diff --git a/owners-common/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/owners/common/PluginSettings.java b/owners-common/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/owners/common/PluginSettings.java
index ef60d58..26b0f62 100644
--- a/owners-common/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/owners/common/PluginSettings.java
+++ b/owners-common/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/owners/common/PluginSettings.java
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
   private final String ownersPluginName;
   private final Config globalPluginConfig;
   private final boolean expandGroups;
+  private final boolean enableSubmitRequirement;
 
   @Inject
   public PluginSettings(PluginConfigFactory configFactory, @PluginName String ownersPluginName) {
@@ -45,6 +46,8 @@
         ImmutableSet.copyOf(globalPluginConfig.getStringList("owners", "disable", "branch"));
 
     this.expandGroups = globalPluginConfig.getBoolean("owners", "expandGroups", true);
+    this.enableSubmitRequirement =
+        globalPluginConfig.getBoolean("owners", "enableSubmitRequirement", false);
   }
 
   /**
@@ -75,6 +78,11 @@
     return expandGroups;
   }
 
+  /** @return <code>true</code> when OWNERS file should be evaluated through the submit rule */
+  public boolean enableSubmitRequirement() {
+    return enableSubmitRequirement;
+  }
+
   /**
    * Project-specific config of the owners plugin.
    *
diff --git a/owners/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/owners/OwnersModule.java b/owners/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/owners/OwnersModule.java
index e3a915b..fe6d325 100644
--- a/owners/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/owners/OwnersModule.java
+++ b/owners/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/owners/OwnersModule.java
@@ -15,16 +15,35 @@
 
 package com.googlesource.gerrit.owners;
 
+import com.google.common.flogger.FluentLogger;
 import com.google.gerrit.extensions.registration.DynamicSet;
 import com.google.gerrit.server.rules.PredicateProvider;
 import com.google.inject.AbstractModule;
+import com.google.inject.Inject;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.owners.common.PluginSettings;
 
