Difference between revisions of "Rules as Code"

Revision as of 12:01, 8 June 2025

Meme

Rules as Code (RaC) is an approach that transforms legislation, regulations, and policies into machine-readable code, allowing for automated compliance checks, digital service delivery, and improved policy transparency. Instead of relying solely on text-based legal documents, RaC enables governments and organizations to encode rules in a format that both humans and computers can interpret.

Key Features of Rules as Code

• Machine-Readable Policies – Laws and regulations are written in natural language and code simultaneously, ensuring clarity and consistency.
• Automated Compliance – Organizations can use RaC to automatically verify adherence to regulations, reducing human error.
• Improved Transparency – Citizens and businesses can access clear, structured rules, making legal compliance easier.
• Digital Service Integration – Governments can embed RaC into online services, streamlining processes like tax filings, social benefits, and cybersecurity policies.

Context

• 2025-06-06 Trump Executive order - establish a pilot program of a rules-as- code approach for machine-readable versions of policy and guidance that OMB, NIST, and CISA publish and manage regarding cybersecurity.

This cybersecurity executive order includes a directive to establish a pilot program for a rules-as-code approach to cybersecurity policy. This initiative aims to make policy and guidance machine-readable, allowing for automated compliance checks, real-time updates, and improved security enforcement across federal agencies.

• 2022 Ariel Kennan at the Digital Gov Hub published a report^[1] which claimed that "Digitizing public benefits policy will make the biggest impact for administrators and Americans, but only if it happens at the highest level of government."

Key Aspects of the Pilot Program

• Agencies Involved: The Office of Management and Budget (OMB), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) will lead the effort.
• Machine-Readable Policies: Instead of relying on traditional text-based regulations, cybersecurity policies will be encoded in a format that software systems can interpret and enforce automatically.
• Automation & Compliance: The goal is to streamline cybersecurity compliance by enabling systems to automatically verify adherence to federal security standards.
• Implementation Timeline: The program is set to launch within one year of the executive order’s signing (2025-06-06).

Why Rules as Code Matters

• Reduces Human Error: Automating policy enforcement minimizes misinterpretation and non-compliance.
• Enhances Security: Machine-readable policies allow for faster updates in response to emerging threats.
• Supports AI Integration: AI-driven cybersecurity tools can interpret and apply policies dynamically, improving defense mechanisms.
• Reduces ambiguity – Prevents legal misinterpretations by ensuring machine-enforced consistency.
• Enhances efficiency – Governments and businesses can automate compliance, reducing bureaucratic overhead.
• Supports AI-driven governance – AI systems can apply rules instantly, improving decision-making in areas like tax filings and cybersecurity.

While traditional legal frameworks rely on judicial interpretation, RaC enables precise, automated enforcement. However, critics warn that contextual nuance in law could be lost if overly rigid algorithms determine legal compliance.

Real-World Applications

• Government Regulations – Countries like France, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada have explored RaC for social security, tax laws, and digital governance.
• Cybersecurity Policies – The U.S. government is piloting RaC for machine-readable cybersecurity guidance, led by OMB, NIST, and CISA.
• Legal Tech & AI – RaC supports AI-driven legal reasoning, helping businesses and governments automate policy enforcement and decision-making.

Policy

Policy (as used by the government) and Rules-as-Code (RaC) both define regulations and guidelines, but they differ in their structure and application. Note that several Policy Languages (qv) have been created in the computer industry and could serve as a starting point for RaC.

In Trump’s 2025 cybersecurity executive order, agencies like OMB, NIST, and CISA are piloting Rules-as-Code to make cybersecurity guidance machine-readable, allowing automated compliance enforcement. Instead of relying on text-based policies, organizations can embed security rules directly into software and infrastructure, improving efficiency and response times.

Legal frameworks

Rules as Code vs. Traditional Legal Frameworks Rules as Code (RaC) offers a fundamentally different approach to writing and implementing laws compared to traditional legal frameworks. Here’s how they compare:

Its interesting to note that several machine-based language, like JSON, have been extolled for their human-readability. But all such languages to be more precise and concise have moved to a place where they are not even close to human readable.

Solutions

Several countries and industries are actively exploring or implementing Rules as Code (RaC) to improve policy automation, compliance, and digital governance. Countries Using Rules as Code

• France – Developed OpenFisca, an open-source framework for encoding tax and social security rules into machine-readable formats.
• New Zealand – Integrated RaC into its Better Rules program, which helps create digital-friendly legislation. Used in SmartStart, a portal for new parents.
• Australia – The NSW Government has digitized Community Gaming Regulations and provides machine-readable rules via an API.
• Estonia – Known for its e-Government leadership, Estonia is exploring RaC to streamline legal automation and digital services.

Industries Using Rules as Code

• Financial Services – Banks and fintech firms use RaC for automated regulatory compliance and fraud detection.
• Healthcare – Hospitals and insurers encode medical billing and insurance rules to improve accuracy.
• Cybersecurity – Governments and private firms use RaC for automated security policy enforcement.
• Legal Tech – AI-driven legal platforms integrate RaC for contract analysis and regulatory compliance.

RaC is still an emerging field, but its adoption is growing as governments and industries seek efficient, transparent, and automated policy enforcement.

• Rules as Code in Cybersecurity & AI Governance
• Rules as Code (RaC) is being increasingly applied to cybersecurity and AI governance to enhance automation, policy enforcement, and compliance * monitoring. Recent developments include:

Cybersecurity Applications

• Machine-Readable Cybersecurity Policies – As part of Trump’s 2025 Executive Order, the OMB, NIST, and CISA are establishing a pilot program to encode cybersecurity guidelines into machine-readable formats.
• Automated Threat Detection – Organizations use RaC to automatically verify security protocols, ensuring networks meet compliance standards without manual audits.
• Post-Quantum Security Measures – The National Security Agency (NSA) and cybersecurity agencies are leveraging RaC to standardize cryptographic transitions, helping secure systems against future quantum threats.

AI Governance Applications

• Automated AI Ethics Compliance – AI systems can check against predefined ethical and regulatory rules, reducing bias and ensuring lawful decision-making.
• AI Vulnerability Tracking – Government agencies are incorporating RaC frameworks to track and respond to AI system vulnerabilities, improving security oversight.
• AI-Powered Legal Decision Support – AI-driven legal tech platforms use RaC to provide instant regulatory analysis, assisting lawyers and policymakers.

By encoding cybersecurity and AI policies as executable rules, organizations can automate enforcement, enhance transparency, and reduce compliance costs.

how private sector companies are adopting RaC for cybersecurity?

• Private Sector Adoption of Rules as Code for Cybersecurity
• Several private sector companies are adopting Rules as Code (RaC) to enhance cybersecurity automation, compliance, and risk management. This approach allows businesses to encode security policies into machine-readable formats, enabling automated enforcement and real-time updates.

Key Industries Using Rules as Code

• Financial Services – Banks and fintech firms use RaC to automate regulatory compliance, reducing manual audits.
• Healthcare – Hospitals and insurers encode privacy and security rules to ensure compliance with HIPAA and GDPR.
• Technology & Cloud Security – Companies like Microsoft, Google, and AWS integrate RaC into cloud security frameworks.
• Legal & Compliance Tech – AI-driven platforms use RaC to automate contract analysis and regulatory enforcement.

Recent Developments

• The SEC’s new cybersecurity rules require companies to disclose material cybersecurity incidents and risk management strategies.
• Private firms are aligning with these regulations, using RaC to streamline incident reporting and governance.
• Cybersecurity consulting firms are advising businesses on integrating RaC into security frameworks.
• By adopting Rules as Code, companies can reduce compliance costs, improve security enforcement, and enhance transparency in cybersecurity governance.

References

1. ↑ Ariel Kennan Envisioning a Federal Rules as Code Approach to Public Benefits Eligibility The Digital Gov Hub https://digitalgovernmenthub.org/library/envisioning-a-federal-rules-as-code-approach-to-public-benefits-eligibility/#:~:text=Authors,Ariel%20Kennan