Academic Paper from the year 2015 in the subject Law - European and International Law, Intellectual Properties, grade: 82, University of Warwick (Law School), language: English, abstract: The dissertation aims to identify the role of industry self-regulation in EU-legislation, jurisdiction and political discussions against the background of the principle of subsidiarity enshrined in Art. 5, par. 3, of the Treaty on European Union (TEU). This approach requires an analysis of the linkage between self-regulatory and statutory regimes as both systems ¿ autonomous, voluntary provisions and state rules ¿ jointly form the regulatory environment imposed on the target groups or sectors. Indispensable, therefore, is a definition of what the term self-regulation means, a description of its structure and mode of action, and an analysis of its advantages and disadvantages compared to statutory regulation.

The characterization and evaluation of self-regulation is followed by an interpretation of Art. 5, par. 3, TEU, including the determination of its scope of application. The resulting interpretation shows which relevance is ¿ or should be ¿ attributed to self-regulation in regard to the principle of subsidiarity. This is followed by a brief look at the significance of self-regulation as detailed by many EU-documents and legal acts, such as directives, for example. This short ¿tour d¿horizon¿ illustrates that self-regulation is an integral part of European policy.

A special issue discussed here is whether EU-directives can be implemented into national regulation by means of self-regulation. The European Court of Justice denies the possibility of transposing EU-directives in this way and insists on the necessity of formal domestic legislative acts for this purpose. The dissertation largely refers to self-regulation in the advertising area, to make the issue of self-regulation more concrete and transparent. Therefore, it concludes with a systemic comparison between the UK and Germany. It is shown that despite their different approaches to regulating advertising, there are no significant differences with regard to efficiency.