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A Soft Law

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The Art of Legislating

Part of the book series: Legisprudence Library ((LEGIS,volume 6))

Abstract

Modern social states are not limited to guaranteeing order and regulating procedures as primitive states were. Their legal systems are not merely a procedural framework, but are charged with social and economic purposes, and therefore require more laws than traditional laissez-faire states. But the critique of market failure has moved on to the critique of government failure and the proclamation of the following regulatory trilemma: any regulatory intervention is either irrelevant or generates negative effects on society or produces the disintegration of the legal order itself. Law in social states has reached a limit in terms of its effectiveness, it cannot respond adequately to the demands of politics or economy. It is therefore necessary to seek new paths, and while some recommend pure and simple deregulation, others invite us to look for more indirect forms of regulation. These are new, softer forms of state intervention that are not intended to replace but to complement the classic forms of regulation. Some relevant examples of these new regulatory instruments are industry standards (e.g. ISO standards) drawn up by private actors, self-regulation, reinforced self-regulation, indirect regulation, symbolic regulation, etc. They are new forms of soft law that can complement the array of regulatory instruments traditionally available to policy makers. The objective of this chapter is to point out their possibilities and limitations.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    On the theses of Luhmann, Teubner and Wilke as applied to law, see further García Amado (1988).

  2. 2.

    For a critique of Luhmann’s and Teubner’s theses on this subject, see Zolo (1995, p. 203 ff).

  3. 3.

    Of course, compliance with these norms is not mandatory. But they can become “official” when so advised by “a) the rationalization and ordering of public purchases; b) the need to formalize test or measurement procedures, in order to rationalise sectors and facilitate administrative inspection; and c) sanitary or environmental requirements in terms of procedures to determine compositions or percentages of elements, substances or products” (Art. 9 of the Royal Decree 1614/85 of 1 August 1985).

  4. 4.

    Alongside simple imperatives and punitive laws there is, Bentham said, another type of legal reality which consists of neither coercive nor discoercive norms) and he called expository matter: “most laws— Bentham (1981, p. 433) wrote—contain complex terms that can only be understood after many explanations and definitions. It is not enough to prohibit theft in general, it is also necessary to explain what property is, and what theft is”. The technical specifications or standards of homologation thus complement the state or community regulations.

  5. 5.

    The so-called “voluntary agreements” as an alternative solution to regulation are different from self-regulation. They are voluntary and non-binding agreements between certain groups of companies or social entities and the state itself, whereby incentives for action are determined by mutual interest rather than fear of sanctions. Thus, the Government can reach an agreement with companies to withdraw certain goods from the market or establish a specific policy on televisions with the aim of protecting minors. These agreements have the advantage of avoiding conflicts, involving companies in political decisions, avoiding regulations, sharing responsibilities, etc. See Mannix (1994).

  6. 6.

    See further Martín Mateo (1987), Conseil de l’Europe (1993, 1990), Etchegoyen (1991), Balandier (1990), Byk (1990), Commission de réforme du droit du Canada (1990), Conseil d’État (1988), Comité consultatif nacional d’Ethique pour les Sciencies de la Vie et de la Santé (1988); as well as the Council of Europe’s Recommendation 1.160.

  7. 7.

    A survey carried out by the Council of Europe (1993) showed how a good number of countries have set up Ethics Committees whose functions are to advise public authorities and the scientific community, inform, educate, and evaluate biomedical research.

  8. 8.

    This diversity can be observed even in the most varied denominations such as codes of conduct, codes of good practice, guidelines, non-binding standards, etc., which reflect how difficult it is still today to profile such different instruments within public policies.

  9. 9.

    In the UK, e.g., the Cadbury Report has been an important mechanism of self-regulation: Ferry (1994).

  10. 10.

    Ley 24/1988, de 28 de julio, del mercado de valores, and Real Decreto 620/1993, de 3 de mayo, sobre normas de actuación en los mercados de valores y registros obligatorios.

  11. 11.

    According to Art. 3 of the aforementioned Royal Decree, all companies and securities agencies must draw up an internal code of conduct that regulates the actions of their governing bodies, employees and representatives. At the same time, the professional associations that group together the aforementioned persons and entities may draw up such internal regulations to which securities companies and agencies may adhere. Such regulations are drawn up through negotiations with the heads of the National Securities Market Commission (Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores, CNMV), who may make objections, recommendations and oblige them to make “the necessary modifications to ensure compliance”. Approved regulations must be submitted to the National Securities Market Commission.

  12. 12.

    Of course, we cannot forget religion and morality as other powerful restrictors of human behavior; but its treatment is not relevant now.

  13. 13.

    For Edelman (1964, p. 206), the anticipation of a future welfare or a danger is critical in the political language, for this language largely consists of promises about the benefits that will alleguedly follow from any political cause or candidate supported by the speaker. In this regard, ambiguous phrases reflect the lack of consensus within a society in which values are unevenly distributed: distressed people want promises of a future in which the pathologies of the present have been eliminated, and, when a promise is ambiguous, different groups can read different meanings in it.

  14. 14.

    On symbolic legislation, see recently van Klink (2016).

  15. 15.

    As Edelman (1964, p. 40) notes, a large number of people in our society tend to think in the form of stereotypes, personalization or hypersimplification because they cannot recognize or tolerate ambiguous or complex situations—accordingly, they respond to symbols that hypersimplify and distort.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Facultad de Derecho, Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, Alcalá de Henares, Spain

    Virgilio Zapatero Gómez

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  1. Virgilio Zapatero Gómez
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Zapatero Gómez, V. (2019). A Soft Law. In: The Art of Legislating. Legisprudence Library, vol 6. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-23388-4_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-23388-4_6

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