Soft law, which can be translated as “flexible law,” “non-binding law,” or even “small sources of law,” refers to all legal rules that are not officially binding but aim to recommend, encourage, guide, define, or serve as models.

However, soft law is better understood in contrast to its supposed opposite: hard law. The latter consists of “traditional” legal rules, issued by a normative authority (with legislative or regulatory power), and is binding in nature — a characteristic that is reflected in the existence of sanctions.