Adjective

regulation (not comparable)

1. In conformity with applicable rules and regulations.
   • 1969 Thomas Wiseman, The Quick and the Dead, page 328:

     It is regulation that these directives are to be destroyed on receipt.

   • 2004 Marc Miller, The Kettles and the Keeps: Ghosts at War, page 88:

     "The hat is regulation as well, I assume."

   • 2007 Jim Butcher, Captain's Fury, page 48:

     It is the responsibility of every legionare to be sure that he is regulation height as well.

Noun

regulation (plural regulations)

1. The act of regulating or the condition of being regulated
2. A law or administrative rule, issued by an organization, used to guide or prescribe the conduct of members of that organization.

   Army regulations state a soldier AWOL over 30 days is a deserter.

Derived terms

• bank regulation
• financial regulation

Related terms

• rule
• ruler
• regulate
• regulator
• coregulation
• deregulation

Regulation is "controlling human or societal behavior by rules or restrictions." Regulation can take many forms: legal restrictions promulgated by a government authority, self-regulation by an industry such as through a trade association, social regulation (e.g. norms), co-regulation and market regulation. One can consider regulation as actions of conduct imposing sanctions (such as a fine). This action of administrative law, or implementing regulatory law, may be contrasted with statutory or case law.

Regulation mandated by a state attempts to produce outcomes which might not otherwise occur, produce or prevent outcomes in different places to what might otherwise occur, or produce or prevent outcomes in different timescales than would otherwise occur. In this way, regulations can be seen as implementation artifacts of policy statements. Common examples of regulation include controls on market entries, prices, wages, Development approvals, pollution effects, employment for certain people in certain industries, standards of production for certain goods, the military forces and services. The economics of imposing or removing regulations relating to markets is analysed in regulatory economics.