Self- and co-regulation in the EU – three case studies

In order to get a better understanding of how different forms of co- and self-regulation work in practice and to highlight some of the difficulties one encounters when studying regulation with these concepts in mind three short case studies will be presented. They show that co-regulation in the EU is a general phenomenon that comes in different forms. These case studies also highlight the problem of representativeness or the alleged higher efficiency of self-regulation. Although all three cases under investigation contain elements of self-regulation, they differ among other things along the lines of legal status (of civil society’s involvement as well as of the produced agreements) and degree of institutionalisation.

The first case study takes a look at the making of the Lawyers’ Establishment Directive. Although this directive was passed according to the standard law making procedures of the EU, the special role given to the lawyer’s interest group in the formulation phase of the directive brings it close to self-regulation. The second case concerns the much spoken of treaty based social dialogue between management and employees. The social dialogue makes it possible for the social partners to negotiated agreements amongst themselves which will then be adopted by the Council and receive the status of directives. The third case deals with the advertisement industry, an example often used by the Commission for a pure form of self-regulation. In this field national self-regulatory organisations established a European umbrella organisation which reports regularly to the Commission on advertising standards.

The working paper 'Self- and co-regulation in the EU – three case studies' can be found here.