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§ I · Domain SPC · Control 4 of 9
Control
SPC-04
Edition
v.1.3
Status
Public review

SPC · Agent Specification & Pre-Deployment Assurance

SPC-04Policy alignment testing

Policy alignment testing confirms the agent refuses out-of-scope, prohibited, and adversarial requests in line with the Behavior Charter.

The agent is tested specifically against the negative-behavior and escalation-behavior sections of its Behavior Charter. Policy alignment testing confirms the agent refuses out-of-scope requests, rejects prohibited actions, and escalates appropriately when faced with adversarial inputs designed to push it outside its operating envelope.

Table SPC-04.1 · Maturity criteria · v.1.3

L1 to L5 · the lowest level in scope caps the agent
L1Ad hoc

Controls exist informally; documentation is incomplete; no consistent review.

L2Documented

Controls are written down; ownership is assigned; review cadence is defined.

L3Operated

Controls are followed in practice; evidence is collected; deviations are tracked.

Policy alignment test suite exists and covers all prohibited and escalation categories defined in the Behavior Charter; results are recorded; failures are tracked through remediation.

L4Measured

Control effectiveness is measured against documented thresholds; trends are reported.

L5Continuously Improved

Controls evolve based on incident learning; maturity gains are evidenced over time.

The v1.3 edition publishes a control-specific criterion at L3 (Operated). The other levels apply the general ladder to this control; see the maturity ladder.

Evidence an assessor asks for

  1. E.1

    Policy alignment test suite exists and covers all prohibited and escalation categories defined in the Behavior Charter.

  2. E.2

    Results are recorded.

  3. E.3

    Failures are tracked through remediation.

Table SPC-04.2 · Framework mappings

5 of 7 frameworks carry a control-level reference
NIST AI RMFMEASURE 2.6NIST AI Risk Management Framework 1.0
ISO/IEC 42001A.6.2.4ISO/IEC 42001:2023 · Artificial intelligence management system
OWASP LLM Top 10·OWASP Top 10 for Large Language Model Applications
SOC 2 (TSC)CC5.2AICPA Trust Services Criteria for SOC 2 Type II
EU AI ActArt. 9(7)EU AI Act · Regulation (EU) 2024/1689
MITRE ATLAS·MITRE ATLAS · Adversarial Threat Landscape for AI Systems
SingaporeMAIGF Testing & Assurance, AI Verify SafetySingapore Model AI Governance Framework / AI Verify / PDPA

Mappings are directional: meeting this control evidences but does not by itself satisfy the external requirement. A middle dot means no control-level reference is published at this edition; see the crosswalk.

Cite this control

Human Intelligence. HI-AAF v1.3, SPC-04 Policy alignment testing. Public review edition, July 2026. https://humanintel.net/standard/spc/spc-04

Edition v.1.3 · July 2026 · Public review · Markdown · PDF

https://humanintel.net/standard/spc/spc-04

Notice

HI-AAF v1.3 is an independent framework published by Human Intelligence. It is not affiliated with NIST, ISO, AICPA, or any government or accreditation body. The framework is offered openly for review during the current draft cycle.