This Article claims that jurisdictions do not necessarily select their regulatory topics in a rational manner. It introduces criteria and a reflection framework to decide whether a specific topic should be subject to regulation.
Continue reading Choosing regulatory topics
All posts by Manfred Kohler
The tragedy of business lobbying for “less regulation”
Business associations and individual economic actors often lobby for “less regulation”. Politicians and officials often feel obliged to follow this call. In some jurisdictions, even entire regulatory policy departments have been created to limit the quantity and the heaviness of regulation. As a consequence, regulations sometimes become “light”, containing general provisions and leaving details out. In this article, we claim that businesses are partly shooting themselves into the foot by calling for “less regulation” instead of “less obligations”. We also state that we are all better served by more and more detailed provisions. Continue reading The tragedy of business lobbying for “less regulation”
International cyber relationships, internet platforms and virtual worlds: project outline and call for support
More and more aspects of life are covered by the internet. This increases the number of relationships that arise between natural and legal persons. These relationships can arise via the internet in general, on platforms like LinkedIn or in virtual worlds like “Second Life”. In the future, the “metaverse” or similar “virtual worlds” may aim to supplant the real world, creating even more complex legal relationships. Continue reading International cyber relationships, internet platforms and virtual worlds: project outline and call for support
Regulation under the microscope: the small scale building blocks of regulation
Analysing regulation can be done in a variety of ways. One could start at the macro level as was presented in the howtoregulate article “Regulatory architecture”. Alternatively, one could also begin analysing regulating at the micro level as this article will present. Although it would be more logical to analyse regulation step-by-step from the macro to the micro level, more can learned by presenting first the two poles before presenting regulatory techniques at the intermediate levels. The intermediate levels are better understood when one is familiar with the macro and the micro view on regulation. Continue reading Regulation under the microscope: the small scale building blocks of regulation
The art of setting multi-dimensional limit values in regulation
In many fields of technical, chemical or environmental regulation we use limit values. The purpose of establishing limit values in regulation is to set clear rules that protect safety of people, the environment and policy goals generally. This howtoregulate article analyses situations where there is a trade-off between different or inter-dependent parameters which are subject to limit values. Furthermore, we present a rational approach for deciding the trade-offs between limit values. Continue reading The art of setting multi-dimensional limit values in regulation
Regulatory architecture
Legislative and regulatory acts (hereafter jointly called “acts”) rarely exist in an isolated way. Therefore, it is important to fit them well into the overall regulatory architecture for the given sector or field. We examine in this howtoregulate article how best to position an act in the overall regulatory architecture. To that end, we need to look more closely at how acts relate to each other. Continue reading Regulatory architecture
Typology of referencing in regulations
Referencing in regulations is becoming more common in a globalised and interconnected world. Jurisdictions recognise that other bodies, or organisations both within and outside their jurisdiction, have more expertise in a given sector and so it makes sense to reference such bodies / organisations. In fact such referencing is justified based on efficiency, limited resources and consistency. However, some referencing in regulations has not been conceived well and so this howtoregulate article provides a roadmap of considerations that a regulator ought to take into account before making a reference, external to the piece of regulation. Continue reading Typology of referencing in regulations
How to harmonise decision-making of authorities and conformity assessment bodies?
More than five years after dealing with harmonised decision-making in the Handbook “How to regulate?”, we now re-visit the topic of this article in a more analytical way. We present six key components for a strategy leading to more harmonised decision-making (A). These key components can be integrated into an operational action plan and workflow. Continue reading How to harmonise decision-making of authorities and conformity assessment bodies?
Empowerments (Part II): The empowerment checklist
The following list of empowerments should be used to verify whether all necessary empowerments have been integrated into the draft regulation under development. Continue reading Empowerments (Part II): The empowerment checklist
Empowerments (Part I): typology
To ensure the good application of law, authorities must have empowerments. However, we have not yet found any systematic presentation of types of empowerments. We aim at closing this gap by this article. We will see that the focus on empowerment permits a new, complementary view on what regulation should contain. This complementary view can be used to double-check whether draft regulation is complete. Continue reading Empowerments (Part I): typology