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First published online: 13 Feb 2019 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. This contribution investigates the form and content of a new and updated European Union (EU) legal framework intended to regulate third-country import pipelines for gas, including the ‘upstream’ component of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The article will first set the scene and examine the essential features of the current legal regime regulating import pipelines in the EU and explore its extraterritorial dimension, including the discussion of the allocation of competences between the EU and its Member States. Subsequently, the paper will explore the newly proposed EU legal framework for import pipelines as set out in the Commission’s proposal to amend the 2009 Gas Directive. It will focus on three crucial, interlinked dimensions: (1) the proposed form of such legislation; (2) the applicability of the framework to existing and new pipelines entering the EU (scope); and (3) a potential derogation and exemption regime for import pipelines.

This special edition of the European Journal of Risk Regulation deals with a highly topical, complex and controversial subject matter – the reform of the regulation of medical devices in the European Union.At first sight, and as further detailed in the following articles, there appears to be a general consensus about the need to improve the EU (and indeed the US) regulatory framework on medical devices, especially for high-risk categories of devices. Stakeholders including representatives of the industry, patient and consumer organizations, national authorities, healthcare professionals, agree that there is a need for change. However, opinions differ on what needs to be changed and how. Three alternatives for reform of the current EU systemof regulation have been debated over the past years: the adoption of a pharmastyle system of pre-market authorisation; maintaining the status quo but strengthening implementation and supervision in the Member States; or finally, introducing common technical specifications together with specific guidelines for certain high-risk devices.

With an increasing regulatory framework being introduced under European Community law, Member States may gradually lose their ability to organise their electricity and gas sectors. Different levels...

Under Europe's recent Directive on competition in electricity, Member States retain immense autonomy to set the competitive agenda within their borders. The result may well be a distinctly skewed—and far from open—trade in electricity, and little opportunity for even large customers to make a meaningful choice of suppliers.

(1997). Energy Regulation and Competition in Canada. Journal of Energy & Natural Resources Law: Vol. 15, No. 4, pp. 338-365.

The article deals with the advantages and disadvantages of an international solution for the safe, permanent disposal or long-term storage of high level radioactive waste from a legal perspective. Firstly, some early attempts to create an International Waste Repository (IWR) and their subsequent fate are examined. Next to this, pros and cons of an IWR in the context of recent national and international developments in the management of, and trade in radioactive waste, are considered. Main related question is, whether an international solution to waste disposal is a useful option. Finally, the legal and institutional problems which must be considered if states decide to create an international facility for waste disposal are described. Special attention is given to a model provided for in Chapter V of the Euratom Treaty of 1957.

This article examines the European Commission's plans to create a single or internal energy market by 1992. It analyses the Commission's programmes and priorities for action from a legal perspective, because it is argued, legal factors are not only fundamentally important to circumscribing the Commission's field of action and for determining the success of its initiatives, but also because the legal dimension offers a useful critical tool with which to appraise the feasibility of these plans. The article reviews the various legal powers which the Commission may currently deploy, and argues that they are ill-suited to the most difficult but fundamental task which faces the Community; that of reconciling the objectives of market integration through greater competition between energy suppliers with that of securing energy supply in general. It concludes by suggesting that the only way out of this dilemma lies in the formulation of a clear set of Community energy policy objectives.

This article examines the nature of control over the promotional activities of the pharmaceutical industry in the UK. It focuses on the variety of methods which companies use to promote their products to the medical profession and considers the special problems this raises, for the government who seeks to secure the supply of safe products at reasonable prices, for the doctor who has often little but the company's own promotional literature to guide him/her in selecting a new drug, and for the consumer/patient who is supplied with a minimum of information about the product and who is consequently dependent on the doctor's judgment. It assesses the amount of money currently expended by the industry on promotional material and examines the adequacy and efficacy of the complex interaction of the current statutory, non-statutory and self-regulatory controls.

‘Deregulation’ is best conceived as covering two separate sets of processes: changes to the structure of rules embodied in regulatory systems; and disturbances to the stability of those systems due to the inability of system ‘governors’ to function effectively. The most striking feature of deregulation is variety - in incidence, form and extent. This variety is a function of three broad sets of variables: place, notably national setting; time, notably the historical epoch and the stage in a regulatory cycle when deregulation happens; and arena, notably the economic arena and policy networks where deregulation takes place.