Amsterdam, The Netherlands — As regulatory landscapes become increasingly complex, governments and businesses struggle to manage regulations efficiently and effectively.
To address this pressing challenge, pioneers in Regtech and compliance automation
Be Informed, Deloitte, and TNO hosted the World’s First Norm Engineering Conference at the University of Amsterdam on January 28th, 2025.
The audience of industry professionals, regulatory experts, and government representatives from over ten countries concluded that both organizations and governments are unlikely to be able to reduce the growing regulatory burden and fulfill their enterprise and societal missions without rapid investment in AI-empowered reengineering of regulations leveraging global standards such as FLINT.
“The sheer volume and complexity of regulations make it impossible for any government or organization to fully comprehend and comply with them. Organizations are unlikely to keep pace with the accelerating regulatory demands without shifting to automated, standardized approaches. The integration of AI and Norm Engineering is not a nice-to-have future concept — it’s an urgent necessity,” stated Geert Rensen, Chief Customer Officer at Be Informed.
Why Norm Engineering is the urgent necessity
Norm Engineering translates legal language into structured, machine-readable models. This process enables effective compliance automation, making it faster, more transparent, less resource-intensive, and maintainable in a dynamic regulatory environment. For governments and corporations alike, the implications are significant: reducing operational costs, improving regulatory clarity, and enhancing public service delivery.
“Regulatory Reengineering using norm engineering isn’t just a technical solution; it’s already driving meaningful change for governments, businesses, and citizens,” — said Matthew Gracie, Managing Director of Regulatory Intelligence at Deloitte.— “For instance, we’re seeing how AI-driven regulatory reengineering models, supported by partners like Be Informed, can contribute to sensible deregulation and smarter, more citizen- and business-friendly public services.”
Critical themes redefining regulatory compliance
1. The growing need for regulatory automation: Governments increasingly recognize the need to publish legislation in machine-readable formats. By adopting a methodology such as FLINT, regulatory bodies can provide clear, structured legal rules that can be directly integrated into compliance systems. This will make it easier for businesses and organizations to adhere to evolving legal requirements efficiently.
2. The importance of embracing global open standards: FLINT, an open standard for regulatory formalization, is expanding rapidly in both the US and Europe. Standardization ensures interoperability and avoids duplication of efforts and costs.
3. Leaders in norm engineering are pulling ahead of the pack: Organizations already using Norm Engineering report reduced compliance costs, faster implementation of regulatory changes, and improved transparency and customer/citizen service levels.
“We are proud to be at the forefront of this transformation with our RegTech platform and deep domain expertise, enabling our clients to reduce regulatory burden while increasing operational, compliance, agility, and quality,” added Hugo Ehrnreich, CEO of Be Informed.
Advancing compliance and innovation through
Norm Engineering
“Establishing a global standard (such as FLINT) for sharing and reusing regulatory interpretations lies at the heart of Norm Engineering. This approach is gaining momentum across the US and Europe as we work towards reengineering regulation to meet modern demands,” stated Tom van Engers, Principal scientist at TNO and full Professor at the University of Amsterdam in Legal Knowledge Management
The event featured a diverse lineup of global experts passionate about this regulatory innovation. They shared their research and contributed to the Norm Engineering discussion:
- Matthew Gracie (Deloitte): Launched the Regulatory Reengineering solution showcasing how norm engineering, combined with Generative AI and the FLINT methodology, enhances regulatory accessibility and reduces compliance burdens.
- Robert van Doesburg (TNO): Introduced an open-source tool for standardized rule interpretation and promoted collaboration on shared open standards within the Dutch government.
- Tomas Algotsson (Swedish Tax Administration): Presented how “Rule as Code” is transforming public sector compliance.
- Leon Gommans (Air France KLM): Demonstrated how automated norm compliance improves data sharing and predictive algorithms in aviation consortia.
- Thomas van Binsbergen (University of Amsterdam): Explored GDPR-based data access controls to enhance compliance and transparency.
- Sander Klous (KPMG): Introduced a federated data ecosystem for managing sensitive data with embedded policy enforcement.
- Romy van Drie (TNO): Discussed how GenAI and NLP boost norm modeling productivity through legal text extraction and QA systems.
- Sofia Ali (Dutch Tax Administration): Presented a framework to evaluate regulatory languages like OpenFisca and Catala.
- Tom van Engers (TNO and University of Amsterdam): Highlighted how Generative AI automates regulatory knowledge extraction and promotes cross-sector collaboration.
Shaping the future of RegTech together
The event highlighted that regulatory transformation is already underway. Organizations that delay adopting AI-driven compliance models risk falling behind both in operational efficiency and legal robustness.
TNO, Deloitte and Be Informed are committed to continuing this conversation, supporting businesses and governments in transitioning to smarter, more sustainable compliance practices.
About the Hosts
- TNO: The Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research, focused on promoting innovation through applied research.
- Deloitte: A global professional services firm offering audit, consulting, tax, and advisory services.
- Be Informed: A SaaS company specializing in regulatory technology, providing intelligent automation solutions for compliance and decision-making processes.
Media Contact
Pauline Kampinga
Chief Marketing Officer
marketing@beinformed.com
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