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Social Accountability in the Regulatory Policy Process: The Governance of Telecommunications in Italy and Spain

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Accountability and Regulatory Governance

Part of the book series: Executive Politics and Governance Series ((EXPOLGOV))

Abstract

The role of independent regulatory agencies (IRAs) has expanded considerably in recent decades because political institutions increasingly tend to transfer to them regulatory powers in many policy areas (Jordana et al. 2011), thus contributing to changes in the interaction between the public and private domains (Bernstain 1955; Majone 1994; Giraudi and Righettini 2001; Gilardi 2008). The expression ‘the rise of the regulatory state’ refers to a double trend: to the process of increasing privatization of public services and to the concomitantly increasing use of authoritative instruments to regulate industries (Lodge 2008). Consequently, the diffusion of technocratic policymaking (based on skills and performance) through IRAs in the EU raises new questions regarding the ways in which accountability and transparency work in multi-level democratic governance (MLG) (Majone 1999). One of the most salient issues regarding IRAs concerns their accountability in terms of targets, activities, procedures and interactions while ensuring they remain visible, intelligible and assessable yet politically independent. The explosion of the ‘audit society’ (Power 1994) triggers certain problems in guaranteeing the existence of conditions for transparency and creating new channels of accountability.

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Notes

  1. CNMC is currently responsible for the following sectors: competition, energy, telecommunications and audiovisual, transports and postal service. Source: CNMC website.

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  2. Specifically, data included in documents published on authorities’ websites (Consultation Documents and Annual Reports).

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  3. The reference is to OECD (1997 and 2001).

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  4. Moreover, in 2002 the European Commission published a communication on consultation: Towards a reinforced culture of consultation and dialogue–General principles and minimum standards for consultation of interested parties by the Commission. Commission communication–COM (2002) p. 704.

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  5. The reference is to Delibera n. 453/03/CONS.

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  6. Consultations are provided by Article 29 of the Regulation of the CMT (the founding act of CMT), approved by Royal Decree 1994/1996. Subsequently, consultations are required under Article 27 of the Regulation of the CMT Internal Rules and Procedure, published in the resolution of the CMT Council in 2007 (RE-2007-12-20-3-1).

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  7. Jorge Infante Gonzalez, telephone interview, 17 October 2012.

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  8. By output we mean a regulatory act adopted by the authority following public consultation. It is important to clarify that usually there is a reference or link to such acts in the consultation files. In the case of CMT, for the years 2005 and 2006 no such acts were mentioned in any consultation files. We have, therefore, retraced outputs by searching for the same content as that of the consultation through a resolution search facility provided on the authority website.

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  9. For example, the 2010 Annual Report states that the objective of regulation was to achieve the final price of four cents per minute for calls to a foreign mobile network by October 2011.

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  10. Benchmarking analyses are not yet available for broadband services, as they are in Spain. However, AGCOM with resolution no. 376/ 11/CONS, has deliberated the construction of a database on the coverage of broadband wiredwireless services that will, in all likelihood, enable it to make comparisons in this sector.

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  11. See in particular the OECD Council Recommendation of 1995 Improving the Quality of Regulation.

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  12. According to Giorgio (2012), AGCOM provided 18 AIR annexes until 2009.

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  13. According to the law 24 December 2007, n. 244 the salaries paid to the authority’s members must be made public.

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Authors
  1. Maria Righettini
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  2. Selena Grimaldi
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut Barcelona d’Etudis Internacionals (IBEI), Spain

    Andrea C. Bianculli (Research Fellow) (Research Fellow)

  2. ESADE Business School, Spain

    Xavier Fernández-i-Marín (Senior Researcher) (Senior Researcher)

  3. Universitat Pompeu Fabra and Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals (IBEI), Spain

    Jacint Jordana (Professor) (Professor)

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© 2015 Maria Stella Righettini and Selena Grimaldi

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Righettini, M., Grimaldi, S. (2015). Social Accountability in the Regulatory Policy Process: The Governance of Telecommunications in Italy and Spain. In: Bianculli, A.C., Fernández-i-Marín, X., Jordana, J. (eds) Accountability and Regulatory Governance. Executive Politics and Governance Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137349583_7

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