Regulating Low Risks: Innovative Strategies and Implementation

Abstract:     

Risk-based regulation tends to direct concerns towards higher risks but low risks present a number of challenges for regulators. The latter have to justify the level of attention they pay to such risks; they have to deal with different kinds of low risks and they have to decide which tools to use to control lower risks. What regulators cannot do is ignore lower risks. This article describes how a strategic framework for regulating low risks was devised and it examines how academic research into strategies for low risks was translated into practical strategies for application in the field. A number of messages are to be drawn: the distinction between high and low risks is by no means unproblematic; traditional theories of risk-based regulation do not come fully to grips with lower risks; but it is possible to devise an organised method for choosing the intervention tools for lower risks and such a method can be implemented on the ground if used with judgement by experienced regulators.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 25