New approaches to regulation

Professor Christopher Hodges has spoken on new approaches to regulation in three webinars. OECD’s Network of Economic Regulators, a closed forum of regulators from around 70 countries, focused on ‘Beyond the short-term pressures created by  COVID-19 on regulated markets’. Chris was keynote speaker on Ethical Business Regulation and how it works, highlighting its success in the recent price setting exercise led by the Water Industry Commission for Scotland. Different aspects of regulating AI and Digital Technology were covered in events organised respectively by the British Institute of International Comparative Law and the Internet Commission. The former was chaired by Lord Clement-Jones and the latter included speakers from the United Nations, the European Commission and OFCOM.

In all of these events, Chris highlighted how the application of behavioural science is changing approaches to regulation, but also that changes in corporate practice, governance, remuneration and staff assessment are central to reducing cultural risk. Another recent discussion involved financial services in Australia, and an upcoming event will be with the Community of Federal Regulators of Canada.