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ABSTRACT
Since the mid-1980s, the co-operation between the European Community and private European standardization organizations has been pivotal for the EU's political project of making an internal market for products. Within regulatory state theory and legal sociology, this co-operation has predominantly been studied in terms of problems of political legitimacy and regulatory control and efficiency. Common to these studies seems to be that it is taken for granted that the Community is the political entity creating the internal market. While this view may have been adequate up until the mid-1980s, this article suggests that in the current market creation strategies, the public/private boundary has de facto become a boundary within a political order. A new political order for the regulation of the internal market for products has emerged which is more encompassing than the Community. We suggest that the constitution of this political order be identified and studied applying the analytical concept of policy field.
Notes
1. The European standardization organizations comprise the European Committee for Standardization (CEN), the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). Agreements on mutual recognition of standards have been adopted between these three organizations and although differences in organization and decision-making procedures exist it seems reasonable to view them as a whole. It should be noted, however, that in terms of level of activity CEN constitutes by far the biggest of the three organizations, and when we refer to ESO it will therefore primarily involve CEN.
2. For a recent overview of this literature, see e.g. Schepel (Citation2005: 67, n. 144). There has also been a legal debate essentially questioning the legality of the New Approach by reference to the 1956 ECJ Meroni judgments about the restricted conditions under which sovereign powers could be delegated to subordinate authorities outside the EC. See in particular Schepel (Citation2005: 227, n. 7).
3. Four interest groups have specific technical bureaux supported financially by the Commission. These are the European Trade Union Technical Bureau for Health and Safety (TUTB), the European Association for the Co-ordination of Consumer Representation in Standardisation (ANEC), the European Office of Crafts, Trades and SMEs for Standardisation (NORMAPME), and the European Environmental Citizens Organisation for Standardisation (ECOS). For an overview of the Commission's support to these bureaux, see http://www.dn-lokal.dk/ekspertfora/artikler/enviromental.html.
