 Ad hoc: Controls exist informally; documentation is incomplete; no consistent review.
- L2 Documented: Controls are written down; ownership is assigned; review cadence is defined.
- L3 Operated: Controls are followed in practice; evidence is collected; deviations are tracked. Published criterion for GOV-02: Charter exists for every production agent, is version-controlled, has been reviewed within the documented cadence, and is referenced by the operating runbook and the pre-deployment test plan.
- L4 Measured: Control effectiveness is measured against documented thresholds; trends are reported.
- L5 Continuously Improved: Controls evolve based on incident learning; maturity gains are evidenced over time.

## Evidence an assessor asks for

- Charter exists for every production agent, is version-controlled, has been reviewed within the documented cadence, and is referenced by the operating runbook and the pre-deployment test plan.

## Framework mappings

- NIST AI RMF: GOVERN 1.4, MAP 1.1
- ISO/IEC 42001: A.4.2
- SOC 2 (TSC): CC2.1
- EU AI Act: Art. 9(1), Annex IV(1)
- Singapore: MAIGF Internal Governance, AI Verify Accountability

Mappings are directional: meeting this control evidences but does not by itself satisfy the external requirement.

## Related

- Cited by DAT-10 Memory architecture documentation: https://humanintel.net/standard/dat/dat-10
- Cited by OUT-15 Model availability & continuity: https://humanintel.net/standard/out/out-15
- Cited by MAS-01 Multi-agent topology documentation: https://humanintel.net/standard/mas/mas-01
- Glossary: Behavior Charter: https://humanintel.net/standard/glossary#behavior-charter

## Cite this control

Human Intelligence. HI-AAF v1.3, GOV-02 Agent Behavior Charter. Public review edition, July 2026. https://humanintel.net/standard/gov/gov-02