On March 17 and 18, 2025, the Interministerial Directorate for Digital Affairs (DINUM), in collaboration with Digicampus (Netherlands) and GRNET (Greece), hosted the first edition of "Rules as Code Europe," an event supported by the European Commission. This gathering brought together over 100 European experts from public administrations, academia, and the private sector.
Over two days, discussions, demonstrations, and collaborative workshops helped identify concrete opportunities and lay the foundation for sustainable cooperation on Rules as Code in Europe.
A First Step Towards Structuring a European Rules as Code Ecosystem
Rules as Code redefines how administrations design, implement, and provide access to regulations. By publishing rules in a structured, machine-readable, and human-interpretable format, this approach enables:
- Reliable and automated enforcement of regulations, ensuring greater transparency and avoiding errors and inconsistencies.
- Personalized access to regulatory information, helping citizens and businesses better understand their rights and obligations based on their specific situations.
- Evaluation of the impact of regulatory reforms by anticipating and measuring their interaction with existing legal frameworks and their tangible effects on beneficiaries.
Two Days Full of Insights and Exchanges
The first day (March 17, 2025) featured presentations and demonstrations, including:
- An introduction by the European Commission and DINUM, highlighting the challenges of the GovTech4All program and the future of Rules as Code.
- A presentation of the pilot project on personalized regulation assistants (PRAs) by France, the Netherlands, and Greece.
- Concrete feedback from countries such as Sweden and the Netherlands, which are already exploring the publication of regulations in structured and reusable formats.
The second day (March 18, 2025) focused on collaborative work, with:
- Interactive workshops allowing participants to experiment with tools and co-develop use cases around French open-source digital commons like OpenFisca and Publicodes, as well as INRIA's research.
- Discussions on artificial intelligence and the explainability of automated decisions, and how they integrate with Rules as Code, led by public and private sector experts.
Building Personalized Regulation Assistants with Rules as Code
One of the key topics explored at the event was the "PRA" pilot project, led by DINUM (France), GRNET (Greece), and Digicampus (Netherlands) within the GovTech4All program, which gave birth to this community.
Personalized regulation assistants (PRAs) are innovative digital tools designed to help citizens understand and apply regulations by leveraging Rules as Code. They represent a step towards a more proactive administration by facilitating access to rights and helping users navigate complex regulations more easily.
With a PRA, any citizen could:
- Identify available rights and services based on their personal situation.
- Receive clear and personalized explanations about their case.
- Check eligibility for benefits or assistance.
- Submit applications or requests.
- Be proactively informed of regulatory changes or new rights and obligations.
This pilot aims to pool and enrich existing knowledge on Rules as Code, such as OpenFisca, among three EU member states, to simplify access to rights and public services. To learn more about the pilot, visit the GovTech4All program page.
Next Steps: Continued Cooperation at National and European Levels
The teams from DINUM, GRNET, and Digicampus involved in the GovTech4All European program will continue experimenting with the Rules as Code approach in the next pilot. This new phase will explore how to harmonize regulatory publication formats at the European level so they can be reused to create public digital services beneficial to citizens and businesses.
Beyond the pilot, participants expressed strong interest in continuing collaboration on Rules as Code, both at the national level in France—through regular meetings—and at the European level with all present partners, looking ahead to a second edition in 2026.
DINUM, Digicampus, and GRNET extend their heartfelt thanks to all participants, speakers, and partners who contributed to making this first edition a success.