Semantic issues in the verification of agent communication languages

This article examines the issue of developing semantics for agent communica tion languages. In particular, it considers the problem of giving a verifia ble semantics for such languages-a semantics where conformance (or otherwis e) to the semantics could be determined by an independent observer. These p roblems are precisely defined in an abstract formal framework. Using this f ramework, a number of example agent communication frameworks are defined. A discussion is then presented, of the various options open to designers of agent communication languages, with respect the problem of verifying confor mance.