Template:Laws and regulations: Difference between revisions

“[[Regulation]]s” are supplementary rules [[promulgate]]d by the executive (or some other lucky punter — a local securities regulator, or stock exchange — to whom the legislature has [[Delegate|delegated]] that power). In this sense, regulations tend to be more fiddly, pernickety, and liable to periodic change — they don’t need to pass through two houses and receive royal assent after all — but by the lights of an affected subject, they carry no less weight, are no less binding, and for their breach sanctions are no less severe. So, really, the distinction, in a legal contract, is fussy.

'''[[EU Regulation]]s''': Confusingly, in the [[European Union|European]] context, an [[EU Regulation|EU ''regulation'']] (by contrast to an [[EU Directive|EU ''directive'']]) is quite a different animal: far from being some capricious executive ornamentation on a domestic law, an [[EU Regulation]] is an ''ur''-[[law]]: it applies, directly, as a law of the land in all EEA jurisdictions, when declared by the European Council in Parliament, without the need for adoption by local law. This is partly what drove the Brexiteers mad. ''Those onion-munching Europeans can directly pass laws over we Brits!''<ref>Well, the British would have to vote for the laws, of course, so a bogus argument, but [[Brexit means Brexit]].</ref>  

'''[[EU Directive]]s''': An EU Directive does not apply in an EEA country until adopted into local law, although the local legislature may be obliged by EU rules to adopt it within a certain time frame.