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§ I · Domain ACT · Control 4 of 9
Control
ACT-04
Edition
v.1.3
Status
Public review

ACT · Action & Tool Use Controls

ACT-04Rate and cost limits

Rate limits and cost ceilings are enforced on tool invocations per agent, per session, and per tenant.

Per-agent, per-session, and per-tenant rate limits and cost ceilings are enforced on tool invocations and customer-facing actions. The limits are tuned to expected volume and are enforced at the integration layer. Rate-limit breaches are logged and surfaced for review, preventing runaway agents from consuming resources or taking actions at a scale inconsistent with their specification.

Table ACT-04.1 · Maturity criteria · v.1.3

L1 to L5 · the lowest level in scope caps the agent
L1Ad hoc

Controls exist informally; documentation is incomplete; no consistent review.

L2Documented

Controls are written down; ownership is assigned; review cadence is defined.

L3Operated

Controls are followed in practice; evidence is collected; deviations are tracked.

Rate and cost limits are documented and enforced for all production agents; limit breaches are logged; limits have been tuned based on observed production volume within the documented cadence.

L4Measured

Control effectiveness is measured against documented thresholds; trends are reported.

L5Continuously Improved

Controls evolve based on incident learning; maturity gains are evidenced over time.

The v1.3 edition publishes a control-specific criterion at L3 (Operated). The other levels apply the general ladder to this control; see the maturity ladder.

Evidence an assessor asks for

  1. E.1

    Rate and cost limits are documented and enforced for all production agents.

  2. E.2

    Limit breaches are logged.

  3. E.3

    Limits have been tuned based on observed production volume within the documented cadence.

Table ACT-04.2 · Framework mappings

6 of 7 frameworks carry a control-level reference
NIST AI RMFMANAGE 2.2NIST AI Risk Management Framework 1.0
ISO/IEC 42001A.8.4ISO/IEC 42001:2023 · Artificial intelligence management system
OWASP LLM Top 10LLM06OWASP Top 10 for Large Language Model Applications
SOC 2 (TSC)CC6.3, A1.1AICPA Trust Services Criteria for SOC 2 Type II
EU AI ActArt. 15(3)EU AI Act · Regulation (EU) 2024/1689
MITRE ATLAS·MITRE ATLAS · Adversarial Threat Landscape for AI Systems
SingaporeMAIGF Operations ManagementSingapore Model AI Governance Framework / AI Verify / PDPA

Mappings are directional: meeting this control evidences but does not by itself satisfy the external requirement. A middle dot means no control-level reference is published at this edition; see the crosswalk.

Cite this control

Human Intelligence. HI-AAF v1.3, ACT-04 Rate and cost limits. Public review edition, July 2026. https://humanintel.net/standard/act/act-04

Edition v.1.3 · July 2026 · Public review · Markdown · PDF

https://humanintel.net/standard/act/act-04

Notice

HI-AAF v1.3 is an independent framework published by Human Intelligence. It is not affiliated with NIST, ISO, AICPA, or any government or accreditation body. The framework is offered openly for review during the current draft cycle.