Regulatory enforcement and compliance

Abstract

Introduction In the previous chapter, we considered various techniques of regulation. In so doing, our aim was to answer the question of how to regulate; this chapter deepens and extends that inquiry by considering questions of regulatory enforcement and compliance. The previous chapter's analysis of regulatory techniques sought to understand the range of instruments used in pursuit of regulatory goals. But all regulatory techniques must be given flesh through the enforcement process if they are to achieve their intended purpose. By focusing on enforcement and compliance, we begin to draw into focus the dynamic, messy and socially contextual nature of the regulatory process. Before proceeding, it is helpful to clarify our terminology. Within regulatory regimes that rest upon a command and control framework, there is a tendency in common parlance to equate enforcement with the prosecution of offences: the formal invocation of the legal process in order to impose sanctions for violating the law. One important contribution of the regulatory compliance and enforcement literature, however, is to highlight the pervasiveness of informal practices throughout the enforcement process. As Hutter points out: Compliance is a concept relevant to all forms of enforcement, but the concept is used in a variety of ways in the regulation literature … A theme running through much regulation literature is that compliance with regulatory legislation should be regarded as much as a process as an event. Regulatory officials may regard compliance both as a matter of instant conformity and an open-ended and long-term process which may take several years to attain. […]