diff --git a/utils/apparmor/aare.py b/utils/apparmor/aare.py
index 27012d050..c38423baf 100644
--- a/utils/apparmor/aare.py
+++ b/utils/apparmor/aare.py
@@ -47,6 +47,15 @@ class AARE:
         """returns a "printable" representation of object"""
         return type(self).__name__ + "('%s')" % self.regex
 
+    def __eq__(self, other):
+        """check if the given object is equal
+           Note that the == check is more strict than is_equal() - it doesn't accept if other is a string instead of AARE"""
+
+        if isinstance(other, type(self)):
+            return self.regex == other.regex
+
+        return False
+
     def __deepcopy__(self, memo):
         # thanks to http://bugs.python.org/issue10076, we need to implement this ourself
         if self.orig_regex:
diff --git a/utils/test/test-aare.py b/utils/test/test-aare.py
index 4e51a143b..1593bfca2 100644
--- a/utils/test/test-aare.py
+++ b/utils/test/test-aare.py
@@ -211,6 +211,27 @@ class TestAAREIsEqual(AATest):
             aare_obj.is_equal(42)
 
 
+class TestAAREIs_eq(AATest):
+    tests = (
+        # regex     is path?  check for  expected
+        (('/foo',   True,     '/foo'),   True),
+        (('@{foo}', True,     '@{foo}'), True),
+        (('/**',    True,     '/foo'),   False),
+    )
+
+    def _run_test(self, params, expected):
+        regex, is_path, check_for = params
+        aare_obj_1 = AARE(regex, is_path)
+        aare_obj_2 = AARE(check_for, is_path)
+
+        self.assertEqual(aare_obj_1 == aare_obj_2, expected)
+        self.assertFalse(aare_obj_1 == check_for)
+
+    def test_is_eq_invalid_1(self):
+        aare_obj = AARE('/foo/**', True)
+        self.assertFalse(aare_obj == 42)
+
+
 class TestAAREIsPath(AATest):
     tests = (
         # regex       is path?  match for   expected