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Little is known about the relationship between industry self-regulation organizations and the diffusion of policy content. Using the organic food industry as a context, this study examines the relationship between local and federated standards-based certification organizations and specific changes in U.S. state laws. The study's findings indicate that local structures correspond to greater legal innovation and elaboration, but less variation. Conversely, federated structures correspond to less legal innovation and elaboration, and greater content variation. These findings both challenge extant theories regarding organizational capacities of local and federated organizations and extend contemporary conceptions of diffusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Despite a growing literature on corporations as political actors, relatively little is known about how alcohol industry actors attempt to influence public policy. In the context of contemporary debates about the minimum pricing of alcoholic beverages, and drawing on semi-structured interviews with a range of key informants, this article investigates the means by which alcohol industry actors gain access to policy makers and the strategies used to influence policy. It finds that the strategies of alcohol industry actors are focused on long-term relationship building with policy makers, involving the provision and interpretation of information and the promotion of various forms of self-regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the impacts of European countries regulatory trend on openness in donation of gametes for conception of women in the countries such as the Great Britain, Sweden and Netherlands. It mentions the implications of the anonymity in Danish law which examines the legal framework for export of Danish sperms. It also notes on the general regulation in medical law which characterized as the degree of professional self-regulation.

Since the beginning of this century, most South American countries have modified their position within society, challenging the self-regulating nature of markets and intervening in social issues. This approach supports the transition toward a 'third-generation' model for the social policy field, one in which Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) acquires a relevant role. In the last few years, many public policies have included SSE in their design, with the purpose of addressing the key issues of developing societies: unemployment and poverty. This article analyzes the main regulatory dimensions and conditionings of the national programs that promote SSE in South American countries and aim to enhance social inclusion and employment. Particularly, the article examines the most illustrative social programs implemented at the national level in Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Uruguay and Venezuela in the last decade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to evaluate how infostructure has been reformed in the liberalisation process of network industries, which has involved third party access to the network through a comparison of the electricity, railway, and civil aviation sectors in Switzerland. Our theoretical argument posits that infostructure is a missing link in the study of the regulation of liberalised network industries. Infostructure is defined as the control and command services that are necessary for monitoring the access to and optimising the uses of infrastructure. Our empirical comparison of the sectors aims at answering the principle question: What is the impact of the management of infostructure on the liberalisation process and the structure of liberalising markets? This study of the liberalisation of network industries in Switzerland highlights the potential strategic function of infostructure in the context of opening to competition and internationalising markets. Infostructure management can impact infrastructure ownership and service operation in terms of market structure and constrain access to the infrastructure and the market. Infostructure could also weaken the capacity to regulate the entire sector from regulatory agencies, particularly when self-regulatory arrangements control third party access to the network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Does self-regulation improve social welfare? We develop a policy game featuring a regulator and a firm that can unilaterally commit to better environmental or social behavior in order to preempt future public policy efforts. We show that the answer depends on the set of policy instruments available to the regulator. Self-regulation improves welfare if the regulator can only use mandatory regulation, but it reduces welfare when the regulator opts for a voluntary agreement. This suggests that self-regulation and voluntary agreements are not good complements from a welfare point of view. We derive policy implications, and extend the basic model in several dimensions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The central focus on this study is trust in government, including the perception of corruption that different groups have regarding the relationships between the actions of European Union-member states and their distributive policies. Are states with more resources immune to corruption? Is there a relationship between income inequality and the level of corruption in a country? Are countries with strong welfare states or with social-democratic policies less corrupt? This article reviews these and other questions theoretically and through a quantitative, cross-sectional analysis based on data from a governance study by the World Bank. It shows the importance of taking corruption into account, as well as effective self-regulation by corporations, in the design of public policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our article investigates the stock market reaction of the issuance of guidelines by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) to prod biotechnology manufacturers to strengthen self-regulation so as 'to efficiently monitor adherence to applicable statutes, regulations and program requirements' in their marketing to physicians. Our empirical results, using standard event study methodology, show significant effect on shareholders' wealth of 10 large biotechnology firms around various OIG-associated events leading up to the issuance of final guidance. The release of high-level government policy initiative requires the biotechnology industry to review its marketing practices that might be questionable. We provide evidence that suggests that when a public policy initiative significantly affects shareholder wealth, that in turn can impact and alter firm-level behavior without the necessity of adopting a regulation which can be hugely expensive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the global financial crisis, systemic risk regulation has taken centre stage. Many consider hedge funds a potential threat to financial stability. Regulating hedge funds, however, is necessarily a transnational challenge because no national government alone can effectively control the systemic risks affecting its economy. This article takes the example of hedge funds for a case study of emerging transnational regulation. After an introduction to hedge funds and the reasons for regulating them, it