What’s New In Coretrustseal: Community-Led Requirement Updates For 2026–2028

CoreTrustSeal is an international, community-driven organization that promotes sustainable and trustworthy data infrastructures by providing a low-barrier, broadly applicable certification framework. Its requirements define a core level of trust for repositories committed to the long-term preservation of digital objects for their designated communities.

Every three years, CoreTrustSeal reviews and updates its certification requirements to reflect evolving practices and community expectations. The next version (v04.00) will apply to the 2026–2028 certification cycle. As with previous updates, the revision process is shaped by extensive community participation and peer feedback to ensure continued relevance and usability.

In summer 2025, the CoreTrustSeal Board released a draft of proposed changes for public consultation. The final requirements incorporate a wide range of community input and respond to perspectives shared during that process. This presentation will briefly describe the update process, summarize key revisions, and invite continued community engagement as CoreTrustSeal evolves to meet future stewardship needs.

For the 2026–2028 cycle, changes are intentionally limited to support stability for repositories. The most significant update clarifies the expectation of active preservation as a defining characteristic of trustworthy repositories. This shift is reflected in revised curation and preservation levels, informed by a CoreTrustSeal Board position paper. Rather than emphasizing the granularity of specific curation activities, the updated levels focus on the duration and continuity of care provided to digital objects across their lifecycle.

Additional clarifications refine guidance related to governance and resources, as well as provenance and authenticity, supporting clearer and more transparent certification applications.