Reading regulation

Let's face it: legalese can difficult to read and is rarely very interesting. Unfortunately, this is the task, and sometimes we just have to get on with the job.

When we teach people to encode regulation, the first thing we always do is read and understand the regulation we are attempting to encode.

We have found that with some time and patience, most regulation is understandable. And the more you understand the regulation, the better your chances of success become.

This will not be a course on interpreting regulation; instead, it will contain some suggestions to help you get comfortable with reading and understanding regulation.

Here are the steps we follow when we are presented with new encoding task:

Step one: make sure you have the correct regulation

It is important to understand the distinction between legislation and regulation, and to make sure you know which you are supposed to be encoding.

Legislation (Acts) is usually high-level law that deals with the 'business of making laws', whereas regulation usually contains the practical details of the law.

Because of this relationship between the two, it is often useful to gain an understanding of both the legislation, as well as all of the regulation that is created because of it.

Most federal and state registers will contain functionality to highlight these relationships. Most sites will have a link to something like 'authorises', that lists the regulation that is related to the act.

Likewise, regulation will often contain a single link to the regulation that authorised it.

Generally speaking, it is more likely that you will want to encode regulation, rather than legislation.

Step two: read the introduction at the start of the regulation

Usually the first section of regulation will provide a short paragraph outlining the purpose of the regulation. This serves as a nice warm-up and ensures that you have a basic understanding of the topic.

Step three: scan the divisions and section headings

Next we do a scan of the divisions and sections in the regulation, usually by scanning the table of contents.

Our goals are twofold: first, we like to form a picture of how the regulation is structured, noting which parts might be relevant to our task, and we also note the parts that are definitely irrelevant to our task.

Second, we like to note any terms or concepts that we don't understand. For example, we might note that one piece of regulation talks about applications for Bridging class R visas and Bridging class F visas. Often it's enough just to think, 'OK, there are multiple classes of visas, and I don't know what they are.'

Step four: Skim the definitions

Once you have skimmed the divisions and sections, we suggest skimming the terms that are defined at the start of the regulation.

If you come across a term that you did not understand when skimming the sections, this is a great opportunity to learn what the term means.

For many terms, the definitions will be defined in external regulation. Usually this has the following form: 'such-and-such: has the same meaning as defined in Some Other Regulations 2023.' Most of the time, we skip these definitions and continue reading.

There are likely to be acronyms that are unfamiliar, as well as words and terms that have specific meanings in the current context.

Our method is to gain an awareness of the definitions, but to not to get hung up on them on the first read. We know that we can return to them later. For example, you probably have a reasonable idea of what 'airline safety inspector' means without having to read the formal definition.

However, when there are terms you don't understand, or when there are specific distinctions that seem curious, it can be valuable to read the definitions to gain a better understanding of the subject matter.

For example, it may be worth attempting to understand the distinctions between 'airline crew member' and 'airline positioning crew member.'

Step five: read the simplified outline (if it exists)

Most regulation will contain a simplified outline at the start of a division that outlines what the regulation is trying to achieve.

These outlines are not part of the regulation, but serve as a guide to help you understand what you are about to read.

Step five: read the section you are encoding

And now it is time to start reading. At this stage, we try to read carefully and understand the regulation. If necessary, we will look for definitions of words we don't understand, or we will use a search engine to fill in any blanks in our understanding.

Our goal here is to start to form a concrete understanding of what we are encoding. And sometimes we find our minds wandering; this is OK, we just reset and keep going.

Step six: re-read as necessary

Finally, we will re-read the sections until we feel like we have a strong grasp of its contents.

It's not important to be an 'expert' by this stage, but you should feel like you are ready to get started.

And now you are ready to begin encoding your regulation.