RCE-IAS-001 — Irreversibility in Identity & Access Systems — Evidentiary Record and Recoverability-Admissibility Analysis

This publication constitutes a formal evidentiary record analysing irreversibility in identity and access systems under the Recoverability-Constrained Systems framework.

The record establishes that identity and access systems function as root dependency systems, where failure propagates across healthcare, finance, legal, research, education, and public service domains.

The core admissibility condition is:

A system may act only while recoverability can be established in time under real conditions as sufficient to prevent irreversible transition.

Where identity or access is restricted, suspended, or terminated without a bounded and executable recovery pathway, the system produces institutional irreversibility and operates in a non-admissible state.

This record includes:

• formal domain definition of identity and access systems  
• admissibility condition derived from CE-001 through CE-006  
• irreversibility classification (institutional, informational, economic, legal, research)  
• seven real-world global case analyses (India Aadhaar, Kenya Huduma Namba, US ID.me, UK Post Office Horizon, platform account suspension, university disciplinary case, digital benefits systems)  
• cross-case execution kernel assessment  
• required admissibility standard for identity systems  
• anchor case: research platform account termination without bounded recovery (DOI-linked evidence)

Across all documented cases, the same structural failure is identified:

Identity or access restriction proceeds without verification of recoverability, and irreversible consequences propagate across dependent systems before correction is possible.

The record concludes that:

No identity or access system should execute suspension, deletion, denial, deactivation, or exclusion unless identity, evidence, appeal, restoration, and re-entry remain recoverable in time under real conditions.

This document is structured for regulatory, institutional, and legal evaluation and is intended for submission to data protection authorities, digital services regulators, research infrastructure operators, financial regulators, and judicial bodies.

All admissibility conditions derive exclusively from the Recoverability-Constrained Systems Master Index.

Author: Noelia Sánchez  
Date: 28 April 2026  
Framework: Recoverability-Constrained Systems  
Master Index DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19583410