Sectors and Strategies of Global Communications Regulation

Abstract

Summary Global communication networks, in particular the Internet, challenge the traditional systems and procedures of regulation, which are national or regional but not global It is evident that solely market processes will not assert the guidance and control needed to escort the growth of the network and its use for service provision and electronic transactions. Introducing the conceptual distinction of coordination and regulation we identify areas in which government intervention is unnecessary and where it is indispensable. Then, examining different areas and strategies of regulation we highlight crucial problems and regulators’ responses concerning electronic commerce and the protection of third parties. This helps identify trends and specify areas of regulation with and without governments involved It shows that global communications is governed by a patchwork of few uniform international legal rules, sparingly harmonized national regulations at the regional level, a number of laws framing schemes of self-regulation complemented by unregulated self-regulation and last but not least a growing number of legal interface solutions. They mediate between conflicting regulatory systems without affecting their autonomy.