ABSTRACT
In the Introduction to this book we em phasised that we w ould be using a broad concept of regulation w hich would extend beyond the subjects w hich are traditionally seen as those of regulatory interven tion, or at least of 'com m and and control' regulation. We em phasised that there are close links w ith com petition law, and indeed that com petition law can be seen itself as a form of regulation. This revealed a central them e; rather than regulation being an external constraint on m arkets, regulation can also constitute m arkets and, indeed, som e forms of regulation are necessary for m arket creation and for the policing of m arkets to ensure that they rem ain com petitive. We thus adopted a concept of regulation w hich is as broad as possible to include these activities. We also stressed that regulation is not an activity of an undifferentiated state; the activity of regulation can be undertaken at a large num ber of different levels, ranging from inter national organisations to private bodies. In particular, the concept of self-regulation is a com plex one, usually involving a com bination (often unstable) of public and private actors w ith law -setting bounda ries for private regulation and providing guarantees for its operation.
