Legal Framework (LEG)

What the layer describes

The LEG layer answers the question “On what basis?”. It describes legal authority and legal obligations (LegalObligation), with links to the services (PublicService) and other elements they concern. Policy intent stays in STR, following the boundary set in section 3.3 (page 16).

Concepts and how they relate

A legal resource (LegalResource) is the legal instrument that confers authority or imposes obligations. A legal provision (LegalProvision) is an article, section or clause of a resource. Where needed, the resource composes its provisions through the “composes” relationship (composition), which is allowed between elements of the same family.

A legal obligation is a duty grounded in a legal resource or a legal provision. A competence (Competence) is the authority or responsibility assigned to a public organisation (PublicOrganisation). Where needed, both show their basis through the “has legal basis” relationship (legalBasis). The same relationship starts from elements in STR, LEG, ORG and INF. Its target is always a legal resource or a legal provision. In this way a public policy (Policy), a public service or a processing activity (ProcessingActivity) shows its basis where needed.

An interoperability agreement (InteroperabilityAgreement) governs cooperation or exchange between parties. It governs the elements it applies to, for example a data exchange (DataExchange), through the “governs” relationship (governs).

Element types

The layer has 5 element types, in these families: information (4), intent (1). Each type's own fields are listed under its definition; the fields common to every element are described under the core concepts.

• LegalResourceLegal resource · information family

  A legal instrument that provides authority or imposes obligations.

  Key attributes: eliUrilegalFormjurisdictioninForceFromstatusofficialReferencesourceJurisdictionlegalInForceFromobliges
• LegalProvisionLegal provision · information family

  A particular article, section or clause within a legal resource.

  Key attributes: citationtext
• LegalObligationLegal obligation · intent family

  A specific duty grounded in a legal resource or provision.

  Key attributes: bearerdeadlineverificationMethodnormativeTextbindsconstrains
• CompetenceCompetence · information family

  An authority or responsibility assigned to a public organisation.

  Key attributes: scopevalidFromvalidTomandateValidFromtaskScope
• InteroperabilityAgreementInteroperability agreement · information family

  An agreement governing cooperation or exchange between parties.

  Key attributes: eifLevelvalidFromvalidTo

In the “Family support benefit” example

Figure 4.2 (page 23) shows the legal resource “Family support law” and the elements based on it. The law regulates eligibility, the submission of applications and the review of decisions. The public policy “Family support access policy”, from STR, has the law as its legal basis. The public service “Family support benefit”, from ORG, has the same law as its legal basis.