The Regulatory Enterprise: Government, Regulation, and Legitimacy

260 Pages·2010·2.152 MB·English

by  Tony Prosser

THE REGULATORY ENTERPRISE
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Th e Regulatory Enterprise
Government, Regulation, and
Legitimacy
TONY PROSSER
1
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3
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Prosser, Tony.
Th e regulatory enterprise / Tony Prosser.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978–0–19–957983–9 (hardback)
1. Administrative agencies—England. 2. Trade regulation—England.
3. Public utilities—Law and legislation—England. I. Title.
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Preface and Acknowledgements
In 1998 I published a book entitled Law and the Regulators. I hope that it was
found useful by readers, but it may have contributed to a narrow vision of reg-
ulation. According to this vision, regulation is primarily economic regulation,
concerned to make markets work, to mimic markets in areas of monopoly, or
to protect consumers within them. Th e central examples are the work of the
competition authorities and regulators of public utilities and fi nancial services.
However, this vision neglects a diff erent world of regulation which is not pri-
marily economic and is concerned with regulation for social reasons, not as a
second best to correct market failures but as a preferred alternative to the opera-
tions of the marketplace. Some of these regulators have been covered in detail in
existing literature, notably the Health and Safety Executive, but others, such as
regulators for health and social care, have attracted far less attention. Many of
the institutions are closely linked to government, but also have their own areas of
autonomy; the map of the regulatory terrain is highly complex. Th is book, which
is very diff erent from its predecessor, is designed to correct this partial vision and
expand the terrain of regulatory studies in a way which refl ects developments in
academic theory of regulation.
In addition to mapping a broader regulatory terrain, I shall suggest that its
breadth does not prevent us from developing coherent means of understand-
ing the terrain and normative principles about how regulators should operate.
Th us I develop a set of models which can be used for analytical and critical
work. Th ey are derived from the regulatory purposes evident in each case, and
are in brief: regulation to maximize economic effi ciency and consumer choice;
regulation to protect human rights; regulation to promote social solidarity and
social inclusion; and regulation as providing a site for deliberation. Th ese mod-
els are then applied to 10 diff erent regulatory bodies. In this way I hope to show
that, despite the breadth of the regulation studied in this book, it is not simply
a set of uncoordinated political and social interventions even after we leave the
familiar shores of economic regulation. In brief, the regulatory enterprise is an
enterprise of principle and one which, however broadly conceived, displays a
certain coherence.
Th ere are a number of institutions and individuals whom I must thank for
their help in writing this book. Th e generous study leave of the University of
Bristol School of Law made writing this book possible at a time when I was also
heavily involved with the burdens of research assessment, and I have had very
productive discussions with colleagues here. I gained much theoretical enlight-
enment and was able to gather some empirical evidence through the European
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vi Preface and Acknowledgements
Commission FP6-funded project on Refl exive Governance in the Public Interest.¹
I have particularly benefi tted from exchanges with Jacques Lenoble, Colin Scott,
Peter-Vincent Jones, and Helen Adlard. I gained immeasurable help from those
members of regulatory staff who agreed to be interviewed, though I should stress
that they should not be taken as agreeing with any of my conclusions. Th ey were
Alison Spalding at the Food Standards Agency, Ed Mitchell at the Environment
Agency, Gordon Macdonald at the Health and Safety Executive, Adrian Masters
at Monitor, Chris Woolard at Ofcom, Maxine Frerk at Ofgem, Huw Brooker at
Ofwat, and Michael Beswick at the Offi ce of Rail Regulation. I am most grateful
for their time and cooperation. I am also grateful to the libraries of the Institute
of Advanced Legal Studies in London and the European University Institute in
Florence for access to materials on comparative developments, and to Th omas
Perroud for some useful material on France. Most of all, I am grateful to Charlotte
Villiers and to Amelia and Laurence for tolerating uncomplainingly the inevit-
able disruption of writing and travel to family life.
A word should be added on the geographical scope of the book. Within the
UK, the coverage of regulators varies widely, with major diff erences as to which
of the constituent nations is covered by a single institution. I concentrate here
