"The difference between laws and regulations are sometimes misunderstood. Congress, and only Congress, enacts laws. Federal executive departments and administrative agencies write regulations to implement the authority of laws. Regulations (as well as Executive Orders and Proclamations) are ancillary or subordinate to laws but both laws and regulations are enforceable. The U.S. Code is the official compilation of codified laws by subject, the U.S. Statutes-at-Large is the official chronologic compilation of all laws, and the Code of Federal Regulations is the official compilation of regulations."
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Difference...nd_regulations
I don't know if laws and regulations are synonymous...Don't mean to get into semantics but laws are passed by Congress and regulations are passed by the
Executive branch, via agencies, to put the law into action AS THEY PERCEIVE THE LAW. A regulation can be challenged in court if two parties have two different definitions of that law. It is my understanding that Law trumps a regulation and a regulation is an agencies' interpretation of that law.