On the legally binding bit it is quite clear. Apart from E135 and E145 aircraft where we have a specific instruction to treat them as non compliant regardless of what the pilot says, the pilot's word is law. If he says he is compliant then we use RVSM separations after changing things in NAS to stop the alerts going off and vice versa.
Also if the flight plan says you are compliant then we assume you are unless you tell us otherwise. The only time we ask your status is if we think that our data is inaccurate (eg a transatlantic flight which has filed RVN.
Regards
Z
[ 23 October 2001: Message edited by: ZIP250 ]