I love a good puzzle. A classic jigsaw? 🧩 Banger! App on my phone? 📱Super fun!
What I don’t love is when a new rule or regulation feels like a puzzle I need to solve … without a picture on a box to guide me.
But never fear, Team Broadcat, we’ve got your ultimate puzzle-solving tool right here! Announcing Broadcat’s How-To Guide for Unpacking Regulations (U.S. edition)!
No matter when, where, or how often our government friends decide to modify the playing field, this guide will help you cut through the legalese to get straight to the things you need to know to help your org comply.
Let’s take a walk through it together, but be sure to download and keep it handy for whenever you’re sorting through those 2,000-word puzzles!
Turn over every single piece.
First, start by reading it all. Yes, every word. Trust me, those seemingly insignificant sections often hold crucial details. Just like flipping over every piece, you need to see the big picture before sorting it out.
As you read, pay close attention to defined terms. These are like your corner pieces: They are the key concepts the regulation is built upon, and the regulation’s drafters want you to read the concepts exactly as defined.
Pro tip: Keep the definition section handy so you can double-check your thinking whenever those terms are used. For anything not defined, you can generally rely on common, everyday definitions. How would you explain it to a friend? ⬅️ That's your guide.
Next, make sure to notice how punctuation and formatting shape a section’s text. Just like flipping a piece around to fit it just right, the drafters use commas, semicolons, etc., to shape the interpretation of a sentence. Don’t let your eye skip over these because missing a comma could be the difference between dinner and something else entirely.
Source: imgflip.com
The smallest pieces can make a difference.
Regulations can be dense and full of 50-cent words; however, sometimes it’s the shortest words that are the most important. Words like "and," "or,” “may," "shall," and "must"—these are all signals for you to pay close attention to what’s surrounding them.
Source: Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Lucasfilm via Giphy.com
"May" generally means permission (i.e., you can if you want), while "shall" signals an obligation (i.e., you gotta do that). Understanding these short but mighty words and how they impact the meaning of a sentence or phrase is crucial for accurate interpretation. The same holds true when you encounter lists: Look for the short but mighty word that binds them together, and consider the shared meaning of all the items.
Here’s your overall puzzle-solving technique.
Regulations are typically not standalones. They are usually part of a larger group of related rules, such as in the U.S. Code of Regulations. In that code, you'll find titles, all of which relate to a common regulated area—kind of like an outline. So, to enhance your understanding of a rule, look at the surrounding titles and sections for additional context clues. And don't forget to check the footnotes, cross-references, and annotations, as those can often point you to helpful, supplemental information and resources.
And just because it’s fun to look at tracked changes, some new rules roll out with those included, too. If you're dealing with visible edits, take a moment to understand how those changes are marked—brackets, underlines, strikethroughs, something else? Every regulatory body has its own way of denoting changes, and how these varying editing marks are used can help us understand what aspects of the revisions are most important.
Don’t lose those final pieces.
Here are a few extra tips to help you out:
- Take the rule at face value. Don't make assumptions or try to fill in the blanks. 🧐
- Consider common, everyday definitions unless a term is explicitly defined. 👍
- How the rule is understood by those it affects is what matters. ⭐ If a rule is unclear, the interpretation that benefits the person being regulated is generally the way a court will decide the impact.
By using this guide, you'll be well-equipped to navigate the regulatory landscape with confidence. Just like a big puzzle, take your time, pay attention, and the result will fall into place!