Institutional frameworks of Community health and safety regulation. Committees, agencies and private bodies

Book abstract:

The 'post-Maastricht' Community is increasingly required to play a direct role in health and safety regulation. This has led to the emergence of EC product safety regulation. This book seeks to identify the principles of the resulting Community approach to risk regulation, firstly by elaborating the fundamental EU law concepts of competence, institutional balance, subsidiarity, and delegation of powers in relation to health and safety. These legal concepts are then used to appraise the legality and the legitimacy of the three basic regulatory patterns typical of the Community approach to science-based decision-making: resorting to committees (in the food sector), to agencies (pharmaceuticals), and to private bodies (standardisation). The author concludes that, to date, Community risk regulation is pragmatic but lacks a coherent regulatory model. However, events following the BSE crisis suggest the Community may be taking the first tentative steps toward developing a general concept of risk regulation.
The book blends an in-depth discussion of major institutional issues and remarkably precise analyses of the development of secondary Community law in the field of product regulation. Looking to the future, the study shows how the success of Europe's market building efforts and the achievements of the law in disciplining this development are overshadowed by internationalisation processes and new institutional problems. It will provide invaluable help to anyone interested in understanding and evaluating the ongoing transformation of European governance structures.
Ellen Vos is lecturer in European Law at Maastricht University.

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