RFC-051: Facts and Competence in the Law Format

Context

The law format could not say two things.

An article requires that a fact exists. “Een gehandicaptenparkeerkaart wordt niet afgegeven alvorens een geneeskundig onderzoek heeft plaatsgehad” (Regeling gehandicaptenparkeerkaart art. 2 lid 1). The examination is not a decision and nobody applies for it, so it fits no produces item (RFC-045).
Someone other than the decider is competent. An earlier card may have come from another municipality or the CBR (art. 2 lid 2; BABW art. 49). The article’s competent_authority names one authority, the one that decides (RFC-002).

Decision

1. A fact an article requires

A requires entry may name a fact and the parameters it holds. The law says what the fact holds, not when it arises or who records it. The fact sits on the article that defines it (here art. 3 lid 1, who examines).

# Regeling gehandicaptenparkeerkaart, art. 3 machine_readable: requires: - fact: geneeskundig_onderzoek_verricht parameters: [bsn_aanvrager, datum_onderzoek, verricht_door] competent_authority: - name: Gemeentelijke Gezondheidsdienst type: CATEGORY - name: vanwege het gemeentelijk gezag aangewezen deskundige type: CATEGORY

The loader refuses a fact without parameters, a parameter the article lacks, a fact mixed with another provision, and two facts of one name.

2. Competence on an open term and on a fact

Both may carry their own competent_authority in the shape of RFC-002: one named authority or a list. The parking-card term is the example in Competent Authority.

On a term, it says who may answer it; on a fact, who establishes it.
On the article: still who decides, one authority. A # reference stays allowed there (Wlz art. 2.1.1).
The loader refuses a list on an article, an empty list, a # reference on a term or fact, and competence on a requires entry without fact.

3. One value from several answers

combine on a term merges the answers of several competent actors: OR, AND, ADD, MIN, MAX, fitting the term’s type. The loader refuses it on a term without competent authorities, where only one actor is asked, and as ONLY, since two answers without a rule already fail.

4. Reading what another actor establishes

A law reads such a value as an output of the establishing article, with source.regulation (RFC-007). The law names a role, never a cell, chronicle or register. Where a cell answers the term, the policy of the authority that decides binds the answer, and the engine asks the cells the term names wherever that binding runs (RFC-048 §2 and §4). RFC-046 says how a cell records.

Where each choice comes from

Choice	Source
A fact is a `requires` entry, not a `produces` item	Author’s decision (Tim de Jager, 20 October 2026): a fact is not a besluit, and the law format holds no chronolexography words
The law gives a fact its shape, not a cell file	Author’s decision (Tim de Jager, 20 October 2026); departs from RFC-022 §1.3
Competence on the term or the fact	Author’s decision (Tim de Jager, 20 October 2026), after a list on the article mixed deciding with answering
On a fact, competence names who establishes it	Author’s decision (Tim de Jager); recorder and competent authority stay apart (RFC-022 §1.3) and coincide only when a cell establishes the fact itself
A reading term repeats the fact’s competence	Own choice: deriving it would need the engine to link term and fact
`combine` on the term, with `FOREACH` values	Author’s decision (Tim de Jager)

Why

Benefits

Fact and competence are said in words of law. A jurist needs no idea of cells.
The law names a role. A municipality, the CBR or a GGD answers because the law makes it competent.

Tradeoffs

A fact and the term that reads it both name the same authorities.

Open points are listed in Open Points in Chronolexography.

Alternatives Considered

An EXECUTOGRAM item in produces. Built, dropped: a fact is not a besluit, and it put chronolexography in the law format.
Fact streams declared with the cell (executogrammen/, schema v0.8.6) or in chronicles/ (RFC-022 §1.3). Built, dropped: the cell, not the law, would give the shape.
answered_from on the reading term. A new word for what source.regulation says.
A cell id in source.regulation (RFC-022 §4.2). The law would name a cell, not a role.
A list of authorities on the article. Mixes deciding with answering.

Implementation

Schema v0.8.7: fact, parameters, description on requires. Schema v0.8.8: competent_authority on a term and a fact, combine on a term. Law model: ArticleRequirement::fact, ArticleRequirement::competent_authority, OpenTerm::competent_authority, OpenTerm::combine, CompetentAuthority::List; checks in load_check::reject_malformed_facts and load_check::reject_misplaced_competence. Corpus: Regeling gehandicaptenparkeerkaart art. 2 and 3; fictief_beleid_vestiging_obs_de_klimop art. 1 requires the fact vestiging, since no article in the corpus does.

References

Regeling gehandicaptenparkeerkaart (BWBR0012625) art. 2 and 3; BABW (BWBR0004826) art. 49
Competent Authority