Really responsive risk-based regulation

Regulators in a number of countries are increasingly developing "risk-based" strategies to manage their resources, and their reputations as "risk-based regulators" have become much lauded by regulatory reformers. This widespread endorsement of risk-based regulation, together with the experience of regulatory failure, prompts us to consider how risk-based regulators can attune the logics of risk analyses to the complex problems and the dynamics of regulation in practice. We argue, first, that regulators have to regulate in a way that is responsive to five elements: (1) regulated firms' behavior, attitude, and culture; (2) regulation's institutional environments; (3) interactions of regulatory controls; (4) regulatory performance; and (5) change. Secondly, we argue that the challenges of regulation to which regulators have to respond vary across the different regulatory tasks of detection, response development, enforcement, assessment, and modification. Using the "really responsive" framework, we highlight some of the strengths and limitations of using risk-based regulation to manage risk and uncertainty within the constraints that flow from practical circumstances and, indeed, from the framework of risk-based regulation itself. The need for a revised, more nuanced conception of risk-based regulation is stressed

The role of intermediaries in the small business transfer process

This paper contributes to the emerging field of business transfer studies by providing qualitative, in-depth evidence on the role of intermediaries at different stages of the transfer process. Building on the resource-based view of the firm and agency theory, this paper identifies the specific resources different types of intermediaries offer small businesses in the transfer process. Further, it explores the role of intermediaries in managing risk and uncertainty in the interaction between buyer and seller. The results suggest that small business owners may need to navigate the use of a variety of intermediaries throughout different times leading-up-to and throughout the business transfer process. Finally, opportunities for further research are explored

Digital Content Contracts for Consumers

The application of consumer law to digital content contracts encounters a number of obstacles. Some of these are rather typical for digital content markets, e.g., the legal consequences of the classification of digital content as “goods” or “services”, and more importantly, the absence of general benchmarks to evaluate the conformity of digital content. Other problems, such as the limited usefulness of consumer information and the position of underage consumers, are not as such reserved to digital consumers, but they are amplified in the digital content markets. Moreover, particular attention is paid to the complex relationship between copyright law and consumer law. This paper explores the extent to which consumer (contract) law is fit to address the problems faced by digital consumers wishing to enjoy the benefits of digital content and examines whether the on-going initiatives at national and European level are likely to provide relief. Finally, recommendations for improvement are put forward in cases where the analysis shows that the problems identified are not or are insufficiently solved by these initiatives

Health and safety ‘crimes’ in Britain: the great disappearing act

This chapter provides an (empirically informed) reminder of the fact that for politicians, the media, the wider public and, indeed, some academics, some crimes are less visible than others. Moreover, as will be demonstrated, this relative lack of visibility is not static, but dynamic, while at the same time it is always subject to contest and struggle. The focus here is on the regulation and enforcement of occupational health and safety in workplaces in the United Kingdom, with a particular emphasis upon developments since the turn of the century. The chapter sets out the wider policy context for these considerations before turning to its central task: a presentation of various forms of data relating to trends in enforcement over the first decade of this millennium. It then examines the extent to which such trends are likely to continue or indeed be intensified under the Coalition Government. Finally, the chapter will note what appears to be a development that sits in tension with the general picture of decriminalisation which this chapter will paint: namely, the introduction in 2008 of a new criminal offence of corporate manslaughter. Prior to these tasks, it is worth turning to a brief consideration of the scale of the problem of "health and safety"

Fairness and Consumer Decision Making under the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive

This article analyses the unfairness concept from the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD). It considers why the nature and level of protection is particularly important given the range of coverage of the regime and the Europeanisation agenda. It argues that the UCPD concept provides the potential for a relatively protective approach to consumer decision making. At the same time, it emphasizes that realisation of this potential is partly dependent on recognizing the limits of transparency as a protective tool and in understanding the ?professional diligence? and ?average consumer? concepts in particular ways. It is further suggested that the protective potential of the regime is not necessarily undermined by the ?average consumer? concept or by the ?informed decision-making? paradigm of the general unfairness clause. Indeed, the general clause may be capable of extending the protective effects to some extent. Finally, it is suggested that regulators may have a key role to play in maximizing both the level of protection and the prospects for a genuinely common European approach