Transnational Private Regulation and the Governance of the Environment

ICEL/EPA Conference on Environmental Regulation and Enforcement18 October 2012

Colin ScottUniversity College Dublin

Transnational Private Regulation

Feedback(information gathering)

Correction(behaviour modification)

Norms(standard-setting)

A

B

A – FirmB – Government (agency and/or department) OR Trade Association OR NGOC – Contracting Party (firm or government)D – Third parties – eg employees, NGOs, investors

RulesMonitoring Enforcement

LegislationContract

Cstandards

Contract - supply chains - audit and assurance

Self-Regulation

Eg CSRemploymentcontracts

DSocial/marketpressures/contracts

Eg boycottsbuycotts

Modelling and EvaluatingTPR for Environmental Governance

Evaluation• Legitimacy

• Mirroring of Public Proceduralization• Transparency• Inclusiveness, etc

• OR mixing market incentives with public models?

• Effectiveness• Scope of Private Regulation• Outcomes

• Quality• Reflection and Evaluation –eg ISEAL• Benchmarking – eg grievance handling processes

• Enforcement• Providing reassurance /credibility• Public oversight• Self-reporting• Compliance programmes and third party assurance• Enforceable consumer and employee rights

• How to provide reassurance/credibility around monitoring and enforcement processes?• Asserting expertise and detachment as per non-

majoritarian public governance OR• Devising less responsive regimes with credibility

based on stringency?• Overall a quest for building new architectures of control

or learning?