Should VerifiableCredential contain @context?

[arnoweiss]

Suppose a Multi-Dataspace scenario. Each dataspace has their own MembershipCredential [1,2] schema. The type property is equivalent when read as json and different only when expanded as json-ld via the @context.

On validation (for instance implementing DynamicAtomicConstraintRuleFunction), the VC material is passed in via the ParticipantAgentPolicyContext as List<VerifiableCredential>. Evaluation may check VerifiableCredential.type to determine the presence of a VC but has no means to discriminate between the membership in some-dataspace or other-dataspace. The @context object isn't part of VerifiableCredential. That's a problem if a Data Provider wants to offer a certain dataset to a specific dataspace only.

Another option would be to json-ld-expand the VerifiableCredential on instantiation which might work without a change to the class - likely by simply adjusting the JwtToVerifiablePresentationTransformer.

This issue initially came up in eclipse-tractusx/tractusx-edc#2379

[1]

{
  "@context": [
    "https://www.w3.org/2018/credentials/v1",
    "https://some-dataspace.example/credentials/context.jsonld"
  ],
  "id": "1f36af58-0fc0-4b24-9b1c-e37d59668089",
  "type": [
    "VerifiableCredential",
    "MembershipCredential"
  ],
  "issuer": "did:web:com.example.issuer",
  "issuanceDate": "2021-06-16T18:56:59Z",
  "expirationDate": "2022-06-16T18:56:59Z",
  "credentialSubject": {
    "id": "did:web:com.example.participant",
    "someProperty": "some-value"
  }
}

[2]

{
  "@context": [
    "https://www.w3.org/2018/credentials/v1",
    "https://other-dataspace.example/credentials/context.jsonld"
  ],
  "id": "1f36af58-0fc0-4b24-9b1c-e37d59668089",
  "type": [
    "VerifiableCredential",
    "MembershipCredential"
  ],
  "issuer": "did:web:com.example.issuer",
  "issuanceDate": "2021-06-16T18:56:59Z",
  "expirationDate": "2022-06-16T18:56:59Z",
  "credentialSubject": {
    "id": "did:web:com.example.participant",
    "otherProperty": "other-value"
  }
}

[arnoweiss]

cc @juliapampus @ndr-brt - I'd be really interested in you guys' opinion on this

[ndr-brt]

We discussed this in the committer meeting.
The short fix is to add the context to the VerifiableCredential, but this issue is also part of a larger topic that will be addressed separately (EDIT: here)

@arnoweiss could you take care to open an issue to address the addition of context to the VerifiableCredential pojo?

[arnoweiss]

opened an issue
#5462