Enforce quality gates on output publication

docs/QUALITY_POLICY.md

@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
-# Datasource Stage Quality Policy
+# Datasource Quality Policy
 
 Datasource quality policy is a deterministic JSON contract stored in
-`governance.quality_policy`. A tabular stage inherits the current target
-Datasource policy unless the stage has its own governed definition. Validation
-runs before the stage is stored, but a failed stage remains available for
-inspection and correction through a new stage.
+`governance.quality_policy`. A tabular stage or producer publication inherits
+the current target Datasource policy unless it supplies its own governed
+definition. Stage validation runs before the stage is stored, but a failed
+stage remains available for inspection and correction through a new stage.
 
 ## Contract
 
@@ -78,6 +78,18 @@ contain only affected counts and at most 25 one-based row numbers; they never
 copy field values. Promotion copies this validation object into the immutable
 materialization provenance and records the policy hash in the audit event.
 
+Producer publication uses the same gate before any catalogue target,
+materialization, or publication record is persisted. A rejected output has no
+partial catalogue effect. Successful output materializations retain the exact
+validation result, policy version/hash, and schema classification in
+`provenance.publication_validation`; the publication record retains the same
+evidence for operational inspection. Dataflow, Workflow, and Reporting can
+therefore consume an immutable output reference without re-running a possibly
+changed quality policy. Publication also emits a transactional
+`datasource.publication.published` audit/platform event; an enabled Audit
+module stores it in the durable outbox, while reduced installations deliver it
+through Core after commit.
+
 Approval authority, approval expiry, and retention/deletion execution remain
 separate work under `govoplan-datasources#2`. Until those contracts are added,
 no JSON flag is treated as an approval and no stage is deleted automatically.