Regulations are general legal acts of an administrative authority that address those subject to the law and grant them rights or impose obligations. The essential difference from decisions is that regulations are directed at a generally determined group of addressees. Each administrative authority is entitled to issue regulations within its sphere of competence to specify laws.
Decisions are individual legal acts of an administrative authority that address those subject to the law and grant them rights or impose obligations. Unlike regulations, they are directed at individually determined addressees—usually, these are single, specific persons (e.g., penalty decisions), although a decision can also be addressed to several specifically named persons (collective decision). Unlike regulations, administrative authorities do not have a general authority to issue decisions since these may only be issued if provided for by law.
Instructions are internal acts of a state organ directed at subordinate state organs in the internal relationship. They thus constitute an official order in the administrative internal domain and concern the exercise of competences and the performance of tasks by subordinate organs. These organs are bound by the instructions of the superior organs unless otherwise specified.
