diff --git a/docs/statistics/method-catalogue-v1-draft.md b/docs/statistics/method-catalogue-v1.md
similarity index 64%
rename from docs/statistics/method-catalogue-v1-draft.md
rename to docs/statistics/method-catalogue-v1.md
index b96c4ec2..c9d002a5 100644
--- a/docs/statistics/method-catalogue-v1-draft.md
+++ b/docs/statistics/method-catalogue-v1.md
@@ -1,11 +1,25 @@
 <!-- SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-SA-4.0 -->
 
-# Bounded method catalogue, v1 — DRAFT for owner approval
+# Bounded method catalogue, v1
 
-**Status: DRAFT. Not approved, not implemented.** Issue #1 requires the bounded
+**Status: APPROVED on 2026-09-22; not yet implemented.** Issue #1 requires the bounded
 catalogue and its supported/unsupported conditions to be approved *before* methods are
-implemented. This document is the artefact to approve or amend, not a claim that the
-catalogue is settled.
+implemented. This is that approval.
+
+**What was approved, and by whom.** The repository owner (Jonathan D.A. Jewell,
+`@hyperpolymath`) approved this catalogue **without amendment** on 2026-09-22. The file
+was named `method-catalogue-v1-draft.md` until then; the text is the text that was
+approved, and renaming it records the decision rather than altering it.
+
+**Approval covers**: the v1 scope (items 1–3 below), the per-method publication list as
+the acceptance gate for each method, and the reading that a descriptive summary is the
+correct default whenever the information needed for valid inference is missing.
+
+**Approval does not cover**: item 4 (exact statistical tests, tracked separately in #3),
+any method not listed here, or the symbolic work (#2), which remains blocked pending this
+layer's validation. Approval is of *scope and gate*, not of method behaviour — each
+method still publishes its supported/unsupported conditions before it is implemented, and
+nothing is implemented merely by appearing in this list.
 
 ## What is already in the application
 
@@ -20,7 +34,7 @@ means something specific.
 | NMDS ordination | `src/analysis/analysis.jl` | distance matrix | vegan, via the locked R runtime |
 | PERMANOVA | `src/analysis/analysis.jl` | distance matrix + grouping | vegan; exchangeability of the permutation units is the standing caveat |
 
-## Proposed v1 additions, in dependency order
+## v1 scope, in dependency order (approved)
 
 1. **Descriptive summaries at exact precision** — counts and proportions as exact
    integers/rationals. No inference claimed. Depends only on `numeric_policy.jl`,
@@ -56,16 +70,20 @@ Every method above will publish, before implementation:
 ## Explicitly not claimed
 
 - No Poisson/negative-binomial or binomial/beta-binomial model is approved by this
-  draft for sequencing data; both are candidates requiring review, not defaults.
+  catalogue for sequencing data; both are candidates requiring review, not defaults.
 - "Nonparametric" is a class of methods, not a universal safe distribution and not an
   assumption-free alternative. Exchangeability still has to be argued.
 - No method is selected by a normality test or by which p-value looks favourable, and
   no method is switched silently.
 - Higher precision is not exactness (see `numeric-contracts.md`).
 
-## What approval is being asked for
+## What approval was given (2026-09-22)
 
-1. The v1 scope above (items 1–3; item 4 stays deferred).
-2. The per-method publication list as the acceptance gate for each method.
-3. The reading that a descriptive summary is the correct default whenever the
+1. ✅ The v1 scope above (items 1–3; item 4 stays deferred to #3).
+2. ✅ The per-method publication list as the acceptance gate for each method.
+3. ✅ The reading that a descriptive summary is the correct default whenever the
    information needed for valid inference is missing.
+
+The next method in the list may now be implemented, and only against these terms. Each
+implementation PR carries that method's published conditions, its known-answer and
+independent-reference evidence, and its negative controls.
diff --git a/docs/statistics/numeric-contracts.md b/docs/statistics/numeric-contracts.md
index b441330d..36fc986c 100644
--- a/docs/statistics/numeric-contracts.md
+++ b/docs/statistics/numeric-contracts.md
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 **Status:** published, implemented in `src/analysis/numeric_policy.jl` (issue #1).
 **Scope:** how numbers become exact, approximate or rounded; what may cross each
 boundary; what is refused. Methods and their assumptions are catalogued separately in
-`method-catalogue-v1-draft.md`.
+`method-catalogue-v1.md`.
 
 ## Why this document exists