# 6.4 Action control processing, ISO 42102

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  6.4 Clause

  

# Action control processing

  The group covers how the system chooses or steers action: planning, decision, tool calls, robotic actuation, workflow steps and the handover to a person. The description is meant to say what the system can change in the world and under what permission.

  
- capabilities group

- ISO/IEC DIS 42102

- Last updated: 2026-10-22

  
    

## What this settles

Action is where a wrong output becomes a wrong event. The capability claim has to include the permission boundary and the stop condition, not only the decision quality.

    

## Who it binds

The organisation, as a method choice. Safety, consumer, employment and sector rules may govern the action itself; the framework only makes the action describable.

    

## What to do in your practice

Record the action space, the permissions, the approval gates and the stop conditions. For agentic systems, record which tools can be called and what they can change. Test the stop, not only the task.

    

## Evidence an auditor or regulator asks for

      Three artefacts that make this unit checkableAn action space and permission matrix.States what the system may change.
A stop-condition test with the observed result.Proves the boundary holds under pressure.
An approval-gate record for a consequential action.Shows a human decision was captured.

    Ask your teamWhat is the most consequential action this system can take without a person approving it?

    

## Common gaps this page catches

- The action space is described as "workflow automation" with no permission detail.

- No stop test exists, so the boundary is assumed.

- A tool call can change a record and the change is not attributed to a person or a policy.

    

## What to prepare before publication

Write the action space and run one stop test. If the system cannot be stopped cleanly, that is a release issue before it is a documentation issue.

    

## How to test it here

Take one live system rather than a template, find the field or sentence where Action control processing is used, and put this page beside it. Record the answer, the artefact and the date. A glossary entry on its own is an intention; a dated record beside a live artefact is evidence.

    

## What this page does not claim

The page does not reproduce the draft, does not know the descriptor wording that the public preview withholds, and does not certify the system or the organisation. It states the unit at the claim level "capabilities group" and stops where the public record stops.

    

## Common questions

    What does Action control processing mean in ISO/IEC DIS 42102?
The group covers how the system chooses or steers action: planning, decision, tool calls, robotic actuation, workflow steps and the handover to a person. The description is meant to say what the system can change in the world and under what permission.
What evidence should we keep for 6.4?
An action space and permission matrix. A stop-condition test with the observed result.
Is Action control processing a requirement?
No. The draft is a descriptive framework. It sets no management system requirement and no conformity test. It becomes binding only when a contract, a regulator or a management system adopts it.

    

## Related units

    
- 6 AI system capabilities dimension

- 6.1 General

- 5.2 Traditional AI

- 5.5 Hybrid AI

  

  
    
      

## Source and claim

      ISO/IEC DIS 42102, Clause 6.4, Action control processing

      Open the ISO public entry

      https://www.iso.org/standard/86898.html

      Retrieved 22 October 2026.

      The heading is in the public preview; the descriptor body is not.

    

    
      

## The record

      Stage 40.60, Close of voting, recorded 8 September 2026.

      Planning date 16 September 2027, an estimate. See the basis.

      The draft record · How it is built

    

    
      

## Check your own system

      Build the method and capability matrix from ten answers and see which cells still need evidence.

      Run the free check

    

  

Nothing here is guessed while you wait. Every line is written from the public ISO record and the public preview, and points to the exact clause it came from. How the record is built.

Last updated: 2026-10-22 · Markdown version · Check your system

Source: https://iso-42102-revision-checker.theartofservice.com/capabilities/action-control-processing/