"'Associative Regulation' in the European Community: the case of technical standards"

Egan, Michelle. (1991) "'Associative Regulation' in the European Community: the case of technical standards". In: UNSPECIFIED, Fairfax, Virginia. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

[From the Introduction]. The creation of a single integrated market has captured the imagination of many Europeans and Americans as an exercise in "deregulation”. Achieving the free movement of goods lies at the heart of this drive to create a deregulated, single market in the European Community by 1992. Yet behind this exercise in economic liberalization exists a complex interrelationship between Community institutions and the private sector. Such an interelationship, this paper argues, can best be described as the public use of the private sector rather than by the concept of "deregulation”. In brief, regulation has always been and will remain a central feature of the European community. The analysis presented here argues that the public use of the private sector is especially important in the European standards setting process. The relationship between standards and the Single Market has not received widespread attention. In fact, the Financial Times reported in October 1990 that standards "have been the most neglected part of the 1992 program. (1) Arguably, the lack of attention to standards has encouraged the uncritical use of “deregulation” to describe the single market in goods.

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