Using the composite act frame technique to model ‘Rules of Origin’ knowledge representations in e-government services

Rules of Origin (ROO), globally applied to determine the eligibility for trade preferences, are a vital instrument in international trade, since they defines the country of origin of products. Whereas the technical nature of the ROO criteria is complex and voluminous, common ROO knowledge representation is a vital key in promoting interoperability and effective e-government services. This paper aims to lay down a ROO knowledge representation model using the composite act frame technique extended from the frame-based ontology of law. To prove the generic and extensibility aspects of the model, we conducted an assessment test with different criteria for the ROO. The implementation of the ROO knowledge representations to support Web-based e-government services is accomplished “Rules of Origin VERification Systems”, known more simply as “ROVERs”.