On the Need for Standard Document Formats for eGovernance Applications of Legal Knowledge-Based Systems

Abstract. eGovernance is the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to support the entire life cycle of law, regulations and other norms. Legal Knowledge-Based Systems have a great deal of potential in this application domain. Although a number of products for developing and using legal knowledge-based systems have been successfully used in deployed applications, the growth of the eGovernance market is inhibited by the lack appropriate industry standards. Starting from a process model for eGovernance, a number of document types required for egovernance applications of legal knowledge-based systems have been identified. Relevant existing or emerging document standards, such as MetaLex, RuleML and OWL, are assessed with regard to their suitability for use in this domain. 1. The eGovernance Market eGovernance is the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to support the entire life cycle of law, regulations and other norms [Reinermann 2002]. eGovernance is related to eGovernment, but has a different focus. Whereas eGovernment focuses on the use of ICT to support all the tasks of public adminstration, eGovernance applies ICT t