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Eberlein, Burkard --- "Formal and informal governance in Single Market regulation" [2004] ELECD 31; in Christiansen, Thomas; Piattoni, Simona (eds), "Informal Governance in the European Union" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2004)

Book Title: Informal Governance in the European Union

Editor(s): Christiansen, Thomas; Piattoni, Simona

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781843763512

Section: Chapter 9

Section Title: Formal and informal governance in Single Market regulation

Author(s): Eberlein, Burkard

Number of pages: 23

Extract:

9. Formal and informal governance in
Single Market regulation1
Burkard Eberlein

INTRODUCTION
This chapter discusses the role of informal governance in EU Single Market
regulation. Drawing on the case study of electricity regulation, I will argue that
informal governance can enhance the effectiveness of supranational regula-
tion. The chapter identifies and examines transnational regulatory networks as
prominent embodiments of informal governance in EU regulation. These
networks bring together regulatory officials, with the input of private stake-
holders, in expertise-driven forums. On an informal basis and without codi-
fied, legal powers, they develop `best-practice' regulatory rules and
procedures that set the agenda for formal endorsement by competent bodies.
Informal governance emerges in response to the defects of formal decision-
making procedures that are often rigid, cumbersome and prone to deadlock.
This is because formal decision-making needs to meet high consensus require-
ments and overcome multiple veto points in a context of high diversity. In this
perspective, informal governance has been portrayed as a vital `escape route'
from political impasse in the EU (Héritier 1999).
Yet, informal governance is not a panacea. I will specify under which
conditions and at which stages of the policy process informal governance can
be expected to be particularly effective. And I will also argue that formal and
informal governance are not mutually exclusive avenues, but actually depend
on each other and can play complementary roles in supranational regulation.
In a first step, the chapter places the role of informal governance in the
...