Regulatory Affairs Programme

Staff:
Andrea Renda
Lorna Schrefler
 
The CEPS Regulatory Affairs Programme was launched in January 2005 with the aim of exploring policy and regulatory challenges in the following areas:
 

• Better regulation
• The regulation of network industries
• Competition policy
• Intellectual property

Better Regulation
 
Better Regulation Since January 2006 CEPS RAP is coordinating the European Network for Better Regulation (ENBR), a three-year programme funded by the European Commission under the Sixth Framework Programme. The project involves 18 European universities and research institutes and recently welcomed three new partners from Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine. ENBR members are building an unprecedented Database on Impact Assessment Development in European Member states (DIADEM) and disseminate their findings through a dedicated website, publications and workshops. Further information, publication and updates on the ENBR activities will be available at www.enbr.org.
 
 

In January 2006, Andrea Renda published its monograph Impact Assessment in the EU. The State of the Art and the Art of the State, which contains an in-depth scorecard analysis of the first 70 Extended Impact Assessments carried out by the European Commission (from 2003 to July 2005) and puts forward 10 Roadmaps for improving the current Integrated Impact Assessment model adopted by Commission DGs.
 

Andrea Renda in cooperation with Austrian research centre WiFo successfully completed the Final Report of the Pilot Project on administrative burdens for the European Commission’s DG Enterprise. The Report contains a detailed analysis of the experience of four member states in the application of the Standard Cost Model for the measurement and the reduction of administrative burdens caused by national and international legislation on private and semi-private enterprises. The Report served as a basis for the Commission Communication on measuring administrative costs and reducing administrative burdens in the EU, issued on November 14, 2006. RAP and WiFo have then been retained for a follow-up project by DG Enterprise.
 
Network Industries
 
The RAP successfully concluded its Task Force on Electronic Communications with the publication of the Task Force Report Last call for Lisbon? providing recommendations for the ongoing review of the regulatory framework for electronic communications. The report was presented by Andrea Renda in Brussels, Amsterdam, Rome and Bratislava.

CEPS RAP also tackled the regulation of international roaming and organized a high level seminar on the issue with representatives from EU institutions and the industry.

On February 22, 2007 CEPS and the US-based Progress & Freedom Foundation co-hosted a conference on The Future of Communications Services in Europe and the United States: The Role of Regulation and Markets in a Converged World, to explore communications public policy concerns facing Europe and the U.S. To view the agenda and some of the speakers' contributions, click on the links below.

 
Agenda

The Effect of Network-Sharing Regulation in Telecoms Robert W. Crandall, Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution

Investment in Next-Generation Networks Ilsa Godlovitch, Head of Regulatory Affairs, European Competitive Telecommunications Association

Organizing Internet Architecture Bernard Benhamou, Senior Lecturer on the Information Society, Political Sciences Institute in Paris (Sciences Po)

Net Neutrality Tom Kiedrowski, Policy Manager, OFCOM

Net Neutrality and Competition Scott Wallsten, Senior Fellow and Director of Communications Policy Studies, The Progress & Freedom Foundation

Content Development Ross Biggam, Director General, Association of Commercial Television in Europe

 Competition Policy
On the 2nd of March 2007, CEPS and the European Centre of the Austrian Economics Foundation (ECAEF) hosted the conference Private Enforcement in Competition Law: Legal and Economic Issues. The conference grouped authoritative judges, lawyers, economists, and representatives of the European Commission to address the most relevant pending issues on private enforcement of competition law and their potential for improving the effectiveness of antitrust rules in Europe.
 
Intellectual Property
Research activities on intellectual property issues will start in 2007.
 
 
CEPS Associate Fellows:
Jin Chul Bae
 
 
Selected publications:
 
Monographs:

“EU Impact Assessment: the State of the Art and the Art of the State”, by Andrea Renda, forthcoming.

Papers:
 
“Telecom Services: a Transatlantic Perspective”, by Andrea Renda, in “Deep Integration: How Transatlantic Markets are Leading Globalization”, by Daniel S. Hamilton and Joseph P. Quinlan (Eds.), CEPS, 2005.
“The European Commission’s case against Microsoft: Kill Bill?”, By Roberto Pardolesi and Andrea Renda, 2004
 
“Conglomerate Mergers, Consumer Goods and the ‘efficiency offense’ Doctrine”, By A. Jorge Padilla and Andrea Renda, 2004.
 
“How safe is the King’s Throne? Network Externalities on Trial”, By Roberto Pardolesi and Andrea Renda, 2003.
 
Presentations:
 
“EU Impact Assessment: the State of the Art and the Art of the State”, by Andrea Renda, presented at the First Annual Conference of the Italian Society of Law and Economists, Siena (Italy), 27 November 2005
 
“Interoperability, System Design and the DRM Thicket”, by Andrea Renda, presented at the Conference on “Intellectual Property Rights and DRM”, Bocconi University, Milan (Italy), November 18, 2005.
 

Commentaries

 
EU Impact Assessment: does the Commission have the numbers?, Andrea Renda, 28 October 2005.