The ARF describes two preconditions before relying party authentication starts: the relying party registers and obtains an access certificate for each relying party instance, and the wallet unit obtains the trust anchor of the access certificate authority from the relevant list of trusted entities. In each presentation, the relying party instance includes its access certificate and trust chain, signs request data, and the wallet unit verifies the signature, certificate chain, and revocation status before asking the user for approval.
Registration certificates are a separate concept. If the registrar issues them, a registration certificate can list the attributes registered for a particular intended use. The wallet can use that certificate, or contact the registrar if no certificate is available, to compare the requested attributes against what the relying party registered.