A distributed information management framework (REGNET) for environmental laws and regulations

The complexity, diversity, and volume of Federal and State regulations (as well as supplementary and supportive documents) are detrimental to businesses and hinder public understanding of government. The objective of REGNET project is to develop information infrastructure and tools for regulatory information management and to facilitate compliance assistance. As a pilot research application, the REGNET project focuses on environmental regulations. The experimental scope of this project focuses on Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Title 40: Protection of the Environment and California Code of Regulations (CCR) Title 22: Social Security. Implementation examples include regulations and selected supplementary documents, covering hazardous waste, drinking water and the management of used oil. Furthermore, tools have been tested with additional environmental regulations from other States and regulations from other domain areas, such as CFR Title 21 on Food and Drugs, and different regulations related to accessibility from the US and UK.