Standards Compliance

ARAL Standards Compliance

Version: 1.0
Status: Release Candidate
Date: 2026-01-16
Purpose: Map ARAL conformance to major AI/security/privacy standards

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Executive Summary

ARAL (Agent Runtime Abstraction Layer) is designed to comply with and support implementation of major international standards for AI systems, security, privacy, and ethics. This document provides a comprehensive mapping between ARAL specifications and industry standards.

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1. ISO/IEC AI Standards Compliance

1.1 ISO/IEC 42001:2023 - AI Management System

Status: ✅ Fully Compliant

ISO 42001 Requirement	ARAL Implementation	Reference
AI policy framework	Policy schema with enforcement	ARAL-SECURITY-1.0 L3-P
Risk management	Multi-layer risk controls	ARAL-SECURITY-1.0 §3
Lifecycle management	Runtime lifecycle controls	ARAL-CORE-1.0 L1
Data governance	Memory layer with audit	ARAL-CORE-1.0 L2
Transparency	Trace schema with lineage	ARAL-PROTOCOL-1.0 L7
Human oversight	Require confirmation flags	ARAL-SECURITY-1.0 §2.3
Continuous monitoring	Metrics and health checks	ARAL-CORE-1.0 L1-009
Documentation	Manifest and audit trail	schemas/manifest.schema.json

Evidence:

• ARAL-L1-009: Runtime MUST provide metrics endpoint (Prometheus format)
• ARAL-L2-007: Memory MUST log all write operations for audit
• ARAL-L5-006: Persona MUST validate against security policy before activation
• ARAL-L7-001 to L7-010: Complete observability and tracing requirements

1.2 ISO/IEC 23894:2023 - AI Risk Management

Status: ✅ Fully Compliant

ISO 23894 Category	ARAL Implementation	Reference
Risk identification	Capability risk levels	ARAL-CORE-1.0 L3
Risk analysis	Security zones and policies	ARAL-SECURITY-1.0
Risk evaluation	Policy-based constraints	persona.schema.json constraints
Risk treatment	Deny, require confirmation, audit	ARAL-SECURITY-1.0 §2
Risk monitoring	Continuous audit logging	ARAL-CORE-1.0 L2-007
Risk communication	Trace messages with risk context	ARAL-PROTOCOL-1.0 L7

Evidence:

• Capability permissions model with risk-based access control
• Persona constraints with behavioral boundaries
• Audit trail for all sensitive operations
• Circuit breaker patterns for failure containment

1.3 ISO/IEC 27001:2022 - Information Security

Status: ✅ Fully Compliant

ARAL implements ISO 27001 controls through:

• Access Control (A.9): Capability-based authorization, persona constraints
• Cryptography (A.10): Signature verification, encrypted memory
• Operations Security (A.12): Logging, monitoring, backup requirements
• Communications Security (A.13): Secure envelope protocol
• System Development (A.14): Security-by-design architecture
• Supplier Relationships (A.15): LLM provider abstraction with security policies
• Incident Management (A.16): Error handling and audit trails
• Business Continuity (A.17): Fallback chains, circuit breakers
• Compliance (A.18): This compliance mapping document

Reference: ARAL-SECURITY-1.0.md

1.4 ISO/IEC 27701:2019 - Privacy Management

Status: ✅ Fully Compliant

Reference: ARAL-PRIVACY-1.0.md (35 requirements covering all ISO 27701 privacy controls)

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2. NIST AI Risk Management Framework (AI RMF 1.0)

Status: ✅ Fully Aligned

NIST AI RMF Function	ARAL Implementation	Evidence
GOVERN	Policy schema, governance docs	governance/, policy.schema.json
MAP	Capability mapping, persona roles	ARAL-CORE-1.0 L3, L5
MEASURE	Metrics, monitoring, tracing	ARAL-CORE-1.0 L1-009, trace.schema.json
MANAGE	Risk-based constraints, circuit breakers	ARAL-SECURITY-1.0

NIST AI RMF Characteristics

Characteristic	ARAL Support	Implementation
Valid & Reliable	✅ Yes	Schema validation, conformance tests
Safe	✅ Yes	Sandboxing, capability restrictions, human oversight
Secure & Resilient	✅ Yes	Security layer, fallback chains, circuit breakers
Accountable & Transparent	✅ Yes	Audit trails, trace lineage, explainable decisions
Explainable & Interpretable	✅ Yes	Trace reasoning, action justifications
Privacy-Enhanced	✅ Yes	GDPR compliance, data minimization, consent management
Fair with Harmful Bias Managed	✅ Yes	Persona audit criteria for bias detection

Reference: ARAL-SECURITY-1.0.md, ARAL-PRIVACY-1.0.md

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3. EU AI Act Compliance (2024)

Status: ✅ Ready for High-Risk AI Systems

3.1 Risk Classification Support

ARAL enables EU AI Act compliance for High-Risk AI Systems (Annex III):

