Regulatory strategies, delegation and European market integration
By: EGAN, Michelle
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ArticlePublisher: London : Routledge, September 1998Journal of European Public Policy 5, 3, p. 485-506Abstract: The shift in regulatory strategy that accompanied the single market program has enabled the EU to delegate responsibility for setting the rules governing market access to standard-setting bodies. In doing so, the new regulatory regime resulting from this delegation has enabled firms to become dominant players in the policy-making process. This article demonstrates that the resulting regulatory regime has not produced the expected outcomes since firms have been unable to overcome the same kinds of collective action problems that plagued the harmonization process. Using principal-agent analysis, the article highlights the resulting efforts to deal with the absence of common standards by discussing Community efforts to monitor, oversee and control the pace of European standardization. It then discusses the impact of such delegation upon European governance to demonstrate some of the problems brought about by the increasing use of 'private actors' in the policy-making process.
The shift in regulatory strategy that accompanied the single market program has enabled the EU to delegate responsibility for setting the rules governing market access to standard-setting bodies. In doing so, the new regulatory regime resulting from this delegation has enabled firms to become dominant players in the policy-making process. This article demonstrates that the resulting regulatory regime has not produced the expected outcomes since firms have been unable to overcome the same kinds of collective action problems that plagued the harmonization process. Using principal-agent analysis, the article highlights the resulting efforts to deal with the absence of common standards by discussing Community efforts to monitor, oversee and control the pace of European standardization. It then discusses the impact of such delegation upon European governance to demonstrate some of the problems brought about by the increasing use of 'private actors' in the policy-making process.
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