Commons Regulatory Agencies Ontology
type: Ontology
abstract: This ontology defines general purpose concepts for representation of regulatory agencies, also known as regulatory authorities or regulators. It was derived from the FIBO Regulatory Agencies, Legal Capacity, and Jurisdictions ontologies and simplified/adapted for broader use.
license: Copyright (c) 2015-2025 EDM Council, Inc. Copyright (c) 2015-2025 Object Management Group, Inc. Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the 'Software'), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED 'AS IS', WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE. See https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT.
imports: AnnotationVocabulary
imports: BusinessAuthorizations
imports: ContextualDesignators
imports: Documents
imports: Identifiers
imports: Locations
imports: Organizations
imports: PartiesAndSituations
imports: RolesAndCompositions
version IRI: RegulatoryAgencies
change note: The https://www.omg.org/spec/Commons/20240801/RegulatoryAgencies.rdf version of the ontology was modified to integrate the authorization pattern (COMMONS13-38).
copyright: Copyright (c) 2015-2025 EDM Council, Inc.
copyright: Copyright (c) 2015-2025 Object Management Group, Inc.

LegalEntity
type: Class
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: is organized in
  on class: jurisdiction
  qualified cardinality: 1

LegalPerson
type: Class
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: is recognized in
  on class: jurisdiction
  min qualified cardinality: 0

jurisdiction
type: Class
subclass of: Context
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: has reach
  some values from: GeographicRegion
definition: power of a court or regulatory agency to adjudicate cases, issue orders, and interpret and apply the law with respect to some specific geographic area
adapted from: https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/jurisdiction

regulatory agency
type: Class
subclass of: AuthorizingParty
subclass of: ServiceProvider
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: regulates
  min cardinality: 0
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: provides
  on class: regulatory service
  min qualified cardinality: 0
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: has jurisdiction
  some values from: jurisdiction
definition: public authority or government agency responsible for exercising authority over something in a regulatory or supervisory capacity
example: See http://www.finra.org/AboutFINRA/ for an example describing a regulatory agency.
explanatory note: Typically, a regulatory agency is chartered to protect some constituancy, (e.g., investors in the financial industry, consumers with respect to product safety), to ensure the fairness and integrity of some market, and fair and safe business practices among the service providers in that market.
synonym: regulator
synonym: regulatory authority
synonym: regulatory body

regulatory report
type: Class
subclass of: Record
subclass of: ReferenceDocument
definition: document required to support operational transparency that demonstrates compliance with some specification, law, policy, restriction, or other rule specified by a regulatory agency
explanatory note: Such a report may be needed for licensing, monitoring, taxation, or for other purposes that demonstrate the integrity, fairness, safety, or other capacity of a given industry, organization, or product.

regulatory service
type: Class
subclass of: Service
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: isProvidedBy
  some values from: regulatory agency
definition: service provided by a regulatory agency, which may include, but not be limited to, examination, monitoring, supervision, testing, or other capabilities required to ensure the integrity, fairness, safety, or other capacity of a given industry, organization, or product

governs
type: ObjectProperty
definition: has and exercises authority over

has jurisdiction
type: ObjectProperty
sub property of: governs
range: jurisdiction
definition: relates a polity, government entity or regulatory agency to a jurisdiction over which it has some level of legal authority

has reach
type: ObjectProperty
sub property of: isApplicableIn
domain: jurisdiction
range: GeographicRegion
definition: indicates the geographic region covered by the jurisdiction

is applicable in jurisdiction
type: ObjectProperty
property chain axiom: isApplicableIn
property chain axiom: has reach
property chain axiom: isIdentifiedBy
definition: indicates the geopolitical region identifier for the jurisdiction in which something is applicable

is governed by
type: ObjectProperty
inverse of: governs
definition: relates a contract, agreement, jurisdiction, or other legal construct and the regulation, policy, procedure, or legal person that regulates or oversees (governs) it

is jurisdiction of
type: ObjectProperty
sub property of: is governed by
domain: jurisdiction
inverse of: has jurisdiction
definition: relates a jurisdiction to a polity or other government entity or court that has some level of legal authority over it

is organized in
type: ObjectProperty
sub property of: is recognized in
domain: LegalEntity
range: jurisdiction
definition: indicates the jurisdiction whose laws a legal entity is organized under

is recognized in
type: ObjectProperty
sub property of: is governed by
range: jurisdiction
definition: indicates the jurisdiction in which a legal person is considered competent to enter into a contract, conduct business, or participate in other activities, or in which an agreement may be acknowledged and possibly enforceable

is regulated by
type: ObjectProperty
sub property of: hasPartyRole
sub property of: is governed by
range: regulatory agency
definition: specifies a regulatory agency that has regulatory authority for something

regulates
type: ObjectProperty
sub property of: governs
domain: regulatory agency
definition: has regulatory authority over or directs according to rule or law, typically an industry, organization, or product
adapted from: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/regulate