This book analyses EU food law from a regulatory, economic and managerial perspective. It presents an economic assessment of strategies of food safety regulation, and discusses the different regulatory regimes in EU food law. It examines the challenges of food safety in the internal market as well as the regulatory tools that are available. The book’s generic theorising and measurement of regulatory effects is supplemented by detailed analysis of key topics in food markets, such as health claims, enforcement strategies, and induced risk management at the level of the organizations producing food. The regulatory effects discussed in the book range from classical regulatory analysis covering e.g. effects of ex-ante versus ex-post regulation and content-related versus information-related regulation to new regulatory options such as behavioral regulation. The book takes as its premise the idea that economic considerations are basic to the design and functioning of the European food supply arena, and that economic effects consolidate or induce modification of the present legal structures and principles. The assessments, analyses and examination of the various issues presented in the book serve to answer the question of how economic theory and practice can explain and enhance the shaping and modification of the regulatory framework that fosters safe and sustainable food supply chains. ​ ​

This volume presents the viewpoints of academics, food lawyers, industry and consumer representatives as well as those of EU policymakers on the first ten years of activity of one of the most prominent European agencies. Its broader purpose, however, is to discuss the future role played by EFSA within the rapidly-evolving area of EU food law and policy. By revisiting and discussing the milestones in the history of EFSA, the collection provides forward-looking views of food leaders and practitioners on the future scientific and regulatory challenges facing the European Union. In particular, by presenting a critical assessment of the agency’s activities within its different areas of work, the book offers readers a set of innovative tools for evaluating policy recommendations and better equips experts and the public to address pressing regulatory issues in this emotive area of law and policy. Despite its celebratory mood, the book’s focus is more about the future than the past of EU food law and policy. Each chapter discusses how EFSA’s role has evolved and identifies what it should have done differently while presenting an overall assessment of how the agency has discharged its mandate.

It’s not easy to navigate through EU food laws, so this book provides a clear analysis of the relevant EU regulations, making it beneficial to food safety organizations and food industry professionals. Ensuring Food Safety in the European Union provides an overall detailed analysis of the many and complex initiatives implemented by the European Union Institutions since the European Commission adopted on 12 January 2000 the "White Paper on Food Safety" with the objective of defining the policies to improve the level of health protection for the consumers of Europe's food. Achieving the highest standards of food safety in Europe has been a key policy priority for the European Institutions during the past 20 years through the implementation between 2000 and 2019 of many initiatives anticipated in the mentioned White Paper concerning: (i) The establishment of the European Food Safety Authority; (ii) the adoption of new food safety legislations in many domains; and (iii) the adoption of consumer’s mandatory and voluntary information regulations. Features Offers a clear and evolutive view of all relevant procedures and objectives to ensure food safety in European context Up to date presentation of EU relevant regulation and EFSA roles and activities Discusses the basic reasoning underlying the development and objectives of the current approach to food laws The book offers a review of all the available tools and their practical usefulness on food safety at European level and their possible integration. The interest of the European Institutions for food safety policies continues to be very high as shown by the adoption in September 2019 of the EU regulation 1381 to further reinforce and potentiate, among others, EFSA risk assessment. The main target of the book is the food business operators of large and medium enterprises and their consultants. Other interested parties are the authorities competent at national and regional and local level and university teaching professionals in charge of food safety and related courses.

Examines European food safety regulation at the national, European, and international levels as a case of "contested governance," illustrating issues of institutional trust and legitimacy.

This book provides insights on regulatory effectiveness in the field of food safety, by focusing on the variety of institutional factors affecting regulatory outcomes. Drawing upon the Institutional Analysis and Development framework, it investigates differences in effectiveness of food safety regulation and explains them by differences in domestic governance designs, by applying Qualitative Comparative Analysis. The empirical focus of the book is the food safety governance designs of 15 EU Member States, which are investigated through the collection of an original dataset inclusive of measures of independence and accountability of the domestic food safety agencies, of policy capacity and of food safety delivered. The results show the prominent role of the institutional dimension of policy capacity in producing regulatory effectiveness, in conjunction with an integrated model of distribution of the regulatory tasks. As to ineffective governance, the conjunction of low independence or low accountability with low institutional capacity produce ineffective responses.

“As a Journal Editor for over twenty-five years, I have read a lot about the European Union. I am often asked, 'what are the major gaps in EU research?' My answer is always 'implementation'. Eva Thomann's book makes a major contribution to EU implementation studies. She brings really fresh thinking to the field. This is an important book for all students of the EU and of policy implementation." —Jeremy Richardson, Co-Editor of the Journal of European Public Policy This book sheds light on the patterns, causes and consequences of the “customization” of European Union (EU) policies. Even if they comply, member states interpret and adapt EU rules in very diverse ways when putting them into practice. We can think of and measure this diversity as a phenomenon of regulatory change along the implementation chain. The book explores what explains customization, and what it means for providing policy solutions to shared problems. It studies the implementation of EU food safety policies in Austria, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Switzerland using innovative qualitative comparative techniques. After looking at the role of prominent compliance arguments and the “logics of action” for customization, the study assesses how differing degrees of customization affect the success of the implementation. The book provides a new, evidence-based perspective on “gold-plating” and better regulation in Europe for scholars, students and practitioners of policy implementation, European integration and Europeanization alike.

The past decade has seen the regulation of food safety within the European Union face unprecedented challenges, such as BSE, the contamination of food with dioxins, and the increasing occurrence of infectious agents like Salmonella, as well as the emergence of new products and technologies (genetically modified food) and a heightened sensitivity of the public towards biotechnology and animal welfare. As a consequence, most European countries and the EU institutions have witnessed major reforms to their regulatory systems on food safety, often characterised by a stricter separation of the scientific and political components of risk analysis, a reference to the precautionary principle and a stronger commitment to the principles of transparency, participation and accountability. Against this background, this book investigates the legal and institutional structures of food safety regulation and their recent developments in France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, Hungary, and at the EU level. The choice of countries is intended to shed light on the different ways in which European systems of food safety regulation have been affected by major food scares: where France, the UK, Germany, and the EU were the main actors in the 1996 BSE crisis, Sweden was left untouched, and Hungary entered the EU only after the outbreak of the crisis. In addition, the book provides insights into how the various actors perceive the practical functioning of these systems. Special attention is given to how the different regulatory frameworks address challenges related to scientific uncertainty and socio-political ambiguity, the interaction of different levels of governance, and the principles of good governance. On the basis of these findings, the book aims to identify commonalities and differences between the various systems. In this way, it seeks to understand the main challenges that the current systems of food safety regulation in Europe, in particular the EU system, face so as to offer a solid basis for rethinking these structures.