Defines how CAIBOK is governed as a certification body and how it safeguards the impartiality of its credentials. It is intentionally lean for launch, while built on the principles of ISO/IEC 17024 so it can support formal accreditation when CAIBOK is ready.
This framework establishes the bodies that govern CAIBOK, the division of authority between CAIBOK's management and its Board of Trustees, the rules that keep its certification and accreditation decisions impartial, and the processes for handling disputes and ensuring continuity. It governs the certification body itself; the standards by which individuals are certified are set out in the Certification Overview and the Assessment, Eligibility & Recertification Framework.
CAIBOK operates on six principles:
CAIBOK is governed through two bodies: a Board of Trustees, and an Impartiality Function drawn from it. At launch these may be small, and each can grow as CAIBOK does.
The Board of Trustees owns and maintains the certification scheme, and lends CAIBOK the industry expertise and credibility its credentials depend on.
Authority. The Board approves the competency framework, examination blueprints, pass marks and cut scores, the criteria for continuing-education accreditation, and any material change to certification standards or certification policy. It holds final authority over the content and integrity of the scheme. The Board's reserved authority is set out in Section 4.
Composition. Recognized chefs, culinary educators, restaurant and foodservice managers, employers, and industry figures. Composition must be balanced, so that no single interest — including CAIBOK's own commercial interest — can dominate. At least one member must be independent of CAIBOK's and Black Belt Chef's commercial activities, and the Board must include practising members of the profession CAIBOK certifies.
Meetings and decisions. The Board acts by majority of members present, with a quorum as set out in its terms of reference. Decisions and their rationale are minuted.
The technical review CAIBOK's certification work depends on — examination content and blueprints, and the review of continuing-education content for accreditation — is performed by qualified reviewers designated by pillar: Safety, Cooking, and Business.
Reviewers are drawn from the Board of Trustees where members hold the relevant expertise, and may also be qualified practitioners or educators engaged by CAIBOK for the purpose who are not Board members. A reviewer's competence for a pillar is documented.
Conflict rule. A reviewer may not review or approve content they authored or in which they hold a financial interest.
Safeguards the impartiality of CAIBOK's decisions and oversees the management of conflicts of interest — including those arising from the affiliate and commercial relationships described in the accreditation framework, and any matter in which Black Belt Chef or another CAIBOK affiliate has a financial interest.
Composition. Two or more members of the Board of Trustees, acting in this distinct capacity, together representing a balance of the interests CAIBOK touches — practising chefs, employers, training providers, and an independent or public voice. At least one member must be independent of CAIBOK's commercial activities.
Powers. Access to whatever information it needs, and authority to require corrective action where impartiality is at risk. It reviews the affiliate program periodically for conflicts, and reviews any decision in which a CAIBOK affiliate had an interest.
At launch this operates as a small standing function within the Board; for formal accreditation it would be constituted as a distinct impartiality committee.
CAIBOK is owned and operated as a commercial enterprise. This section defines what its management may decide and what it may not, so that commercial ownership never determines who holds a credential.
CAIBOK's President and management hold final authority over the operation of the business, including: budgets and expenditure; fees and pricing; commercial strategy; markets entered and products launched; staffing and engagement of personnel; marketing and communications; the brand and intellectual property; technology and platforms; partnerships and commercial agreements; and the legal and corporate structure of the organization.
Management may decline, defer, or limit an initiative of the Board on the grounds of cost, capacity, legal risk, or commercial strategy.
The following determinations rest with the Board of Trustees and may not be overruled, reversed, or directed by CAIBOK's management, its owners, or any commercial interest:
The President and any member of management or the Board recuses themselves from any determination under Section 4.2 in which Black Belt Chef, another CAIBOK affiliate, or the individual concerned has a financial interest. The Impartiality Function oversees such matters.
A decision taken under Section 4.2 is final within CAIBOK, subject only to the appeals process in Section 6. Management may change the scheme's direction, its funding, or its scope of operation; it may not change the outcome of a certification determination.
CAIBOK identifies, discloses, and manages conflicts of interest as follows:
A candidate or applicant may appeal a decision — an examination result, an eligibility determination, or an accreditation outcome. An appeal is reviewed by someone not involved in the original decision, and the outcome is given in writing. Appeals are determined under Section 4.2(b) and are not subject to commercial direction. CAIBOK also maintains a process for receiving and resolving complaints about its certifications, its certificants, or accredited content.
CAIBOK keeps records of its certification and accreditation decisions and of the Board's deliberations, protects candidate information in accordance with its privacy policy, and reviews this framework and the certification scheme at least annually, updating them as the profession and CAIBOK evolve. Superseded versions of this framework are retained and available on request.
CAIBOK's credentials are relied upon by certificants and employers over many years. The following provisions ensure that the scheme, and the ability to verify a credential, do not depend on any single individual.
8.1 Scheme continuity. The certification scheme is owned by the Board of Trustees (Section 4.2) and continues independently of any change in CAIBOK's management or ownership.
8.2 Deputy authority. CAIBOK designates a deputy — ordinarily the Chair of the Board of Trustees — who is authorized to make or oversee certification determinations and to act for CAIBOK if its President is unavailable or incapacitated.
8.3 Operational continuity. CAIBOK maintains emergency access arrangements for its certification platform, records, and registry, so that the register of certificants remains accessible and verifiable.
8.4 Cessation of operations. If CAIBOK ceases to operate, it will preserve the register of certificants and the record of credentials awarded, and will seek to transfer the register to another recognized body so that credentials already earned remain verifiable. CAIBOK maintains a documented cessation plan for this purpose.
This framework is deliberately lightweight for launch but structured to match what ISO/IEC 17024 expects of a body that certifies persons: a scheme owned and maintained with balanced participation from the interests it affects, decisions insulated from commercial pressure, competent reviewers, and defined appeals. When CAIBOK pursues formal accreditation, the bodies and rules above are already in place; what accreditation adds is greater documentation depth, a formally constituted impartiality committee, and independent external audit.