on the position in relation to England; important comparative work needs to be
done on regulators in the diff erent nations comprising the UK, but unfortunately
the question is outside the scope of this book.
Th e law is as stated at the beginning of 2010.
Tony Prosser
Bristol
January 2010
¹ See <http://refgov.cpdr.ucl.ac.be/> (consulted 4 December 2009).
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Contents
Table of Cases ix
Table of Statutes xi
Table of European Legislation xv
1. Introduction: Two Visions of Regulation and
Four Regulatory Models 1
2. Th e Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority 21
3. Th e Food Standards Agency 44
4. Th e Environment Agency 66
5. Th e Health and Safety Executive 89
6. Th e Care Quality Commission and its Predecessors 111
7. Monitor, the Independent Regulator of NHS
Foundation Trusts 136
8. Th e Offi ce of Communications 153
9. Th e Utility Regulators: Th e Offi ce of Gas and Electricity
Markets, the Water Services Regulation Authority,
and the Offi ce of Rail Regulation 176
10. Regulating the Regulators 201
11. Comparisons and Conclusions 223
Index 237
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Table of Cases
Th e European Court of Human Rights
Dubus SA v France (5242/04, ECtHR, 11 June 2009) ...............................................................165
Evans v UK (2008) 46 EHRR 34 ..........................................................................................34, 35
The European Court of Justice
C-205/03 Federacion Espanola de Empresas de Tecnologia Sanitaria
(FENIN) v Commission [2006] ECR I-6295 ..........................................................................123
C-127/05, Commission v UK [2007] ECR I-4619 ................................................................99–100
C-82/07 Comisión del Mercado de las Telecomunicacions v Administración
del Estado [2008] ECR I-1265 ...............................................................................................225
France
Decision 86–217 DC du 18 septembre 1986 relative à la Commission
nationale de la communication et des libertés, Rec. 141 ........................................................229
Decision 88–248 DC du 17 janvier 1989 relative au Conseil
supérieur de l’audiovisuel, Rec. 18 ........................................................................................229
Decision 89–260 DC du 8 juillet 1989 relative à la Commission
des operations de bourse, Rec. 71 ..........................................................................................229
Decision 2004–497 DC du 1 juillet 2004 relative aux communications électroniques
et aux services de communication audiovisuelle, Rec. 107 ....................................................229
Decision 2009–580 DC du 10 juin 2009 relative à la diff usion et la
protection de la création sur internet .....................................................................................229
United Kingdom
Berkeley v Secretary of State for the Environment [2000] 3 WLR 420 (HL) ...................................85
Bettercare v Director General of Fair Trading [2002] CAT 7 .......................................................123
Dugmore v Swansea NHS Trust [2002] EWCA Civ 1689; [2003] 1 All ER 333 ............................99
Edwards v National Coal Board [1949] 1 KB 704 .........................................................................99
Great North Eastern Railway Ltd v Th e Offi ce of Rail Regulation et al [2006]
EWHC 1942 (Admin); [2007] ACD 13 ................................................................................189
L v Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority [2008] EWHC 2149 (Fam);
[2008] 2 FLR 1999 ..................................................................................................................34
Marcic v Th ames Water Utilities [2003] UKHL 66; [2004] 2 AC 42 ...............................14, 81, 190
Offi ce of Communications v Floe Telecom Ltd [2006] EWCA Civ 768;
[2006] 4 All ER 688 ..............................................................................................................165
R v Chargot Ltd [2008] UKHL 73; [2009] 1 WLR 1 ...................................................................99
R v HTM Ltd [2006] EWCA Crim 1156; [2007] 2 All ER 665 ....................................................99
R (on the application of Alconbury Developments Ltd) v Secretary of State for
the Environment, Transport and the Regions
[2001] UKHL 23; [2003] 2 AC 295 ......................................................................................165
R (on the application of Animal Defenders International) v Secretary of State
for Culture, Media and Sport [2008] UKHL 15; [2008] 1 AC 1312 ........................................166
R (on the application of Begum) v Denbigh High School Governors
[2006] UKHL 15; [2007] 1 AC 100 ......................................................................................234
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