Photo: Canva
By Aishani Gupta, Lawyer, and Regulatory Consultan, Nutrition Team, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; and Claudia Pazlopez, Program Officer, Nutrition, Global Growth & Opportunity, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
A primer on law and regulation for non-lawyers
Have you ever needed to find out if wheat fortification is required by law in a country but had no idea where to start? Or maybe you’ve stared at a food legislation, trying to make sense of its scope, but felt completely lost? These scenarios are all too common, especially for those of us working in nutrition, food systems, or public health who are not legal experts.
Laws, policies, and regulations can be puzzling – especially when you need to understand how they interact in different countries. But what if there was a tool that could help simplify this process? That’s exactly the reason for the development of the newly published “Primer on public law and regulation.”
The primer breaks down complex ideas from law and policy into simpler, more understandable terms. It acts as a guide to help you navigate a country’s legal landscape and build bridges with different stakeholder groups through a common language. By making specialized legal knowledge accessible to non-lawyers, the primer empowers readers to make more informed decisions and develop more effective interventions.
Photo: Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN)
Why this primer?
Law and regulations are the backbone for effective fortification programs. Without understanding the legal framework, it’s easy to miss key opportunities and stronger interventions. But navigating a legal system is complex and can be overwhelming, especially when each country’s legal system is unique and filled with unfamiliar terms. Even experienced lawyers struggle when researching a legal system they’re unfamiliar with!
The primer on public law and regulation breaks down these complex questions into a stepwise guide to understanding two main aspects of legal systems:
- It provides a general overview of how a country’s legal system functions, including its legal families (common law or civil law) and the role of its Constitution.
- It explains in detail both the actors in the legal system (like ministries and regulatory bodies) and the legal documents that they create, with specific references to food, health, and nutrition.
But the primer is not just about theory—it’s designed to be practical, helping you apply this knowledge to your work in-country.
Photo: Canva
How can you use the primer?
Let’s say your organization is looking to introduce a new staple food for fortification in a country. A logical question you’d ask is:
“How do we ensure that the new program fits within the country’s existing laws and regulations?”
The primer walks you through this. First, you need to understand the country’s legal system—who are the main actors involved, and what are their roles? Next, it would be necessary to decide what type of legal document would be most useful. For example, the primer explains that creating new legislation is a lengthy and complex process, while creating a new regulation might be easier. It can also help you determine if you can modify an existing regulation or if there is a need to create a new regulation.
Examples of other questions the primer can help you address:
- Uncertain whether a fortification law or regulation applies to the whole country or only to a particular province or state? Section 2.B and 3.D can help you understand the different implications of both those situations and provides examples from Kenya and Pakistan.
- Unsure about the difference between a law, a regulation, and a standard? Section 3 of the primer provides clarification on the scope of each, so you know which legal tool to use depending on your goals.
- Should you pursue action through courts or legislative channels in a particular country? Section 2.A. of the primer helps you determine whether the country you’re working in follows common law or civil law, which impacts how court judgements apply to future cases.
- Comparing nutrition programs across countries? The primer helps you understand and differentiate between the legal requirements of countries’ health and nutrition programs.
Legal terminology can be confusing, and this primer seeks to make legal systems more understandable for non-lawyers who might feel confused when working with public sector stakeholders on law and regulation. By translating legal jargon into plain language and connecting it to practical challenges, the primer helps you work more effectively. While the figure below may look complex at first glance, reading the primer can help—it demystifies the terms that you might encounter when trying to understand a country’s legal system.
Figure 1: Elements of the legal system discussed in the primer
You can access the full primer below. We encourage you to download, read, and find new ways to use this primer. And if you have feedback or ideas for other use cases, feel free to contact the author, Aishani Gupta, Lawyer, and Regulatory Consultant (Nutrition Team), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation at: aishanigupta5@gmail.com.
