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Hussein, Mohamud; Martinez, Marian Garcia; Fearne, Andrew --- "Management-based regulation of food safety in the UKnited Kingdom" [2017] ELECD 636; in Verbruggen, Paul; Havinga, Tetty (eds), "Hybridization of Food Governance" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017) 137

Book Title: Hybridization of Food Governance

Editor(s): Verbruggen, Paul; Havinga, Tetty

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781785361692

Section: Chapter 7

Section Title: Management-based regulation of food safety in the UKnited Kingdom

Author(s): Hussein, Mohamud; Martinez, Marian Garcia; Fearne, Andrew

Number of pages: 19

Abstract/Description:

Over the past two decades, there has been a growing interface between public and private controls of food safety governance systems due to a marked shift from the traditional command-and-control regulation by government towards alternative flexible forms of regulation, such as self-regulation, management-based regulation and co-regulation systems of governance. In particular, regulatory approaches combining public and private control activities have enjoyed a degree of popularity both in Europe and North America. A number of existing regulations in environmental protection and media and food safety controls now include features that are either partly designed and/or enforced by industry bodies to supplement official controls by public authorities. Such reliance on industry actors to achieve regulatory policy objectives almost always occurs at least partly as a means of reducing the administrative and compliance costs of regulation, and sometimes reflects antagonism towards the use of state power. Verbruggen and Havinga (Chapter 1 in this volume) set out key characteristics of coordinated public-private governance systems and discuss how, where and why these governance systems have emerged. In general, the coordination of private regulatory capacity has more recently become attractive for regulators around the world as a result of a number of interlinked factors, including increasing globalization of food chains, the internationalization of public food safety controls and growing budgetary pressures on national food authorities. However, regulatory outcomes under such ‘hybrid’ governance models would largely depend upon a combination of different factors that reflect both the regulatory and industrial capacity to administer these models and henceforth resulting incentives for compliance at a firm level. These factors include the extent to which the regulated firms have the administrative capacity, resources, and ethos necessary to implement the regulatory schemes, as well as the regulators’ ability to monitor their compliance effectively.