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Co-Regulatory Failure in the Food Industry

Explaining Regulatory Failure by Means of Two Contrasting Interpretations of Governance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Haiko van der Voort
Haiko van der Voort*
Affiliation:
Delft University of Technology
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Abstract

Co-regulation presents an odd paradox in today's context of a shifting emphasis from government to governance. In the first place, co-regulation implies horizontal, ‘networked’ relations between government and industry. Yet at the same time, it has the hierarchical connotation inherent in regulation. The main concern addressed in this paper is what this ambiguity means for evaluations of co-regulation. What is failure here? Two contrasting interpretations of ‘governance’ are described, and a case study from the Dutch poultry sector is presented to seek explanations for failure. The two interpretations are found to provide complementary explanations for failure. This suggests that evaluations adopting a single perspective may produce all-too-easy – though misleading – conclusions.

Type
Special Issue on the Patterns of Interplay between Public and Private Food Regulation
Information
European Journal of Risk Regulation , Volume 6 , Issue 4 , December 2015 , pp. 502 - 511
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015

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26 The Dutch Ministry of Public Health took over the file and changed the regime.

27 The interviews took place from May 2009 - July 2012 in the broader context of my Phd-thesis research. Haiko van der Voort, Naar een drie-eenheid van co-regulering; Over spanningen tussen drie toezichtregimes, 2013, available on the internet at http://www.tbm.tudelft.nl/over-faculteit/afdelingen/multi-actor-systems/people/assistant-professors/dr-hg-haiko-van-der-voort/

28 These figures are taken from the annual report of the Productschap Pluimvee en Eieren (The Commodity Board of Poultry and Eggs, 2011.

29 All interviews were conducted in Dutch. The quotes are translations by the author.

30 To be precise: it was a private organization that committed inspections mandated by the Ministry of Public Health.

31 Commission Regulation (EC) No 589/2008.

32 More specifically: this deals with the norm EN45011 regarding product certification.

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