Summary

Agents perform activities (or functions) within specific contexts that establish the conditions for the performance of the activities. Such conditions may form an important facet of the context for understanding the records that document the activity performance. They are the rules that govern the performance of any given activity, providing a source of authority for carrying out the activity and imposing constraints on how the activity may be performed.
An essential condition is that an Agent has the authority to perform a specific activity, or a mandate. Mandates may be explicit or implicit. In some contexts, for example within governments, militaries, and
corporations, authority devolves from the top down. In such contexts, explicit mandates are necessary.
In other contexts, the delegation of authority to perform an activity may be implicit - for instance, it may be derived from prevailing socio-cultural norms and/or community expectations.
The instruments (legal or not) that explicitly delegate the authority to perform a specific activity broadly may also provide additional detailed conditions for the performance of the activity. For example, legislation that may establish an agency to perform the activity of monitoring water resources in a
particular jurisdiction may also include specific instructions on how the process or processes are to be performed to fulfill the responsibility. Alternatively, the mandate may be broad and the specific processes employed may be determined by the agent to which the authority and activity are delegated.
The conditions that govern or influence the performance of an activity may derive from multiple sources. In representative democracies, for example, constitutions define the various components of the
government, the authority of each, and elections populate the various groups and positions. Such rules and conditions may also be derived from applicable international and national standards, industry and
professional codes of practice, by-laws, approved procedures manuals, etc. The authority of each component and position is thus derived from more than one source. For example, within the context of
an archival institution, a person occupying the position of processing archivist will have a particular work assignment. Authority for performing the work will be enumerated in a formally-approved description of the responsibilities of the position. The person will also have been formally trained as an archivist making them qualified for the position, that is, he or she will have occupational training and skills.
Professional principles and standards will also provide conditions for the performance of the activities assigned to the position.

Details

The Records in Context - Conceptual Model v. 0.2 (preview) Dezember 2019 defines and describes a Rule as follows:
Definition
Conditions under which an Activity is performed by an Agent, including the authority to perform the Activity, or specifications with respect to how the Activity is performed.

Scope Note
A Rule may be unwritten or written or otherwise documented. Unwritten rules may include though are not limited to the following: social mores, customs, or community expectations. Written rules may include though are not limited to the following:
constitutions, legislation, acts (legal), statutes, legal codes, ordinances, charters, mission statements, regulations, policies, procedures, instructions, codes of conduct or ethics,
professional standards, work assignments or work plans.
The source or sources of some Rules are external to the Agent (for example, expressed in elections, social mores, customs, community expectations, laws, regulations, standards and best practice codes), while others are expressed within the Agent's immediate context (for example, policies, or written or verbal instructions).
The evidence for identifying Rules may be found in their entirety in one documentary source (for example, a law or regulation) or may be found in two or more sources.
Rule should not be confused with the one or more documentary sources that serve as evidence of its identity. A documentary source is a Record.

Examples
Rules set out in Records in Contexts: A Conceptual Model for Archival Description, a document published by the International Council on Archives (ICA) which defines how an
archivist describes archival material.
Constitución Española del 27 de diciembre de 1978; Fuero de Guadalajara de 1219; Manual de Procedimientos de Administrativos de la Universidad Pública de Navarra.
Decreto n. 8816/1882 sobre as declarações exigidas aos estrangeiros no ato de visita da Polícia

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