Badge and Certification Criteria

PawPass badges, certificates, trust scores, and awards are platform signals. They are not government certifications, ADA determinations, legal findings, legal endorsements, or guarantees of future behavior.

The PawPass Certified badge may be available to eligible businesses that maintain an active Certified subscription, complete Service Animal Access Fundamentals, satisfy annual review requirements, and remain in good standing with PawPass platform rules. Certified includes visibility and engagement tools for the certification year. Service Animal Access Fundamentals access is a Certified feature, not an Access Ready feature. Certification applies only to the paid certification year and expires at the end of that year unless the business renews Certified.

Access Ready indicates that a business has access to ongoing visibility, profile, review, analytics, and engagement tools through an active eligible subscription. It does not include training materials, certification status, or a legal determination that the business complies with all laws.

Certified is reviewed on a yearly cycle. At the end of a Certified service year, the Certified badge, certification status, and certification certificates expire unless the business renews Certified. A business may renew Certified if it wants continued certification review and Certified badge eligibility, or step down to Access Ready for ongoing visibility, review tools, analytics, and access reporting without training access or the Certified badge.

Access Excellence is a yearly admin-awarded recognition for businesses with strong PawPass community ratings, generally requiring a 4.7 or higher rating, review history, no unresolved serious access concerns, and admin review. The award should include the award year and may expire or be reassessed annually.

PawPass may pause, remove, downgrade, or withhold badges, awards, certificates, or trust signals when a subscription ends, a payment becomes past due, training expires, a serious access concern is under review, platform rules are violated, or information appears inaccurate.

Businesses may display PawPass badges or certificates only while they are active, accurate, and authorized by PawPass. Businesses may not alter badges, imply government approval, imply legal compliance guarantees, or use expired or revoked credentials.