Measuring the effectiveness of code-based schemes

1. Measuring the effectiveness of code-based schemes • Evaluation of effectiveness (the extent to which a regulatory scheme achieves its objectives) of codes of conduct is very well possible • Ex ante: as a criterion in ‘private impact assessment’? • Ex post: as the main criterion? • Forces parties to think about their policy objectives • Even if it’s ‘private’, itcan still amount to ‘policy’. • The terms in which to phrase their objectives(private objectives? wider social goals?) • Effectiveness – enforceability See http://privateregulation.eu/ and Enforcement of Transnational Private Regulation, edited by FabrizioCafaggi, Edward Elgar, 2012.

2. The ‘who’ Who evaluates the effectiveness of ECC ?

3. The ‘how’Best practices for measuring effectiveness Use indicators (pieces of information that summarise the characteristics of a system or highlight what is happening in a system)… E.g. ‘number of contractual references to code’ …and do design (and agree) them at an early stage to avoid interpretation conflicts… E.g. does a ‘low number of complaints’ indicate a functioning private regulatory regime or the opposite? Highlight effectiveness trade-offs across policy objectives… …always with attention for side-effects beyond policy objectives E.g. Code endorsement in national law has created barriers for market accessE.g. Competition impact screening of transnational codes. Public-private partnerships: build incentives for self-evaluation… …without forgetting the option of involving a professional ‘meta-regulator’ E.g. Global Reporting Initiative