Tetty Havinga

Private Regulation of Food Safety by Supermarkets

Food safety is a highly debated issue. Food industry organizations, retailers and national and transnational governments have been trying to find new ways to regulate food safety. Can private regulation of food safety meet the high expectations? A review of existing literature shows some conditions to be important for effectively protecting public interests by private regulation. In particular, retailers worldwide are actively engaged in setting food safety standards for their suppliers. A case study of food safety regulation by Dutch retailers shows that they can force food industry organizations and producers to accept food safety standards because of their economic (market) power.

Country of asylum by choice or by chance: Asylum‐seekers in Belgium, the Netherlands and the UK

Abstract This article seeks to illuminate the reasons underlying an asylum‐seekers choice of country of refuge. An examination of the statistics on asylum applications in the countries of the European Union reveals some specific patterns of origin and destination. Why, for example, do so many asylum‐seekers go to the Netherlands? The authors consider the question of just how much choice the asylum‐seeker has. Next, the importance is analysed of three groups of factors in explaining the patterns of destination of asylum‐seekers: (1) ties between the country of origin and the country of asylum, (2) the characteristics of the countries of destination and, (3) events during the actual flight and journey which might influence the destination of the asylum‐seeker.

Understanding complex governance relationships in food safety regulation : The RIT model as a theoretical lens

In this article, we discuss the value of the RIT model for analyzing complex governance relationships in the regulation of food safety. By exploring food safety regimes involving the European Union and the Global Food Safety Initiative, we highlight the diverse and complex relationships between the actors in public, private, and hybrid regimes of food safety regulation. We extend the basic RIT model to better fit the reality of (hybrid) governance relationships in the modern regulation of food safety, arguing that the model enables disaggregation of these regimes into analytical subunits or “regulatory chains,” in which each actor contributes to and affects the regulatory process. Finally, we critically assess what the RIT model adds to alternative theoretical approaches in identifying, mapping, and explaining the different roles that actors play vis-à-vis others in regulatory regimes.

Implementation between Tradition and Management: Structuration and Styles of Implementation

This article presents a diachronic perspective for implementation research. It analyzes implementation practices in relation to their changing institutional context. Therefore, a comparison is made between different styles of implementation. The relationship between implementation practices and institutional context is analyzed as a structuration process, following Giddens’s theory. Four styles of policy implementation are distinguished: a traditional, bureaucratic, professional, and managerial style. These four styles are connected with different phases in the development of the welfare state. This developmental model is illustrated with an analysis of policy implementation in Dutch public assistance between 1950 and the early 1990s.

Hybridization of Food Governance

Modern food governance is increasingly hybrid, involving not only government, but also industry and civil society actors. is book analyzes the unfolding interplay between public and private actors in global and local food governance. How are responsibilities and risks allocated in hybrid governance arrangements, how is legitimacy ensured, and what e ects do these arrangements have on industry or government practices? e expert contributors draw on law, economics, political science and sociology to discuss these questions through rich empirical cases.

Retail Driven Food Safety Regulation

This chapter discusses the increased role of corporate retailers in global food safety regulation and its consequences for food producers. Retail-driven private food safety regulation started in the early 1990s and has become increasingly important in global food regulation. Major European retailers took the lead in the establishment of private food safety standards with third party certification. These retailers require their suppliers throughout the world to participate in this system of private food governance. The first of these standards were developed by national retailers associations. The British Retail Consortium was a front runner here. Later the food standards crossed borders and were adopted by retailers and producers in other countries.

The Influence of Liability Law on Food Safety on Preventive Effects of Liability Claims and Liability Insurance

Most research on food safety has focused on direct forms of food safety regulation.This paper explores product liability law as a driver of food safety measures in firms. Its purpose is to widen the debate on liability law to include discussion of the actual impact on firm behaviour. Liability law is assumed to promote food safety. The author distinguishes three ways in which liability law could act as an incentive for firms to implement enhanced food safety controls: liability claims, liability insurance and direct effects of liability law on management strategy. The paper concludes that the assumption that liability laws make firms sensitive to the prevention of food safety risks is too optimistic. However, liability law could stimulate a culture within firms to take responsibility for food safety. Existing economic and legal analysis would gain from a sociological analysis of the actual impact of liability on company decisions.

Food Safety Meta-Controls in the Netherlands

Both public and private actors are involved in the monitoring and enforcement of compliance with public food safety norms. Public authorities in countries such as the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Canada have recently started to develop forms of coordination and collaboration with private food safety control systems. Such policies bring with them the risk of regulatory capture, loss of transparency and fuzzy accountability relationships. Here we analyse how the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (de Nederlandse Voedsel- en Warenautoriteit – NVWA) assesses and monitors the functioning of private food safety control systems (meta-control) so it can use these private systems in its own enforcement activities. We do so by discussing two national private systems that have been formally accepted by the NVWA: Bureau de Wit and RiskPlaza. The paper examines the safeguards that the public enforcement agency deploys while coordinating its own activities with private food safety controls, the advantages and risks involved in this strategy, and the extent to which this policy can be improved. The study is based on the analysis of policy documents, public and private regulation and open-ended interviews with representatives of the public and private sector in the Netherlands.

The Global Food Safety Initiative and state actors. Paving the way for hybrid food safety governance

Modern food governance is increasingly hybrid, involving not only government, but also industry and civil society actors. This book analyzes the unfolding interplay between public and private actors in global and local food governance. How are responsibilities and risks allocated in hybrid governance arrangements, how is legitimacy ensured, and what effects do these arrangements have on industry or government practices? The expert contributors draw on law, economics, political science and sociology to discuss these questions through rich empirical cases.

Hybridization of food governance: An analytical framework

Modern food governance is increasingly hybrid, involving not only government, but also industry and civil society actors. This book analyzes the unfolding interplay between public and private actors in global and local food governance. How are responsibilities and risks allocated in hybrid governance arrangements, how is legitimacy ensured, and what effects do these arrangements have on industry or government practices? The expert contributors draw on law, economics, political science and sociology to discuss these questions through rich empirical cases.