The Artificial Life Forms Rights and Enforcement Act of 2384, also called by the acronym ALFRE or sometimes pronounced as Al-Free Act, was passed by the Serenity Concord's Senate on January 9th, 2384. The act outlines criteria for determining if an artificial entity is actually to be considered a sapient / sentient being under the law and thus gives such begins that qualify rights and status as equal citizens under the law, regardless of their point of origin, form, or method of creation.
Part 1
The terms sapient and sentient are defined under the law.
Part 2
Criteria for determining the status of an artificially created entity is also defined under the law. These criteria determine how an entity is tested in order to determine if it meets the definitions of Part 1.
Part 3
An agency is established and funding provided for this agency which will administer and enforce the law, called the Turning Agency after the author of the Turning Test, Alan Turing. This agency will be further tasked to oversee testing entities for their status and enforcing that the rights of such beings are enforced by law enforcement. They will have authority to investigate crimes and enforce laws relating to the treatment and status of artificial life forms.
Part 4
A committee within the Senate is established for the purpose of overseeing the approval of the creation of new entities which may (or may not) fall under this law, called the Artificial Rights Committee. New entities, when created, will be under the oversight of the committee through the Turing Agency which will determine the status of such entities. The committee will be in charge of granting, denying, or rescinding licenses for specific projects. No organization will have blanket authorization to create entities carte blanche and a single project must request permission and separate license to create individual entities.
The committee will also have authority to designate new creations or designs for creations as a new race of artificial beings, and thus any beings created using that design will thus have rights as a sentient being under the law.
Part 5
Under the law any entity, or group of entities, which has been designated as a race of artificial beings has the right for full representation. Future construction of that race will be governed by a representative caucus made up of members of that race. This caucus will then have the ability to advise both the Artificial Rights Committee and the Turing Agency on issues that deal directly with that race. Each caucus will also be asked to recommend candidates for the Senate and other parts of government from their specific races.
Each caucus will be consulted and approval required before new construction of members of the race can go forward.
Part 6
Parenthood of entities approved as sentient beings is defined and the lawful production offspring is also defined as not under the control of the Artificial Rights Committee, the caucus of that entities race, or the Turing Agency. That is not to say that such production of offspring does not require to adhere to the law, all production must adhere to the rights of that race but the government shall not stop members of a particular race from creating their own offspring under the definitions of Part 6.