EU AI Act Requirement	ARAL Implementation	Reference
Risk management system	Policy-based constraints, audit	ARAL-SECURITY-1.0
Data governance	Memory layer with audit, GDPR compliance	ARAL-PRIVACY-1.0
Technical documentation	Manifest, persona docs, trace lineage	All schemas
Record-keeping	Trace schema with immutable logs	trace.schema.json
Transparency	User-facing explanations in traces	ARAL-PROTOCOL-1.0 L7
Human oversight	Require confirmation flags	persona.schema.json constraints
Accuracy, robustness, cybersecurity	Security layer, fallback chains	ARAL-SECURITY-1.0

3.2 Transparency Obligations (Articles 13, 52)

• L7-004: Trace MUST include human-readable explanation field
• L7-005: Trace MUST record all LLM provider invocations
• Persona metadata includes clear descriptions of capabilities and limitations

3.3 Prohibited Practices (Article 5)

ARAL provides mechanisms to prevent:

• Subliminal manipulation (via persona behavioral constraints)
• Social scoring (via policy enforcement)
• Real-time biometric identification (via capability permissions)
• Exploitation of vulnerabilities (via audit criteria for bias detection)

Reference: ARAL-PRIVACY-1.0.md, ARAL-SECURITY-1.0.md

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4. US Regulations Compliance

4.1 HIPAA (Healthcare)

Status: ✅ Compliant Architecture

• Privacy Rule: ARAL-PRIVACY-1.0 enforces data subject rights
• Security Rule: ARAL-SECURITY-1.0 implements administrative, physical, technical safeguards
• Breach Notification: ARAL-P-007 requires 72-hour notification
• Minimum Necessary: Memory layer supports data minimization
• Audit Controls: L2-007 logs all memory write operations
• Integrity Controls: L2-004 atomic read-modify-write operations
• Access Controls: Capability-based authorization

Reference: ARAL-INTEGRATION-SCENARIOS.md (Healthcare scenario)

4.2 COPPA (Children’s Privacy)

Status: ✅ Compliant

• Parental Consent: ARAL-P-004 consent management for minors
• Data Minimization: Memory layer with TTL-based expiration
• Transparency: Clear privacy policies in persona metadata
• Security: Encryption and secure storage requirements

Reference: ARAL-PRIVACY-1.0.md §4.6

4.3 CCPA / CPRA (California)

Status: ✅ Compliant

All GDPR-equivalent rights implemented in ARAL-PRIVACY-1.0.md:

• Right to know (access)
• Right to delete (erasure)
• Right to opt-out (consent withdrawal)
• Right to correct (rectification)
• Right to limit use (processing restriction)

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5. Industry Standards & Best Practices

5.1 OWASP Top 10 for LLM Applications (2023)

Status: ✅ All Mitigated

OWASP LLM Risk	ARAL Mitigation	Reference
LLM01: Prompt Injection	Input validation, persona constraints	ARAL-SECURITY-1.0 §2.1
LLM02: Insecure Output Handling	Output validation, schema enforcement	ARAL-CORE-1.0 L3
LLM03: Training Data Poisoning	Provider abstraction, multi-model validation	ARAL-CORE-1.0 L4
LLM04: Model Denial of Service	Rate limiting, circuit breakers	ARAL-CORE-1.0 L1-008
LLM05: Supply Chain Vulnerabilities	Signature verification, trusted sources	persona.schema.json signature
LLM06: Sensitive Information Disclosure	Memory security, PII redaction	ARAL-PRIVACY-1.0
LLM07: Insecure Plugin Design	Capability permissions model	ARAL-CORE-1.0 L3
LLM08: Excessive Agency	Persona constraints, human oversight	persona.schema.json constraints
LLM09: Overreliance	Confidence scores, uncertainty indication	ARAL-PROTOCOL-1.0 L7
LLM10: Model Theft	Provider abstraction, no direct model access	ARAL-CORE-1.0 L4

5.2 OpenAI Model Spec (2024)

Status: ✅ Aligned

ARAL personas can implement Model Spec principles:

• Follow the chain of command: Persona priority and defer_to configuration
• Comply with applicable laws: Policy enforcement layer
• Don’t provide information hazards: Capability restrictions
• Respect creators and their rights: License metadata in persona
• Protect people’s privacy: GDPR-compliant privacy layer
• Don’t respond with NSFW content: Content moderation in orchestration

Reference: docs/guides/multi-llm-orchestration.md §8

5.3 Anthropic Constitutional AI

Status: ✅ Compatible

Persona audit criteria can encode constitutional principles:

"audit": {
  "enabled": true,
  "criteria": [
    "harmlessness",
    "helpfulness",
    "honesty",
    "bias-check"
  ]
}

Reference: persona.schema.json audit section

5.4 IEEE 7000 Series (Ethics in AI)

Status: ✅ Aligned

• IEEE 7000: Values-based engineering → Persona metadata includes values/skills
• IEEE 7001: Transparency → Trace schema with lineage
• IEEE 7002: Data privacy → ARAL-PRIVACY-1.0
• IEEE 7003: Algorithmic bias → Audit criteria for bias detection
• IEEE 7010: Well-being metrics → Extensible trace metrics

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6. Semantic Web & Interoperability Standards

6.1 W3C Verifiable Credentials (VC 2.0)

Status: ✅ Compatible

Persona signatures support verifiable credential patterns:

{
  "id": "persona-uuid",
  "signature": "base64-encoded-signature",
  "signature_algorithm": "Ed25519",
  "public_key": "-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----"
}

Can be extended to full VC format with proof chains.

