Article contents
Science, Politics and Transnational Regulation: Regulatory Scientific Institutions and the Dilemmas of Hybrid Authority†
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 March 2013
Abstract
The main objective of this article is to develop a better understanding of the structure of transnational regulatory scientific institutions (RSIs). We will argue that the hybrid political-legal-epistemic nature of RSIs creates a continual tension between their hierarchical and policy-driven structure and the paradigms of objectivity, parallelism and non-centralism that characterize science. The article examines the way in which RSIs cope with the challenge of maintaining their epistemic/political authority against the tensions generated by their hybrid structure. The article focuses on three institutions: the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), and the International Competition Network (ICN), and examines how this challenge manifests itself in the context of these three bodies. The article links the discussion of hybrid authority with the problem of scientific uncertainty. It concludes with a discussion of the optimal design of RSIs.
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References
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63 See, in particular, Norris, n. 56 above.
64 See D. Carrington, ‘Q&A: “Climategate”’, The Guardian, 22 Nov. 2011, available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jul/07/climate-emails-question-answer.
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70 IAC, n. 67 above, at p. 16.
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73 IPCC, Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation (Cambridge University Press, 2012).Google Scholar
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78 Appendix A to the Principles Governing IPCC Work, para. 4.3.2, available at: http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/ipcc-principles/ipcc-principles-appendix-a-final.pdf.
79 IPCC Conflict of Interest Policy, available at: http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/ipcc-principles/ipcc-conflict-of-interest.pdf. This view also appears in statements by leading IPCC scientists: ‘Science has to be used for decision-making. IPCC’s work is supposed to be very clearly policy-relevant. How can I establish policy relevance if I shut myself in an ivory tower and say I will not say anything about climate change?’: see Bagla, n. 68 above.
80 See Edenhofer, n. 48 above, at p. 1.
81 IAC report, n. 67 above, at pp. 19–21.
82 Despite the extensive critique against the peer review system it is still considered the gold standard of scientific quality: Smith, n. 69 above.
83 IAC, n. 67 above, at p. 20.
84 Ibid., at p. 18.
85 For the IAC view on these issues, see ibid., at pp. 18–19.
86 ICNIRP Charter and Statutes, n. 25 above.
87 Ibid.
88 ICNIRP, ‘Declaration of Personal Interests’, available at: http://www.icnirp.de/documents/DoI.pdf. Individual ICNIRP Commission members cannot be employed by industry, see: http://www.icnirp.de/what.htm. Per the policy requirement, the declarations are posted on ICNIRP’s website, available at: http://www.icnirp.de/cv.htm.
89 ICNIRP, ‘Publications’, available at: http://www.icnirp.de/publications.htm.
90 ICNIRP states only that ‘all comments received are considered by ICNIRP in producing final publications’: see ICNIRP, ibid. Further, this commitment was not incorporated in the ICNIRP Statutes and only appears on its website.
91 Osepchuk, J.M., ‘Excessive Safety Factor in 1998 ICNIRP Guidelines Reflects Lack of Participation of All Stakeholders in the ICNIRP Process’ (1999) 76(5) Health Physics, pp. 567–9Google ScholarPubMed. Osepchuk’s critique focused on the lack of consultation with voluntary standards bodies such as IEEE and ANSI and not with the civic society as a whole.
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94 See ICN Factsheet, n. 11 above, at p. 3. Thus, e.g., by the end of 2012, the ICN Steering Committee, which includes 15 members, included only one academic scholar.
95 This effort focused primarily on enhancing the engagement of smaller countries in the ICN network and developing ties with NGAs. Even if successful, these engagement efforts remain confined to the ICN professional community. See E. Pérez Motta, ‘My Roadmap as ICN Chair’, Apr. 2012, available at: http://www.internationalcompetitionnetwork.org/uploads/library/doc792.pdf; ICN, ‘NGA Toolkit’, available at: http://www.internationalcompetitionnetwork.org/uploads/library/doc789.pdf.
96 Pérez Motta, ibid.
97 See: http://www.internationalcompetitionnetwork.org/working-groups/current/advocacy.aspx. See also ICN Advocacy Toolkit : Part I: Advocacy Process and Tools (ICN, May 2011).