 public class OwnersModule extends AbstractModule {
+  private static final FluentLogger logger = FluentLogger.forEnclosingClass();
+
+  private final PluginSettings pluginSettings;
+
+  @Inject
+  OwnersModule(PluginSettings pluginSettings) {
+    this.pluginSettings = pluginSettings;
+  }
+
   @Override
   protected void configure() {
     DynamicSet.bind(binder(), PredicateProvider.class)
         .to(OwnerPredicateProvider.class)
         .asEagerSingleton();
     install(new OwnersRestApiModule());
+
+    if (pluginSettings.enableSubmitRequirement()) {
+      install(new OwnersSubmitRequirement.OwnersSubmitRequirementModule());
+    } else {
+      logger.atInfo().log(
+          "OwnersSubmitRequirement is disabled therefore it will not be evaluated.");
+    }
   }
 }
diff --git a/owners/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/owners/OwnersSubmitRequirement.java b/owners/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/owners/OwnersSubmitRequirement.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..49380a3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/owners/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/owners/OwnersSubmitRequirement.java
@@ -0,0 +1,147 @@
+// Copyright (C) 2022 The Android Open Source Project
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package com.googlesource.gerrit.owners;
+
+import static com.google.gerrit.server.project.ProjectCache.illegalState;
+import static java.util.Objects.requireNonNull;
+
+import com.google.common.flogger.FluentLogger;
+import com.google.gerrit.entities.Change;
+import com.google.gerrit.entities.Project;
+import com.google.gerrit.entities.SubmitRecord;
+import com.google.gerrit.extensions.annotations.Exports;
+import com.google.gerrit.server.git.GitRepositoryManager;
+import com.google.gerrit.server.patch.DiffNotAvailableException;
+import com.google.gerrit.server.patch.DiffOperations;
+import com.google.gerrit.server.patch.filediff.FileDiffOutput;
+import com.google.gerrit.server.project.ProjectCache;
+import com.google.gerrit.server.project.ProjectState;
+import com.google.gerrit.server.query.change.ChangeData;
+import com.google.gerrit.server.rules.SubmitRule;
+import com.google.inject.AbstractModule;
+import com.google.inject.Inject;
+import com.google.inject.Singleton;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.owners.common.Accounts;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.owners.common.PathOwners;
+import com.googlesource.gerrit.owners.common.PluginSettings;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.Optional;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.ObjectId;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Repository;
+
+@Singleton
+public class OwnersSubmitRequirement implements SubmitRule {
+  public static class OwnersSubmitRequirementModule extends AbstractModule {
+    @Override
+    public void configure() {
+      bind(SubmitRule.class)
+          .annotatedWith(Exports.named("OwnersSubmitRequirement"))
+          .to(OwnersSubmitRequirement.class);
+    }
+  }
+
+  private static final FluentLogger logger = FluentLogger.forEnclosingClass();
+
+  private final PluginSettings pluginSettings;
+  private final ProjectCache projectCache;
+  private final Accounts accounts;
+  private final GitRepositoryManager repoManager;
+  private final DiffOperations diffOperations;
+
+  @Inject
+  OwnersSubmitRequirement(
+      PluginSettings pluginSettings,
+      ProjectCache projectCache,
+      Accounts accounts,
+      GitRepositoryManager repoManager,
+      DiffOperations diffOperations) {
+    this.pluginSettings = pluginSettings;
+    this.projectCache = projectCache;
+    this.accounts = accounts;
+    this.repoManager = repoManager;
+    this.diffOperations = diffOperations;
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public Optional<SubmitRecord> evaluate(ChangeData cd) {
+    requireNonNull(cd, "changeData");
+
+    Change change = cd.change();
+    if (change.isClosed()) {
+      logger.atInfo().log("Change is closed therefore OWNERS file based requirement is skipped.");
+      return Optional.empty();
+    }
+
+    Project.NameKey project = cd.project();
+    ProjectState projectState = projectCache.get(project).orElseThrow(illegalState(project));
+    if (projectState.hasPrologRules()) {
+      logger.atInfo().atMostEvery(1, TimeUnit.DAYS).log(
+          "Project has prolog rules enabled. It may interfere with submit requirement evaluation.");
+    }
+
+    String branch = change.getDest().branch();
+    List<Project.NameKey> parents =
+        Optional.ofNullable(projectState.getProject().getParent())
+            .map(Arrays::asList)
+            .orElse(Collections.emptyList());
+
+    try (Repository repo = repoManager.openRepository(project)) {
+      PathOwners pathOwners =
+          new PathOwners(
+              accounts,
+              repoManager,
+              repo,
+              parents,
+              pluginSettings.isBranchDisabled(branch) ? Optional.empty() : Optional.of(branch),
+              getDiff(project, cd.currentPatchSet().commitId()),
+              pluginSettings.expandGroups());
+
+      if (pathOwners.getFileOwners().isEmpty()) {
+        logger.atInfo().log("Change has no file owners defined. Skipping submit requirement.");
+        return Optional.empty();
+      }
+
+      logger.atInfo().log("TODO: check if change is approved.");
+    } catch (IOException e) {
+      logger.atSevere().withCause(e).log("TODO: handle exceptions");
+      throw new IllegalStateException(
+          "Unable to open repository while evaluating owners requirement", e);
+    } catch (DiffNotAvailableException e) {
+      logger.atSevere().withCause(e).log("TODO: handle exceptions");
+      throw new IllegalStateException("Unable to get diff while evaluating owners requirement", e);
+    }
+
+    return Optional.empty();
+  }
+
+  private Map<String, FileDiffOutput> getDiff(Project.NameKey project, ObjectId revision)
+      throws DiffNotAvailableException {
+    requireNonNull(project, "project");
+    requireNonNull(revision, "revision");
+
+    // Use parentNum=0 to do the comparison against the default base.
+    // For non-merge commits the default base is the only parent (aka parent 1, initial commits
+    // are not supported).
+    // For merge commits the default base is the auto-merge commit which should be used as base IOW
+    // only the changes from it should be reviewed as changes against the parent 1 were already
+    // reviewed
+    return diffOperations.listModifiedFilesAgainstParent(project, revision, 0);
+  }
+}
diff --git a/owners/src/main/resources/Documentation/config.md b/owners/src/main/resources/Documentation/config.md
index 92b7d5e..f1e8033 100644
--- a/owners/src/main/resources/Documentation/config.md
+++ b/owners/src/main/resources/Documentation/config.md
@@ -25,6 +25,17 @@
   expandGroups = false
 ```
 
+owners.enableSubmitRequirement
+:   If set to `true` the approvals are evaluated through the owners submit rule without a need of
+    prolog predicate being added to a project. Defaults to `false`.
+
+Example:
+
+```
+[owners]
+  enableSubmitRequirement = true
+```
+
 ## Configuration
 
 Owner approval is determined based on OWNERS files located in the same