Globalisation and technological innovation have been fuelling the need for increasing levels of trust in private actors, such as companies or special interest groups, to regulate and enforce significant aspects of people's daily lives: from environmental and social protection to the areas of food safety, advertising and financial markets. This book investigates the trust vested in private actors from the perspective of European citizens. It answers the question of whether private actors live up to citizens' expectations or whether more should be done as to the safeguarding of citizens' interests. Several cross-cutting studies explore how private regulation and enforcement are embedded in EU law. The book offers an innovative approach to private regulation and enforcement by focusing on the specific EU context which, unlike the national and transnational ones, has not yet been widely explored. This context merits a stand-alone analysis because of the unique normative framework of the EU, as a particular polity itself but also in relation to its Member States. With an overall analysis of the main aspects of private regulation and enforcement across different policy fields of the EU, the book adds a missing tile to the mosaic of public–private governance studies.

 

Table Of Contents



1. Introduction: EU Private Regulation and Enforcement – Mapping its

Contextual, Conceptual, Constitutional and Citizens' Dimensions

Madeleine de Cock Buning and Linda Senden

PART I

POLICY DOMAINS

2. The Special Position of Agreements by Social Partners in EU Law

Frans Pennings

3. Private Regulation in the Internal Market: Assessing European

Technical Standardisation Th rough a Citizen's Eye

Mariëtte Hiemstra and Linda Senden

4. The Role of Private Actors in Data Protection Law and Data Protection Practice

Peter Blok

5. Private Actors in European Consumer Law

Ewoud Hondius and Esther van Schagen

6. Of the People, by the People, for the People? The European Union's Experience with Private Environmental Regulation and Enforcement

Suzanne Kingston and Edwin Alblas

7. Unfolding the Private–Public Dynamics of Regulation and Enforcement in EU Food Law

Michele Simonato and Salvatore F. Nicolosi

8. Engaging Private Actors in the Production of EU Financial Regulation: Advantages and Disadvantages from a Citizen's Perspective

Andrea Minto

9. Trust through Responsibility: Advertising and Self-Regulation in Europe

Oliver Gray

10. Private Regulation and Enforcement in the EU: Finding the Right Balance from a Citizen's Perspective – The Protection of Minors against Online Harms

Madeleine de Cock Buning

11. Internet Liability Law Case Study: Private Regulation and Enforcement in the EU from the Citizens' Perspective

Christopher T. Marsden

12. The Role of Private Actors in the Regulation and Enforcement of Corporate Environmental Harm

Judith van Erp



PART II

CROSS-CUTTING ISSUES

13. The Constitutional Authority of Private Regulation in the Light of the EU's Competence Order

Kilian Klinger

14. Private Regulation and Enforcement within the Single Market's Legal Framework: The Need for a More Holistic Approach

Frederick Brouwer

15. European Union Co- and Self-Regulation and the Protection of Fundamental Rights

Jessy M. Emaus

16. EU Competition Law versus Private Regulation: Restrictive or Enabling?

Jotte Mulder

17. The Democratic Challenges of Effective Private Regulation and Enforcement

Colin Scott

18. Conclusions: Drawing the Lines Together of Regulatory Choice, Public–Private Dynamics and Citizens' Trust in Private Regulation and Enforcement in the EU

Madeleine de Cock Buning and Linda Senden