Welcome to the blogosphere: "EU Law Enforcement" -- the blog of the Utrecht Centre for Regulation and Enforcement in Europe (RENFORCE)

We are delighted to pass on the news from our friends at the Utrecht Centre for Regulation and Enforcement in Europe (RENFORCE) that they have a new blog: EU Law Enforcement. Below is the announcement received from Mira Scholten (Utrecht), co-editor of the blog, along with an invitation to read the first post.

* * *

I am happy to announce the creation of our new blog - http://eulawenforcement.com/ - and its first blog post ‘Mind the trend! Direct enforcement of EU law and policies is moving to ‘Brussels’’ (http://eulawenforcement.com/?p=30#more-30).

Our aim is to establish a point for gathering information on and discussion of the new trend of proliferation of EU enforcement authorities and implications that they bring along. Each month we will publish a blog post written by an academic expert in the field, practitioner, representative of a civil society organization, etc. If you are interested to contribute or if you have (know of) a relevant publication/activity in the field, please, let me know!

And here's a taste from the first post, Mind the trend! Direct enforcement of EU law and policies is moving to ‘Brussels’:

The number of EU entities acquiring direct enforcement powers has grown from one to eight recently. The first post of this blog puts on the map and raises awareness of an ongoing development in the EU law and governance – proliferation of EU enforcement authorities (EEAs) – which so far has been unnoticed. The aim is to launch a discussion of the aims, means and challenges of this development to understand and contribute to shaping of effective and secure law enforcement in the EU.

Call for Panel Proposals: 8th Pan-European Conference on the European Union, Trento (June 2016)

Friend of the network Mira Scholten (Utrecht) has passed on the following call for panel proposals for the 8th Pan-European Conference on the European Union in Trento, on the topic of Shared Enforcement of EU Law: An Accountability Perspective.  She asks that interested respondents submit an abstract of around 300 words by October 7, 2015.  Further information may be obtained from Mira.

* * *

This is a call for papers for a panel proposal for the 8th Pan-European Conference on the European Union (Trento, June 2016). Those who are interested in the topic described below, please, submit an abstract of circa 300 words to us by October 7. We would appreciate if you forward this message to other interested persons you may know and share your/relevant publications on the topic of the proposed panel. Thank you in advance!

Shared Enforcement of EU Law: An Accountability Perspective

Enforcing EU law has since recently become a task of an increasing number of EU institutions and agencies. As a result of the EU recent financial reform, for instance, the European Central Bank directly supervises significant credit institutions, representing almost 85% of total banking assets in the euro area. Together with the possibility to withdraw a bank authorization, its enforcement arsenal includes administrative sanctions. In addition, the financial reform has led to the creation of a number of independent financial supervisors, including the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). ESMA’s enforcement authority includes the powers to examine and take copies of any relevant records and materials, ask for oral explanation, summon and hear persons, require telephone and data traffic records, and interview persons. At the same time, while EU supervisors have gained important enforcement powers, the exercise of those powers can be dependent on national level institutions (e.g., national supervisors providing relevant information or national courts for receiving authorizations to investigate one’s premises), implying the existence of a system of shared enforcement.

Since the trend of empowering EU entities with direct enforcement powers is quite recent, little is known about how shared enforcement is organized between EU and national authorities (what does an EU entity (institution, agency) and a national (supervising) authority do exactly when they enforce EU law? Are their tasks divided/subordinated to each other or do they share enforcement tasks? etc.). Along with that, it is unclear how and at what level EU and national supervisors render account for the enforcement of the EU law: do they share or spit accountability? How does it work? At what level does it take place? etc. The panel invites contributions (case-studies) addressing these questions using different perspectives and disciplines. We also welcome theoretical contributions on the organization and exercise of accountability (especially for enforcement tasks) in a multi-level order.