Conference - The Regulatory State: Constitutional Implications

About the Conference
This event will explore the impacts on constitutional arrangements of the development over the last thirty years or so of a ‘regulatory state’ in the UK and other Western countries, and in EU law. Processes of privatisation and regulation which have given rise to this state raise important issues to do with public, political, legal and other forms of accountability (e.g. audit) of industries and regulators, and issues of governance and good governance. The speakers will consider the constitutional implications of these arrangements generally and in particular countries, and will make comparisons between jurisdictions.

Importance of the subject 
The subject is of practical relevance in many countries, and in the EU. There has been constitutional litigation about regulation on some of the key issues, notably in France and the USA. Democratic accountability and judicial review of regulators are of particular concern in many countries. We anticipate that insights will emerge in the course of the sessions as to the control and accountability of regulators and of privatised bodies. In some countries the latter may be considered to perform ‘public functions’ and thus to attract public law controls: this in turn raises issues to do with the public law / private law divide. The independent regulatory agency is becoming the central model in EU policy for the liberalised sectors, for instance in the recent review of telecommunications liberalisation: accountability arrangements here are weak. And finally we expect common concerns to emerge as to how the regulatory state and regulatory techniques might be reformed. This will depend to a great extent on local political and legal cultures.

The Speakers: 

• Professor Didier Maus, President of the International Association of Constitutional Law and
• Professor Dawn Oliver, chair of the UK Constitutional Law Group
• Professor Johannes Masing (University of Freiburg, Germany, and the German Federal Constitutional Court)
• Professor Peter Strauss, (Columbia, USA)
• Professor Julia Black (LSE, UK)
• Professor Fabrizio Cafaggi, (EUI, Italy)
• Professor Gerd Winter (University of Bremen, Germany)
• Professor Imelda Maher (UCD, Ireland)
• Professor Richard Rawlings (UCL, UK)
• Mr Ed Humpherson (National Audit Office, UK)
• Professor Richard Macrory (UCL, UK)
• Professor Tony Prosser (University of Bristol, UK)
   

The delegates

The conference will attract lawyers, both academic and practising, and practising regulators, economists, accountants, civil servants and others involved in regulation in the UK and elsewhere. We expect between 75 and 150 delegates. 

This conference is accredited with 14.5 CPD hours.

To view the full programme see our website:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/constitution-group/docs/nov08_conf_brochure.pdf

To view more information for conference participants, such as travel and hotel details, see our website:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/constitution-group/docs/nov08_conf_info.pdf