diff --git a/docs/approval-claim.md b/docs/approval-claim.md
index 8cb0323..f22a266 100644
--- a/docs/approval-claim.md
+++ b/docs/approval-claim.md
@@ -272,5 +272,25 @@ Local fixtures, workplan ids, and prose are not this claim.
 
 ## Examples
 
-See [`../examples/claim.valid.json`](../examples/claim.valid.json) and
-[`../examples/claim.revoked.json`](../examples/claim.revoked.json).
+| Example | Shape it publishes |
+| --- | --- |
+| [`claim.valid.json`](../examples/claim.valid.json) | valid, on the PDP path — `pdp_path: true`, `pdp_digest` non-null |
+| [`claim.valid.no-pdp.json`](../examples/claim.valid.no-pdp.json) | **valid, with no PDP binding** — `valid_now: true`, `reason_code: ok`, `pdp_path: false`, `pdp_digest: null` |
+| [`claim.revoked.json`](../examples/claim.revoked.json) | revoked — `valid_now: false`, `reason_code: revoked` |
+
+The middle one is the shape most likely to be missing from a consumer's tests,
+and it is the one that matters most on a privileged lane: the approval is
+genuinely valid and genuinely usable — for a consumer comparing the native
+`binding.digest` — while being **unusable on the `GH-DEC-2026-003` path**, where
+a PEP MUST refuse it. `valid_now: true` is not permission to proceed on that
+lane.
+
+It is published because the first two examples alone would confound two
+independent dimensions. With only a valid claim carrying a digest and a revoked
+claim carrying none, a reader can reasonably infer that `pdp_digest` is null
+*because* the claim is revoked, or that `pdp_path` tracks validity. Both are
+false, and the example set is what would have taught them — the failure
+`security-layer-model` §11's both-shapes clause exists to catch.
+
+`tests/test_examples.py` asserts the decorrelation, not merely that both values
+appear somewhere.
diff --git a/examples/claim.valid.no-pdp.json b/examples/claim.valid.no-pdp.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bf21ee6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/claim.valid.no-pdp.json
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+{
+  "schema_version": "0.1",
+  "kind": "approval-claim",
+  "yields_to": "net-kingdom taxonomy request-claim schema (statute §17; unassigned)",
+  "issuer": "approval-engine",
+  "approval_id": "7c4e2b91-08da-4f63-b5c7-2a9e6d1f04b3",
+  "state": "valid",
+  "valid_now": true,
+  "consumed": false,
+  "binding": {
+    "action": "release.publish",
+    "target": {
+      "id": "svc-approval-engine",
+      "stage": "prod"
+    },
+    "actor": "agt-release-runner",
+    "principal": "bernd",
+    "purpose": "cut-0-1-0-release",
+    "digest": "sha256:bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb",
+    "pdp_digest": null,
+    "pdp_path": false
+  },
+  "freshness": {
+    "observed_at": "2026-08-29T12:00:00+00:00",
+    "ttl_seconds": 30,
+    "not_after": "2026-08-29T12:00:30+00:00"
+  },
+  "validity": {
+    "not_before": "2026-08-29T11:00:00+00:00",
+    "expires_at": "2026-08-29T15:00:00+00:00"
+  },
+  "reason_code": "ok"
+}
diff --git a/tests/test_examples.py b/tests/test_examples.py
index 59bf33d..61f5a8c 100644
--- a/tests/test_examples.py
+++ b/tests/test_examples.py
@@ -46,6 +46,50 @@ def test_examples_cover_both_pdp_path_declarations():
     assert states == {True, False}
 
 
+def test_pdp_binding_is_not_confounded_with_validity():
+    """Both shapes present is not enough if they only ever co-vary.
+
+    With only `claim.valid` (pdp_digest set, pdp_path true) and `claim.revoked`
+    (null, false), the two dimensions are perfectly correlated and an
+    implementer can reasonably infer that pdp_digest is null *because* the claim
+    is revoked, or that pdp_path tracks validity. Both inferences are wrong and
+    the example set is what teaches them.
+
+    The shape that must exist is a claim that is entirely valid -- `valid_now`
+    true, `reason_code` ok, not consumed -- and still carries no PDP binding.
+    That is the claim a privileged-lane PEP MUST refuse under
+    `GH-DEC-2026-008`, and it is the one a consumer would otherwise have to
+    invent a fixture for.
+    """
+    claims = [json.loads(p.read_text()) for p in EXAMPLES]
+    valid_without_pdp = [
+        c
+        for c in claims
+        if c["valid_now"]
+        and c["reason_code"] == "ok"
+        and not c["consumed"]
+        and c["binding"]["pdp_digest"] is None
+        and c["binding"]["pdp_path"] is False
+    ]
+    assert valid_without_pdp, (
+        "no example of a valid claim with no PDP binding; a consumer writing the "
+        "privileged-lane refusal has no published shape to test against"
+    )
+
+
+def test_valid_claims_cover_both_pdp_path_declarations():
+    """The decorrelation stated as coverage rather than as one instance."""
+    paths = {
+        c["binding"]["pdp_path"]
+        for c in (json.loads(p.read_text()) for p in EXAMPLES)
+        if c["valid_now"]
+    }
+    assert paths == {True, False}, (
+        f"valid examples declare only pdp_path={paths}; both are reachable states "
+        "for a valid approval"
+    )
+
+
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("path", EXAMPLES, ids=lambda p: p.name)
 def test_pdp_path_examples_always_carry_a_digest(path):
     """GH-DEC-2026-008: pdp_path true guarantees pdp_digest non-null."""