Business-Regulatory Relations: Learning to Play Regulatory Games in European Utility Markets

In: Governance: an international journal of policy and administration and institutions, Band 18, Heft 3, S. 375-398

Abstract

Although regulation is on the rise in the European Union, the liberalization of the telecommunication & energy markets has not created a uniform European Regulatory model. The principle focus of this article is to examine the interaction & regulatory learning between national regulatory authorities & business in the U.K. & German utility markets to assess the degree of convergence & demonstrate how the regulatory relationship has evolved beyond that envisaged in the initial delegation of powers to the regulator. The article shows that independent regulatory authorities have moved from distant & often confrontational relationships with business to strategic working relationships driven by exchanges of information & reputation building & that regulatory learning & trust have evolved at distinct speeds in sectors & countries depending on the number of regulatory authorities in a market place, the degree to which there are concurrent powers between authorities, their discretion in the consultation process, & the length of time that regulatory authorities had existed. Consequently, significant variance is continuously seen in the business -- regulator relationships in comparing the young legalist German regulatory authorities with the established independent & discretion-based regulators in the U.K. 2 Tables, 1 Figure, 40 References. Adapted from the source document.