Data access rules apply to records based on their state, such as active and pending.
If a record is in the pending state, data access rules apply to the corresponding instance of the record that's in the active state. For example, when changes to a record aren't approved, the record is in the pending state. The data access rules apply to the previous instance of the record that's in the active state.
New records that aren't in the active state yet are in the pending state. Data access rules apply to the pending state of these records.