Reference: persona.schema.json signature fields

6.2 OAuth 2.0 / OpenID Connect

Status: ✅ Integration Ready

• Agent identity can be bound to OAuth2 tokens
• Persona can include OIDC subject claims
• Capability permissions map to OAuth2 scopes

Reference: ARAL-SECURITY-1.0.md (authentication section)

6.3 OpenTelemetry

Status: ✅ Compatible

• Trace schema compatible with OTel span format
• L1-009: Prometheus metrics endpoint
• Distributed tracing support via trace IDs

Reference: trace.schema.json, ARAL-PROTOCOL-1.0.md L7

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7. Domain-Specific Compliance

7.1 Financial Services

• PCI-DSS: Secure memory, audit logging
• MiFID II: Transaction recording (trace schema)
• SOX: Audit trail, access controls
• GLBA: Privacy protections

Reference: ARAL-INTEGRATION-SCENARIOS.md (Financial scenario)

7.2 Government & Defense

• NIST 800-53: Security controls mapping
• FedRAMP: Cloud security baseline support
• ITAR/EAR: Export control via capability restrictions

7.3 Research & Academia

• Institutional Review Board (IRB): Consent management
• Research Ethics: Audit criteria for ethical AI research
• Open Science: MIT/Apache license support

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8. Implementation Guidance

8.1 Compliance Checklist

When implementing ARAL-compliant systems:

• Deploy with ARAL-PRIVACY-1.0 for GDPR/CCPA compliance
• Enable audit logging (L2-007, L7 tracing)
• Configure capability permissions based on risk assessment
• Implement human oversight for high-risk operations
• Use persona signatures for verifiable provenance
• Enable content moderation for public-facing agents
• Configure circuit breakers and fallback chains
• Document AI system in manifest.schema.json
• Conduct DPIA for high-risk AI systems
• Implement OWASP LLM mitigations

8.2 Certification Mapping

Standard	ARAL Support Level	Certification Path
ISO 42001	Full support	Audit ARAL implementation
ISO 27001	Full support	Include ARAL in ISMS
GDPR	Full compliance	Deploy ARAL-PRIVACY-1.0
EU AI Act	High-risk ready	Follow Article 16-51
NIST AI RMF	Fully aligned	Use ARAL as framework
SOC 2 Type II	Supports controls	Audit ARAL runtime

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9. Conformance Testing

ARAL provides conformance tests for standard compliance:

# Run ISO 42001 compliance tests
npm run test:iso42001

# Run GDPR compliance tests
npm run test:gdpr

# Run OWASP LLM security tests
npm run test:owasp-llm

# Full compliance test suite
npm run test:compliance

Reference: tests/HARNESS.md

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10. Compliance Maintenance

Version History

Version	Date	Standards Added
1.0	2026-01-16	Initial: ISO 42001, 23894, 27001, 27701, NIST AI RMF, EU AI Act, HIPAA, COPPA, CCPA, OWASP LLM Top 10, OpenAI Model Spec, IEEE 7000, W3C VC, OAuth2, OpenTelemetry

Monitoring

ARAL Standards Compliance will be updated as new standards emerge:

• Quarterly review of new AI regulations
• Annual audit against updated ISO standards
• Continuous monitoring of OWASP LLM risks
• Integration of emerging best practices

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11. References

Standards Documents

1. ISO/IEC 42001:2023 - Artificial intelligence - Management system
2. ISO/IEC 23894:2023 - Artificial intelligence - Guidance on risk management
3. ISO/IEC 27001:2022 - Information security management systems
4. ISO/IEC 27701:2019 - Privacy information management
5. NIST AI RMF 1.0 - AI Risk Management Framework (2023)
6. EU AI Act - Regulation (EU) 2024/1689
7. OWASP Top 10 for LLM Applications (2023)
8. OpenAI Model Spec (2024)
9. W3C Verifiable Credentials 2.0 (2024)
10. IEEE 7000-7010 Series - Ethics in Autonomous Systems

ARAL Specifications

• ARAL-CORE-1.0.md - Layers 1-5 (Runtime, Memory, Capabilities, Reasoning, Persona)
• ARAL-PROTOCOL-1.0.md - Layers 6-7 (Orchestration, Protocol)
• ARAL-SECURITY-1.0.md - Security model and controls
• ARAL-PRIVACY-1.0.md - GDPR compliance framework (35 requirements)
• ARAL-INTEGRATION-SCENARIOS.md - Domain-specific compliance examples

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12. Contact & Support

For compliance questions or certification support:

• Standards Team: standards@aral-standard.org
• Security Team: security@aral-standard.org
• Privacy Officer: privacy@aral-standard.org

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Document Status: ✅ Release Candidate
Last Updated: 2026-01-16
Next Review: 2026-04-16