WAGECODE and CWSO Authority are not the same layer.
WAGECODE is the public, implementation-independent protocol specification. CWSO Authority is an operational runtime and institutional-engagement layer maintained for the current WAGECODE public pathway.
WAGECODE and CWSO Authority are related, but they are not the same entity layer.
WAGECODE is the protocol authority for governed wage state. It defines how wage meaning may be structured as computable, evidence-linked, policy-bound, issuer-scoped and replayable wage-state information.
CWSO Authority is the operational runtime layer. It applies WAGECODE through governed wage engagement, diagnostic pathways, artefact issuance, verification posture and institutional interaction.
WAGECODE: protocol authority
WAGECODE defines the protocol boundary for governed wage-state meaning.
Its role is to establish the controlled conditions under which wage information may be represented, computed, evidenced, referenced, replayed and interpreted within declared boundaries.
WAGECODE does not operate every institutional workflow. It defines the protocol basis on which governed wage-state meaning can be structured.
CWSO Authority: operational runtime
CWSO Authority operationalises WAGECODE through the governed wage runtime maintained for the current WAGECODE public pathway.
The runtime layer supports practical engagement with institutions, including diagnostic pathways, wage-state review, governed artefact issuance, verification posture, reliance boundaries and institutional interaction.
CWSO Authority is therefore not a replacement for WAGECODE. It is the operational layer maintained for the current WAGECODE public pathway through which WAGECODE-based governed wage engagement is applied.
Protocol / Runtime Map
What the relationship does not mean
The relationship does not mean that WAGECODE is merely a CWSO Authority product page.
It does not mean that CWSO Authority owns the protocol meaning of WAGECODE.
It does not mean that WAGECODE replaces legal, regulatory, audit, credit, insurance, funding, bargaining or adjudicative judgment.
It does not mean that CWSO Authority determines, promises or controls institutional outcomes.
The relationship means that WAGECODE defines the protocol boundary and CWSO Authority applies that boundary through governed runtime pathways.
Implementation independence
WAGECODE's normative semantics are not reserved to CWSO Authority or to any single implementation. A third-party implementation may claim WAGECODE conformance only where it satisfies the applicable version-bound, level-bound and scope-bound requirements. Conformance and intellectual-property authorisation are separate questions.
Implementation independence and intellectual-property boundary
Nothing in WAGECODE's implementation-independent posture or conformance framework grants or implies a licence to CWSO Authority proprietary runtime assets. Any use of CWSO Authority runtime technology, software, engines, methods, workflows, artefacts, documentation, marks, technical know-how or other protected assets must occur under an applicable licence or other lawful authority.
A WAGECODE conformance claim does not, by itself, authorise such use, confer authority to issue CWSO Authority artefacts, or imply affiliation with, endorsement by, or runtime equivalence to CWSO Authority. Conversely, permission to use a CWSO Authority asset does not, by itself, establish WAGECODE conformance.