POSSIBILITIES AND CONSTRAINTS IN THE USE OF SELF-REGULATION AND CO-REGULATION IN LEGISLATIVE POLICY:
Experiences in the Netherlands – Lessons to Be Learned for the EU?

A comparison between the use of self-regulation and co-regulation at the national level and that at the European level is not easy because of the different functions national legislation and European legislation have. On a national scale, the main function of legislation is to achieve uniformity and equality under the law. General rules have a different function in the European Union. The European Union exists thanks to its diversity. The issue of the quality of legislation in the European Union is not a problem of uniformity, but of handling diversity in a well-considered, legal way. In this article, the concepts of self-regulation and co-regulation are analysed, both at the national level (the Netherlands) and at the level of the European Union. Programmes of better law-making propose the use of self-regulation and co-regulation. What can we expect from these proposals?

Tell a colleague about this article.

1. Introduction

2. The concept of self-regulation

3. Motives for and types of self-regulation

4. Better regulation

5. Concluding remarks

Notes