Rules As Code (RaC): The Future of Compliance, But Still a Work in Progress

Rules as Code (RaC) is a transformative approach for translating complex laws and regulations into digital code, enabling computers to apply rules consistently and automatically. This is the first article of a series that delve into RaC, it's application and benefits. Investing in RaC has economic advantage by automating calculation such as tax, migration and payroll whilst guaranteeing compliance. By converting legal text into machine-readable code, RaC can streamline compliance and reduce administrative burdens across sectors having an overall advantage in making regulation more accessible to the public opening up use cases that would normally be costly, dependent on expertise and bureaucracy to determine compliance against regulation. While the foundational technology exists, broader accessibility and cost-effectiveness remain challenges. I introduce Decisively as a solution leveraging technological advances for RaC methods to bridge the gap between the subject matter experts around regulation and engineers that build the system. This article explores why RaC holds immense promise, the hurdles it faces, and the value it could deliver. 

What is Rules As Code (RaC)?

Rules as Code (RaC) is an innovative method of encoding regulations into a digital format so computers can read and apply them directly. This enables automated compliance without the need for manual interpretation. By creating machine-readable versions of legal frameworks, RaC bridges the gap between legislation and digital systems, offering new opportunities for consistency and efficiency. RaC is especially impactful in  fields with intricate and constantly evolving regulations, such as taxation, employment law, and environmental standards. 

Why Rules As Code Matters: The Benefits of RaC 

Implementing Rules as Code provides a wide array of benefits for governments, businesses, and individuals:   

1. Improved Accuracy and Consistency: When rules are coded, they are more likely to be applied accurately and uniformly, reducing discrepancies and enhancing reliability in compliance checks. 
2. Enhanced Efficiency: RaC automates repetitive and complex tasks, allowing regulatory bodies and businesses to focus on more strategic initiatives. 
3. Transparency and Accessibility: RaC enhances transparency by allowing individuals and organisations to see exactly how rules are applied. This improves understanding of complex rules and fosters public trust .
4. Agility in Policy Implementation: New or updated rules can be rapidly implemented in digital systems with RaC, providing immediate effect. This is important in sectors where regulations are updated frequently. 
5. Cost Savings: By automating compliance processes, businesses and governments can reduce the costs associated with manual checks, administrative overhead, and penalties for non-compliance. 
6. Real-Time Compliance Monitoring: RaC enables real-time monitoring and assessment of compliance, helping organisations avoid costly errors and fines by staying aligned with the latest regulatory requirements.

With regulatory complexity growing and public demand for transparency intensifying, RaC is no longer a futuristic concept – it’s a strategic imperative for governments and organisations aiming to stay agile and accountable in the digital age. 

Potential Use Cases for RaC

1. Tax Compliance: RaC could streamline tax compliance by automatically calculating deductions and liabilities, ensuring accurate and consistent results.
2. Employment Standards: RaC could automate wage calculations and leave entitlements, reducing payroll errors and ensuring compliance with employment laws.
3. Healthcare Privacy Compliance: RaC could enforce strict privacy regulations automatically, helping healthcare providers manage sensitive data with reduced administrative burden.
4. Environmental Regulations: RaC could monitor emissions and resource usage in real-time, helping industries comply with environmental standards efficiently.
5. Consumer Product Safety: RaC could verify that product labelling and safety information meet regulatory standards, preventing costly recalls and protecting consumers.

Why RaC Must Leverage Technology Advances

While RaC offers potential benefits, several technological barriers must be overcome with RaC systems and processes that are in place today to make it scalable and cost-effective:

1. Automated Legal Translation needs an army of experts to create RaC systems: Translating legal text into code requires significant manual effort. There is a great divide between the source legislation in legal jargon and machine-readable code and ensuring the interpretation is accurate and translated is crucial. This usually takes an army of experts on both sides (legal and engineering) to execute and test. 
2. Testing and Validation require translation and interpretation between experts from different fields: Ensuring that coded rules are accurate and align with legal intent involves rigorous cross-discipline collaboration and testing. 
3. Handling Ambiguities requires training machines to adapt to context: Legal rules often contain exceptions and grey areas. Engineering expertise is required to construct the framework for guiding machines to be context-aware and handle these nuances correctly.  
4. Integration with Legacy Systems is necessary to support RaC implementations: Many organisations operate on outdated systems that struggle to support RaC frameworks.  
5. Data Privacy and Security are essential to managing sensitive data in RaC systems securely: RaC systems will need privacy-preserving technologies and advanced encryption without adding excessive costs to make RaC viable for sensitive applications like healthcare. 
6. Public Trust and Transparency is essential to engage the public in adopting RaC systems: RaC systems must be transparent and user-friendly to build public trust and gain widespread acceptance.  

Decisively – The Technological Key to RaC implementation 

At the forefront of RaC innovation is Imminently’s product, Decisively. This platform addresses the critical challenges outlined above by leveraging advanced AI and NLP capabilities: 

• Bridging the gap between engineers and legal experts by Seamlessly translates legislative text into machine-readable rules. 

• Uses natural language to structure rules, ensuring they are intuitive and transparent for non-technical users. 

• Offers built-in debugging tools, enabling users to validate rules and referencing source legislation, ensuring alignment between derived decisions and the original legislation. 

• Supports legacy system integration through agnostic frameworks, ensuring compatibility with existing infrastructure. 

• Provides version control for seamless updates, reducing the impact of regulatory changes. 

Unlike traditional RaC solutions that rely heavily on technical expertise, Decisively democratizes compliance by empowering non-technical users to directly digitise and audit regulations. Its seamless integration capabilities and natural language support ensure faster implementation and unmatched transparency. Decisively stands out by eliminating bespoke coding, offering a fully auditable, no-code approach that accelerates RaC transformation.  

Reach out to us for a quick demo on how this is achieved.   

RaC represents a significant step toward automating and digitising governance processes, offering faster, more reliable, and transparent regulatory compliance.  While challenges remain, advancements in AI, NLP, and system integration will continue to drive its evolution. With platforms like Decisively leading the way, RaC could soon become a cost-effective, widely accessible solution for organisations and governments, enabling a new era of efficient, precise, and accountable digital regulation.