Free tool · Regulatory Compliance
Does This Regulation Apply to My Business? A Scope Screener
Whether a regulation applies depends on the tests in its scope clause. Some conditions are required: all must be met. Some are alternatives: at least one of a group must be met, and if all are not met the regulation does not apply. Some are exemptions: if one is met, the regulation does not apply, even if everything else is. Common tests ask what kind of body you are (entity), what you do (activity), what you sell (product), how big you are (employees, turnover, users) and where you act or whom you serve (territory). Real decisions are made with incomplete facts, so a useful answer has three values for each test: yes, no and not known. If an unknown fact could change the result, the answer is unclear, and the task is to find that fact while planning as if the regulation might apply. Record the tests, facts, evidence, result, approver and date, and re-test when the business grows or changes.
Tool · Scope Screener
Unclear: 1 unanswered question decides the result.
- Required condition met: The business offers an online platform to users in Marlen.
- An alternative condition is met: The platform has more than 1 million monthly users in Marlen.
- An exemption might apply, and its facts are not yet known.
Find out
- The business is already supervised as a bank under the Banking Act
- An alternative condition is already met, so the unknown alternatives do not change the result.
- Treat an unclear result as a task: find the missing facts, or assume the regulation applies while you look.
A regulation does not apply to everyone. It names tests: conditions that must all be met, alternatives of which one is enough, and exemptions that take a business out. Enter each test from the regulation (the sample is an invented ‘Marlen Digital Safety Act’), say whether it is met for your business, and see whether the regulation applies, does not apply or is unclear, and which unanswered question could settle it. Invented rules: a real scope question needs the text and its definitions. Runs in your browser; nothing is stored or sent.
How to use it
- Enter each test from the regulation, and say whether it is required, an alternative or an exemption.
- Answer yes, no or not known for each, for your business.
- Read the result and the reasons.
- If the result is unclear, read which unanswered questions could decide it, and find those facts.
Common questions
What if I do not know a fact?
Record it as not known. The tool shows whether the unknown fact could change the result. If it could, treat the result as unclear, find the fact and plan cautiously in the meantime.
Does the size of the group count?
Some regulations count the whole group and some only the legal entity. Read the definitions in the regulation, which may use words such as ‘enterprise’ or ‘undertaking’.
Does the tool tell me whether a real law applies?
No. It applies the logic of scope tests to the facts you enter. A real scope question needs the text and its definitions, and often legal advice.
Learn the law behind the tool
This tool is part of our Regulatory Compliance course, with lectures, concept maps, flashcards, interactive exercises and a capstone case. Regulatory Mapping and Compliance Analytics: Scope and Applicability.
More free law tools
General information, simplified, mainly on American law, not legal advice. States and countries differ, and real cases turn on facts that a tool cannot capture.