Difference Between an Act and a Regulation

Act vs Regulation
In every country, state & national government bodies and organizations are responsible in the passing of various kinds of legislation that are meant to be observed by certain groups of individuals. In fact, every single activity that is done in business or even in normal, everyday life, legislation are observed and practiced. These legislation of a particular city, state or nation should be followed by everyone regardless of whether some one has lived there for his/her entire life or simply just visiting.

Among the different legislative terminologies, the most common ones that are used are the terms ‘act’ and ‘regulation.’ Unless you have earned a law degree, these two terminologies may appear to be the same, and it would not be uncommon that these two terms are often interchanged. But in reality, these two terminologies are extremely different.

A law is considered to be an act when it has already been duly passed by a legislative body. This legislative body may be statewide or nationwide. It is for this reason that certain acts vary from one state to another. The act is served to the legislative body that approves it in the form of a bill, before it is passed. This then undergoes three different readings where the members of the legislative body would read through the entire bill that is passed and then scrutinize it with regards to its effectiveness and possible loopholes. If after these three readings and careful scrutiny, the bill is then approved and then published to the groups of people that it would affect.

A regulation, on the other hand, is one that is approved by a group of individuals based on an act that has already been passed. These regulations are based on the act that has been approved and served as a means to make the act a lot easier to follow and adhere to. For this reason, one act can have numerous regulations.

The best way to fully understand the difference between an act and a regulation is through the use of an example. One of the acts that are observed in most states is that you are supposed to have a driver’s license in order to be authorized to drive any vehicle. A fitting regulation here is, when your car is towed and you would need to retrieve it from the duly assigned parking authority, you need to present  an unexpired driver’s license  before the car is released back to you. This regulation is done to ensure that the act that all drivers must have an unexpired driver’s license to be allowed to drive is observed and followed.

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