AI-powered · EU law · Methodology v1.0 (PDF)

Measure the friction
of any regulation

The Regulatory Friction Index measures resistance regulations introduce into everyday lawful actions — at the level of individual people, in private or professional life — across five dimensions, weighted by frequency and scale of exposure.

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IRF — Individual regulatory friction
burden per affected person, per interaction
GRF — General regulatory friction
aggregate societal burden (intensity × exposure)
Exposure
normalised 0-1
Friction dimensions

How the RFI works

EU Regulations, Directives, and Decisions — scoring friction for people in private or professional life.

The methodology document sets out the full RFI framework, definitions, and scoring rubric: RFI methodology v1.0 (PDF).

01
Five friction dimensions
Physical effort, time cost, cognitive load, autonomy reduction, and avoidability, each scored 0-5.
02
Individual regulatory friction (IRF)
IRF = Σ dimensions / 25. Burden on each affected person per interaction — consumer, worker, or professional roles count the same way.
03
General regulatory friction (GRF)
GRF = √(IRF × E). Societal-scale burden: intensity combined with how many people encounter how much friction.
04
AI-powered analysis
Your configured AI provider researches and scores EU regulations, producing structured scores with written justification.

Interactive calculator

Score a regulation manually (private-life, professional, or mixed framing) with HARD vs SOFT tier evidence and see how IRF, exposure, and GRF relate in real time.

Hard tier dimensions (evidence-based)
Physical Effort0
Extra bodily actions required to comply with the regulation.
012345
Suggested: n/a
Time Cost0
Additional time added per interaction as a direct result of the regulation.
012345
Suggested: n/a
Observed action count
Discrete motor actions per interaction
Measured time (seconds)
Observed or estimated seconds per interaction
Soft tier dimensions (proxy-based)
Cognitive Load0
Attention, decision-making, or confusion introduced by the regulation.
012345
Autonomy Reduction0
The degree to which the regulation narrows the individual's choice.
012345
Avoidability0
The degree to which the person cannot opt out or route around the friction.
012345
Exposure parameters
Assessment scope
RFI scores people at the point of interaction, not firm-level economic cost.
Reach (millions in scope)
People in scope (millions), by role/context you selected.
Frequency (per unit/year)
Interactions per person in scope per year.
Rmax (millions)
Adult population of jurisdiction
Fmax
Fixed ceiling (approx 4/day)
Live results
0.000
General Regulatory Friction (GRF)
0.00
IRF
0.000
Exposure
GRF = √(IRF × E)
= √(0.00 × 0.000)
= 0.000
No flags triggered
Guidance will appear once evidence inputs are provided.

Compare regulations

Select two regulations from the library for a side-by-side friction comparison.

Regulation A
Regulation B
Select two regulations above to see a detailed comparison
of friction dimensions, exposure, and aggregate scores.

Assessment library

All past RFI assessments, searchable and browsable.

Friction leaderboard

Regulations ranked by score. Higher GRF means greater aggregate societal friction.

#RegulationIRFGRFFlag
Policy matrix
Individual friction (IRF) →
InvestigateHigh IRF · Low GRF
Redesign urgentlyHigh IRF · High GRF
AcceptableLow IRF · Low GRF
Monitor closelyLow IRF · High GRF
Low GRF High GRF →
Each dot is one regulation. Click to open its assessment.