Rule inheritance
Rules are set at three levels and travel downward. A level below can always add and can always tighten. It can never remove or weaken what it inherited.
The three levels
| Set at | By whom | What it governs |
|---|---|---|
| Account | The principal, or group compliance | Rules every brand below inherits and none can remove |
| Brand | The team on that client or market | Rules for that brand alone, on top of what it inherited |
| Campaign | Whoever is running the launch | Rules for one campaign — an embargo, a closed period |
What a level below may and may not do
Allowed
- Add a rule of its own
- Narrow the wording of an inherited rule
- Raise an inherited rule from advisory to blocking
- Widen which roles of content a rule reaches
Refused
- Delete an inherited rule
- Lower an inherited rule from blocking to advisory
- Broaden an inherited rule’s wording so it catches less
- Narrow which roles of content an inherited rule reaches
A refusal is reported at the moment it is attempted, not silently undone. Somebody who believes they have removed a rule and has not is worse off than somebody who was told no.
Changing a rule does not change what was already approved
An approval records a fingerprint of the rules that were in force when it was given. Tighten a rule an hour later and the approval does not silently start covering the new one — it is shown as needing to be given again, against the rules as they now stand.
Every change to a rule at any level is an entry in the register, naming the hand that made it and what it said before.