Ex Ante Regulation in an Era of Fast-Paced Innovation – Connecting the Time and Locus of Regulation

The connection between the timing and the locus of a regulatory intervention should excite considerable interest in the study of ex
ante regulation. To illustrate this argument, we draw on the example of the precautionary principle. It emerges that timing is important when legislation is being drafted. However, time is not the only relevant variable in decision-making. When it is ripe for application, both temporal and locus-of-regulation considerations matter. For instance, a question that policymakers should address is when it is the right time to regulate new or emerging technologies and at which governance level. Addressing such questions would allow them to strike a balance between facilitating the development of new technologies and addressing the legitimate concerns of their citizens.

By Alberto Quintavalla & Leonie Reins^[1]

I. THE TIME AND LOCUS OF REGULATION

Two variables serve as the fulcra around which most academic studies resolve. The two are time and locus. Studies on law and governance studies are no exception. Time affects the effectiveness of the regulatory frameworks that governments design. Can old laws resolve new issues effectively? Several legal quandaries turn on this very question. The debate on the long-term applicability of regulatory provisions is a salient example, as is the controversy about sunset clauses, a cause célèbre in many an academic circle.^[2] A regulatory framework that features such clauses would, the argument runs,