What a destruction certificate actually says

A certificate records what was destroyed. It does not claim that every copy everywhere is gone, and it will not say so.

What it covers

• Which exact documents were in the approved batch, by their content fingerprints.
• Who proposed it, who approved it and who carried it out. Three different people.
• What actually happened to each one: destroyed, failed, or unknown.
• What copies remain, including encrypted backups, and when those expire.

Why "unknown" appears

Storage systems sometimes accept a deletion and never confirm it. LEAT records that as unknown rather than assuming it worked, and somebody follows it up.

A batch with an unresolved item is not certified as complete. It stays open.

Why the backup line is there

Deleting a document does not reach into backups taken before the deletion. Those age out under the backup policy, which the certificate names. A certificate that claimed otherwise would be claiming something LEAT cannot show.