The “Catala” project receives the Scientific Interdisciplinarity Award

Led by a consortium headed by Denis Merigoux, digital project manager at Inria, Liane Huttner, lecturer in private law and criminal sciences at the Centre for Studies and Research in Intellectual Property Law (Cerdi) of the Faculté Jean Monnet (Law, Economics, Management) at Université Paris-Saclay, and Marie Alauzen, CNRS research fellow at Université Paris Dauphine-PSL, the “Catala” project, which combines theoretical computer science, digital law, and social sciences, won the 2026 Scientific Interdisciplinarity Award. The jury selected it from 48 applications in recognition of a completely novel approach that translates legal texts into computer code to ensure faithful and understandable application.

The “Catala” project addresses a major democratic challenge: ensuring that laws are correctly applied in the software that calculates taxes, social benefits, and administrative entitlements. By making the translation of legal rules explicit, Catala increases the reliability of automated administrative decisions, particularly in these areas, while also enhancing algorithmic transparency.

The Catala language allows the legal rule and its computer translation to be written side by side, creating a shared workspace where lawyers and computer scientists can confront and adjust their respective interpretations in real time. Designed to overcome the limitations of historical systems, it relies on formal methods to ensure a precise correspondence between the legislator’s intent and its technical implementation, without distortion or approximation. This approach supports seamless integration into modern software architectures and helps strengthen digital sovereignty. Two proofs of concept have already been carried out with the Caisse nationale des allocations familiales (CNAF) and the Direction générale des Finances publiques (DGFiP).

Already the source of scientific publications and international collaborations, Catala could eventually accelerate, clarify, and secure administrative and judicial procedures, to the benefit of citizens.