considers the possible elements of a transnational regulatory regime for hedge funds: transnational industry self-regulation, including such induced by the government, regulatory competition between government regulators, and harmonisation of government regulation. The main conclusions are: self-regulation cannot substitute fully for government regulation in controlling systemic risks caused by hedge funds. Equally, regulatory competition tends to undercut systemic risk regulation. Effective transnational regulation can only be accomplished through harmonisation of government regulation. Such harmonisation is likely to arise if regulation is needed to control systemic risk in global financial markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The central thesis is that professionals and state regulators have incompatible perspectives, both on their professional practice and on the role of (self-) regulation. Regulators have a top-down perspective (with the state at the top) and focus on the product of the professions. Quantitative measurable output is what counts primarily, and regulation is an instrument to improve that output. Professionals have a centreperiphery perspective (with the profession at the centre) and focus on the professional practice. The quality of professional work is what we should focus on primarily and the standards implicit in the profession are what should guide us here. External regulation is usually a nuisance or a burden. These perspectives clash, which may explain the current dissatisfaction among professionals. I discuss two partly successful strategies to mitigate this conflict. The first is to construct a buffer or transformer between the two perspectives, consisting of an interstitial managerial layer. The second is to try to reframe the opposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Corporate Governance (CG) theme has recently been the subject of significant measures to try to restore confidence among investors by encouraging information and communication transparency. The Italian Parliament approved Law 262 in 2005; and in 2006 the CG Committee of the Italian Stock Exchange approved the new Self-Regulatory Code for listed companies. This paper deals with control matters and moves on to causes and cases of their failures in relation to a sample of Italian companies. More precisely, it investigates, through an empirical survey, the main limits and areas for improvement in the working of company Internal Control (IC) system(s) and in the objectives of the role of the three main professional bodies currently in charge of it in Italy (i.e. Internal Auditing, Statutory Auditors and External Auditors). The results obtained show that the Italian situation is very unusual, due to a long tradition: the possibility to choose between different administration and control systems, often with coexisting and overlapping roles, creates problems in terms of responsibility and control. The first answers to the critical issues highlighted are given by the aforementioned laws, intended as the main catalysts for a review of the roles of all IC bodies. However, much work has still to be done. The final aim was to come up with suggestions about the possibility of finding areas for improvement within those companies’ IC systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the government policy for drinking alcoholic beverages and provides an overview of the alcoholic beverage industry in Spain. A new law on the prevention of alcohol misuse was drafted in 2002, with provisions raising the legal drinking age to 18 years. The alcoholic beverage industry became involved in the field of prevention, focusing on the promotion of responsible drinking. One of the goals of the industry is the reinforcement of self-regulation and ethical codes.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Self-Policing Policy (more commonly referred to as the Audit Policy) waives or reduces penalties when regulated entities voluntarily discover, disclose, and correct environmental violations. This study draws upon a rational choice model of corporate crime to determine if traditional regulatory efforts such as inspections and enforcement actions are associated with the odds of disclosing an environmental violation under the Audit Policy. A case control design is used to compare companies that self-police to companies that do not self-police. The event group consists of all 551 companies that disclosed at least one environmental violation under the Audit Policy between October 1, 1998 and September 30, 2000. The control group consists of a simple random sample of 551 companies that did not use the Audit Policy but were discovered to have violated at least one environmental law during the same time period as the event group. There is no evidence that inspections and enforcement increase Audit Policy use. However, the results do suggest, first, that the Audit Policy is more likely to be used by large companies than by small companies and, second, that it is likely to be used for reporting violations as opposed to more serious emissions or permit violations. In terms of public policy these findings suggest that regulatory agencies such as the EPA can do relatively little to increase the self-policing of environmental violations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article, published in two parts, explores the debate between the Bertelsmann Foundation and the Centre for Democracy and Technology about regulation of illegal and harmful content on the Internet. The authors analyse the method, interests and limits of the self-regulatory model proposed by the European Institutions, bearing in mind the perspective of user empowerment. Part II considers the possibilities for a global rating system for content and the prospects of ISPs jointly subscribing to controls over legal content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-regulation has been at the centre of a number of public and academic debates in Britain in recent years. This article enquires into the nature of self-regulation and attempts to improve our understanding of it in a number of ways: by attempting to define self-regulation; by assessing certain trends and developments in self-regulatory systems; by trying to explain these trends and developments; and by outlining the implications of self-regulation for policy making and public accountability. The main conclusion reached is that, from a public administration perspective at least, concern should not centre upon whether or not self-regulation is increasing or decreasing. Instead, the main focus should be upon the ability of such systems to respond to pressures for reform and provide effective regulation within a broad framework of public accountability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previously, it has been asked why there was such a shift away from professional self-regulation towards direct control by the Government. It was suggested that there occurred a seminal event - Bristol - that was responsible for a seismic shift in attitude by the public towards the idea that health professionals were not capable of self-regulation; they needed the firmed hand of direct governmental control. This article, and the next two, will examine this in greater detail, by drawing together, thoughts and ideals from that period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]