Europees Economisch en Sociaal Comité initieert debat zelf- en mederegulering (en)
The European Economic and Social Committee at the heart of Self- and Co-Regulation
A public hearing, which the EESC's Single Market Observatory (SMO) organised at the Committee's headquarters building on 31 March 2008 on "The Current State of European Self- and Co-Regulation", demonstrated the vivid interest of civil society organisations in alternative instruments to "hard law". Some 130 participants from all sectors of activity and from the EU institutions engaged in a lively debate on the prospects and limits of self- and co-regulation. A new database dedicated to European self- and co-regulation initiatives, which the EESC developed in close cooperation with the European Commission's Secretariat General, was presented on this occasion.
Self- and co-regulation are important participatory exercises in the broader scope of Better Regulation as a clear priority of European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, said Mr Alexander Italianer, Deputy Secretary General of the European Commission. Reacting to remarks from participants, he said that "the definition of self- and co-regulation could potentially adapt to changes" but that it was necessary to measure how alternative instruments delivered in reality. He welcomed the close cooperation between the Commission and the EESC on the mapping of such initiatives thanks to the Committee's self- and co-regulation database. Mr Pavel Telika, Member of the "High Level Group of Independent Stakeholders on Administrative Burdens" chaired by Mr Stoiber, and Senior Adviser to the European Policy Centre (EPC), said that "self-regulation initiatives needed to be credible and compatible with existing laws and that they were a response to real shortcomings in the interest of the public". He advocated a cultural change at national and EU level. Professor Fabrizio Cafaggi, from the European University Institute in Florence, though pinpointing the weaknesses of private lawmaking, indicated that it was based on stakeholders' involvement and motivated by a need for greater effectiveness and responsiveness. Mr Bernardo Hernández Bataller, chairman of the EESC Section for the "Single Market, Production and Consumption", as well as Mr Jorge Pegado Liz, chairman of the SMO, and Mr Patrick Venturini, Secretary General of the EESC, sketched the activities of the Committee on Better Regulation since 2000, which had led to the setting up of database dedicated to Self- and Co-Regulation. This new instrument was acknowledged by all participants as being a major achievement on the way to following and monitoring the further development of soft law. An information campaign will be launched to draw the attention of all relevant and interested parties to the existence of this new and unique tool.
For more information, please visit the SMO website:
http://www.eesc.europa.eu/smo/news/index_en.asp
To tell us about your views, please write to: smo@eesc.europa.eu
To view the self- and co-regulation database: