Requirement
4.2.1.5. A signed-off requirement has been met and CANNOT be rescinded
Required Often forgotten
Once a Scout has been tested and signed off by someone approved to do so, the requirement has been met and cannot be rescinded. Not by a later unit leader, not by a board of review, not by the person who signed it.
Notes and warnings
Warning. The 2025 edition added the words "and cannot be rescinded" to this sentence, and lists the addition among its significant changes at 1.0.3.0. If your copy of the rule stops at "the requirement has been met", it is the earlier edition.
Note. It binds everybody, in both directions. A new Scoutmaster inheriting a troop cannot unpick a predecessor's sign-offs, and a board of review cannot decline a rank on the ground that it doubts one. The remedy for a badly run sign-off is the accountability below, applied before the next one.
What this is made of
Where this step comes from
- Guide to Advancement (2025), Section 4.2.1.5 · Once tested and signed off by someone approved to do so, the requirement has been met and cannot be rescinded.
- Guide to Advancement (2025), Section 1.0.3.0 · The 2025 edition's significant changes, which record the addition of "and cannot be rescinded" at 4.2.1.2.