The Rise of Transnational Private Meta-Regulators

What is it about?

The emergence of transnational regulation has led to the rise of private meta-regulation. Meta-regulation refers to the process through which a regulatory body oversees another regulatory body and sets standards for its activities, governance structure or performance. This article explains the emergence and functions of private meta-regulation. Our analysis is based on a comparative study of two transnational private meta-regulators: the Global Food Safety Initiative and the European Advertising Standards Alliance. The governance design of both meta-regulators has become more open but still limited to industry participants. Both rely on existing authoritative global standards and focus on procedural aspects. Both assess private standards. GFSI assessment ends in a decision about recognition of a private standard, whereas EASA assessment ends in a performance score without formal sanctions. Private meta-regulation is prominently concerned with the bolstering of capacity, credibility and legitimacy of private regulatory regimes and convergence between such regimes.

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Why is it important?

Transnational private regulatory regimes are becoming increasingly important. This eventually resulted in the rise of private meta-regulators which develop rules for private regulators. Private meta-regulators such as the Global Food Safety Initiative and the European Advertising Standards Alliance have proven to be influential in shaping both industry practices and public policy making. For this reason it is important to investigate who these meta-regulators are and how they operate.