Erkii Liikanen, the European Commissioner responsible for the
Information Society, told a meeting in Brussels yesterday that a
new approach to regulation is needed to make European business more
competitive while promoting the rights of citizens and
consumers.
He said that businesses need greater speed, efficiency and
sensitivity from the regulators and that if Europe is too slow to
react, "its entrepreneurial and innovative potential will be
hampered and the challenges of the internet age will not be
met."
He said Europe's regulators must be able "to produce, modify and
if necessary drop regulation fast, in accordance with the rapidly
changing climate in which companies have to compete."
Mr Liikanenen said that the Commission hopes to come up with a
simplified means of regulation by next year. It has begun examining
alternatives to "pure" legislation, notably the use of
self-regulation by industry, and co-regulation, through a
partnership between private companies and public bodies, involving
a mix of voluntary and obligatory measures.
He added that, "traditional regulation or 'pure' regulation is
increasingly called into question by the demands of
globalisation."
