Dynamics of building regulations in Europe

This paper describes the dynamics of European building regulatory systems and places them within the context of general trends in the regulatory sciences, particularly with reference to Europeanisation studies. Within the regulatory sciences, there is broad consensus about the trend towards deregulation and privatisation in recent decades. Studies conducted under the rubric of `Europeanisation¿ analyse the effects of European policies on the policy frameworks of the member states in more detail. Are the systems converging or diverging? Although the history of this kind of research is short, most authors agree that European policies have had a profound impact on the policies of the member states, but that this impact has not been uniform. In this paper, we analyse privatisation and deregulation trends within the building regulatory systems of eight European countries, and we consider whether the systems appear to be converging or diverging. We focus on three elements: the scope of the technical requirements, the building permit procedures and the division of control and inspection responsibilities. The analyses reveal no evidence that the scope of technical requirements in European countries is diminishing. Through its directives, the European Union exercises a convergent influence on the contents, scope and formulation of these technical requirements. In addition, all member countries are taking steps to streamline their administrative procedures. The importance of the role played by private organisations in checking and controlling regulations is increasing across the board. Dynamics in building regulations will be a topic for our research for the coming years. In 2007 and 2008 we are updating and extending our data on dynamics of regulatory systems in Europe.