Regulations are multiplying faster than most organizations can keep up. Every year, governments, regulators, and businesses face thousands of pages of new policies, each packed with details that must be translated into daily operations. Yet these rules are written for people, not for the digital systems that actually deliver decisions and services.
The result is all too familiar: delays, inconsistent outcomes, and gaps that erode trust. Citizens may receive different answers depending on which office or system handles their request, while compliance teams scramble to interpret changes and update processes in time. Rules as Code offers a way forward. By making laws and policies both human-readable and machine-executable, it bridges the gap between legal intent and operational reality.
Rules as Code: automate compliance and cut ambiguity
Rules as Code (RaC) is about making rules so that both people and computers can execute. Instead of relying only on traditional legal text, RaC keeps two versions of every rule: the official legal wording and a machine-readable version. The machine-readable version is expressed in a structured way so that system can process, test, and even automate it while still matching exactly what the legal text says.
At first, that may sound a little abstract, so let’s bring it down to something simple and everyday. Imagine your office has a rule: “If a meeting is scheduled at 9 a.m., everyone must join on time.” In most workplaces, this would only exist in the handbook or as a spoken expectation.
With RaC, the same rule also has a machine-readable version that your calendar system can interpret. It could automatically check attendance at 9 a.m., send reminders, or record lateness. The meaning of the rule doesn’t change, but now it can be applied consistently and even acted on by technology.
This is what makes RaC powerful. By expressing rules in both legal and machine-readable format, organizations can ensure they are applied consistently, reduce misinterpretation, and even automate parts of compliance. In other words, it helps guarantee that the right rule is applied at the right time without extra red tape.
The challenge today
The way policies are managed today leaves organizations with gaps that are hard to ignore. Rules are written in long prose, open to interpretation and often vague. This ambiguity means two people, or even two systems, can read the same regulation and come to completely different conclusions.
Even when the rules are clear, putting them into practice takes far too long. A new law might be passed this month, but IT teams may need months or even years to update their systems. In the meantime, outdated rules continue to run in the background, creating risks for businesses and unfair outcomes for citizens.
Compliance checks are another serious painpoint. Since policies are not in a format that systems can execute directly, organizations must rely on manual reviews or rebuild the same logic across different applications. These extra steps slow services, increase costs, and frustrate end users. Over time, the delays, errors, and inefficiencies undermine trust in the system itself.
Why it matters now
Rules as code matters today because it delivers clear benefits at a time when people expect services to be fast, transparent, and reliable. Governments, regulators, and companies cannot afford long delays or confusing rules. Citizens want clarity and quick answers. Businesses want compliance to be efficient and predictable.
For government and regulators
RaC helps public institutions deliver policies more quickly and with less friction.
- Faster policy change: Rules are encoded once, updated centrally, and then shared instantly across all systems. This reduces the lag between law on paper and law in practice, making reforms visible more quickly.
- Less ambiguity: Shared and testable interpretations mean everyone uses the same logic. This lowers the risk of conflicting outcomes and avoids costly disputes.
- Stronger interoperability: Machine-readable rules can connect both legacy and modern systems, ensuring consistent application across agencies, departments, and even border
For businesses
Companies want compliance that is predictable and cost-effective. RaC makes it possible to integrate obligations directly into business processes.
- Greater efficiency: Automating rules cuts out manual handoffs, reduces rework, and creates clear audit trails. Compliance becomes part of the process rather than an extra step.
- Less compliance risks: because interpretations are consistent and testable, businesses avoid misapplication of rules that could lead to penalties or delays.
For citizens
People expect clarity and quick answers from government services and private providers. RaC enables exactly that.
- Better service quality: Automated, real-time eligibility and compliance checks improve the experience for citizens and customers. Instead of waiting for manual reviews, people get quick, clear answers.
- More transparency: With clear, consistent logic, citizens can see how and why a decision was made.
How it works?
Implementing Rules as Code is a structured process that brings legal and technical expertise together. In short, it starts with gathering the authoritative sources, breaking rules into clear elements, modeling them in a structured format, and then encoding them so systems can run them consistently. The process also included testing and governance to make sure every rule remains linked to its legal source and outcomes are transparent.
👉 Want to see the full step-by-step process? We’ve explained it in detail on our Regulatory Digitalization & Reengineering
Rules as Code today and in the future
Today
Rules as Code is no longer just a concept; it is already being tested and applied in practice. A strong example comes from our partner’s eRulemaking project, which uses machine-readable rules to improve public access to regulations and increase participation in the federal regulatory process. This demonstrates how RaC can deliver more transparency and engagement in policymaking.
Governments are increasingly interested in this technology as they look for ways to modernize how regulations are drafted, shared, and enforced. Many are beginning to publish rules in machine-readable formats, allowing organizations to integrate compliance logic directly into their systems. This reduces costly interpretation and makes compliance more predictable.
At the same time, new methods and templates for interpretation, testing, and governance are emerging. RaC is also being connected to rules engines and workflow platforms, proving that it can operate effectively within the large and complex IT landscapes organizations already rely on.
The future
Looking ahead, RaC will continue to evolve in line with the growing demand for machine-readable legislation and open standards. In the near future, laws may not only be published as text but also as structured logic that systems can execute directly.
Interoperability will deepen across borders and agencies, enabling governments to share rule libraries and reduce duplication of effort. Automation will also become more transparent, with systems capable of explaining decisions in plain language. RaC will increasingly work side by side with AI, supporting policymakers by running what-if scenarios and simulating the impact of regulatory changes before they take effect.
Perhaps the most promising development is the shift toward continuous compliance. In this model, rules are updated dynamically as laws evolve, keeping organizations aligned with current legislation in near real time. Research initiatives, such as those led by TNO, are already showing how this future could take shape by creating methods that make policy execution more transparent, reliable, and responsive.
Ready to put Rules as Code into action?
Rules as Code transforms regulations from static text into living, executable logic. It reduces ambiguity, automates compliance, and ensures every decision is traceable and auditable. For governments, regulators, and businesses, this is more than a technical step forward. It is a new way to build trust and deliver better services.
At Be Informed, we are here to help you implement Rules as Code at scale, transforming legal complexity into operational clarity.
Contact us to explore how Rules as Code can support your organization.
