EU NETWORKS · Networks in European Law

The proposed research aims to examine the way in which ‘networks’, resulting from the cooperation of public and/or private actors, are increasingly established under European Law. The research project analyzes the networks from both the institutional and the functional perspectives and, specifically, considers the networks established for the enforcement and the harmonization of European Law. This goal will be pursued by adopting a methodology that relies on a transdisciplinary approach to the study of Law (e.g. an approach that crossed over the traditional boundaries of private and public laws), and the suggestions coming from other disciplines (e.g. political sciences, sociology), especially with respect to the possibility to apply methods for research (e.g. the interviews) well known in certain disciplines, but not so often used in approaching EU Law. In particular, this research will concentrate on the following two case-studies. The first case-study regards the networks of public authorities and courts adopted to enforce Consumer Law and Competition Law (i.e. the Consumer Cooperation Regulation Network and the European Competition Network, “CPC” and “ECN”). The second case-study concerns the private-based networks that have been introduced to harmonize product safety standards and that are now under development within the ‘New Legislative Framework’ (i.e. the European Standardization Organizations, “ESOs”). The research project will also examine the role played by these European networks in the ‘international arena’, and, precisely, the role of the CPC and the ECN in the transnational enforcement of Consumer Law and Competition Law as well as the tasks of the ESOs in the processes managed by the International Standardization Organization (“ISO”). The goals of this research consist in framing the emerging European experience in ‘network governance’ within the wider theoretical framework provided for by the “network theory”.