Policy points: Government regulation is reported as more effective than co-regulation, quasi-regulation or self-regulation. Voluntary approaches, including voluntary government regulation, are reported less effective due to low uptake and limited accountability. In public health law mandated government regulation should be strived for. Food and alcohol sectors are more likely to adopt self- or quasi-regulation and are frequently reported as ineffective. More work should be done to support government regulation in these areas. Many public health law evaluations are lacking critical design information for policy makers. This may make it difficult to learn from successes or failures and replicate interventions in other jurisdictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]