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FRIHUMSAM-Fri prosj.st. hum og sam

Research group on Supervision and Enforcement of EU/EEA Economic Regulation (SupER)

Alternative title: Forskergruppe for tilsyn og håndheving av EU/EØS-rettslig regulering av økonomisk aktivitet

Awarded: NOK 0.89 mill.

The EU produces large amounts of regulation on the exercise of economic activities – e.g., banking, investment services and energy markets. The EU’s legislative bodies have for several such activities supplanted the member states’ national legislatures as the force driving regulatory developments. Through the EEA agreement, the situation is the same for Norway. When an economic activity is regulated, a public authority is often tasked with supervising that regulated entities observe the regulation and sanctioning non-compliance. National authorities have traditionally handled these tasks. While this generally remains the case, there are examples of EU bodies being tasked with supervision within specific fields, and such bodies are in the process of being established in other fields. The circumstance that rules are adopted at EU level, while supervision and sanctioning primarily occurs at the national level, raises several issues common to all forms of EU regulation of economic activities. Are common rules being applied in the same manner in the different member states? How does the EU seek to ensure uniform application? Moreover, new questions regarding the relationship between EU law and national laws arise when EU bodies are tasked with supervision and enforcement. The establishment of the research network builds on the theory that similar problems arise across sectors subject to regulation adopted by the EU. To illustrate: A researcher within banking regulation may benefit from contact with a researcher within marketing law. Such contact may contribute towards identifying new questions and possible solutions, thus laying the foundations for future research projects.

EU and EEA law regulate in detail several economic sectors and activities, such as banking, financial markets and energy markets, to name a few. This diminishes the role of national legislative authorities. While the rules are determined at the EU/EEA level, supervision of compliance and sanctioning of infringements generally remain with national authorities. This may lead to divergences between member states as to the specific requirements that economic operators must observe and what non-compliance may entail for them. Against this background, a key goal of the research group is to analyse how EU/EEA law seeks to ensure consistent application of the common rules, and the extent to which differences between member states persist. As this mode of regulation may give rise to similar challenges across regulatory domains, it is beneficial to bring together researchers that specialize in different forms of economic regulation and encourage that they collaborate and combine their expertise. The ambitions of the research group furthermore necessitate the establishment and strengthening of international networks, as studying whether supervisory and enforcement practices differ between member states necessitates input from and collaboration with national experts in other EU/EEA member states. It is intended that these efforts will lead to group members producing innovative research output of international relevance suitable for publication in top outlets.

Funding scheme:

FRIHUMSAM-Fri prosj.st. hum og sam