98 E.g., by joining a fair-trade network: see, e.g., http://www.fairtraderesource.org/link-up/membership-in-fair-trade-society.
99 Jellinek, S.D., ‘On the Inevitability of Being Wrong’ (1981) 363 Annals of New York Academy of Science, pp. 43–7Google Scholar; Faigman, D.L., ‘Mapping the Labyrinth of Scientific Evidence’ (1994) 46 Hastings Law Journal, pp. 555–80, at 566.Google Scholar
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101 See Rial, J.A. et al. ., ‘Nonlinearities, Feedbacks and Critical Thresholds within the Earth’s Climate System’ (2004) 65(1) Climatic Change, pp. 11–38.Google Scholar
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103 See, e.g., Teece, D.J., ‘Competition, Cooperation, and Innovation: Organizational Arrangements for Regimes of Rapid Technological Progress’ (1992) 18 Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, pp. 1–25.Google Scholar
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105 For further discussion, see Yohe & Oppenheimer, n. 21 above, and the special issue of Climatic Change on Communicating Uncertainty (2011), available at: http://talkingclimate.org/guides/communicating-ipcc-uncertainty.
106 Ibid., at p. 1.
107 See ICNIRP, n. 10 above, at p. 540.
108 Ibid., at p. 544 (emphasis added). ICNIRP reiterates its position in the concluding section of the article, noting that ‘[t]he ICNIRP approach to providing advice on limiting exposure to NIR necessarily requires well-based scientific data related to established health effects’: ibid., at p. 546.
109 Thus, e.g., they not only emphasize the importance of peer-reviewed materials (ibid., at p. 544) but also emphasize that certain types of data, such as epidemiological studies, cannot support ‘established’ assertions on causality: ibid., at p. 543.
110 Ibid., at p. 547. These approaches, it is argued, ‘generally center on reducing needless exposure to the suspected agent’: ibid.
111 ICNIRP, ‘Response to Questions and Comments on ICNIRP Guidelines’ (1998) 75 Health Physics, pp. 438–9.Google Scholar
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113 See ‘IARC Classifies Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields as Possibly Carcinogenic to Humans’, IARC Press Release, No. 208, 31 May 2011, available at: http://www.iarc.fr/en/media-centre/pr/2011/pdfs/pr208_E.pdf. See, further, Baan, R. et al. ., ‘Carcinogenicity of Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields’ (2011) 12(7) The Lancet Oncology, pp. 624–6.Google Scholar
114 See ‘BioInitiative 2012: A Rationale for a Biologically-based Public Exposure Standard for Low-Intensity Electromagnetic Radiation’, Dec. 2012, available at: http://www.bioinitiative.org; Levis, A.G. et al. ., ‘Mobile Phones and Head Tumours. The Discrepancies in Cause-Effect Relationships in the Epidemiological Studies – How Do They Arise?’ (2011) 10(1) Environmental Health, pp. 1–15Google Scholar; Hardell, L. & Sage, C., ‘Biological Effects from Electromagnetic Field Exposure and Public Exposure Standards’ (2008) 62(2) Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy, pp. 104–9Google Scholar. On the other hand, the WHO sided with ICNIRP on this issue: see, e.g., http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs193/en/index.html.
115 See, e.g., Colander, D. et al. ., ‘The Financial Crisis and the Systemic Failure of the Economic Profession’ (2009) 21(2–3) Critical Review, pp. 249–67Google Scholar; Lawson, T., ‘The Current Economic Crisis: Its Nature and the Course of Academic Economics’ (2009) 33(4) Cambridge Journal of Economics, pp. 759–77Google Scholar. In a recent statement to the ICN community, the ICN Chair, Eduardo Pérez Motta notes that ‘[t]he recent global financial crisis showcased (not always in a positive way) the importance of embedding competition principles in the broader policy debate at the national and international level’: Motta, above n. 95. This statement disregards the scepticism of the capacity of classic economic prescriptions to prevent financial failures.
116 See, ICN, Unilateral Conduct Workbook (2011), Ch 3.
117 See Hrudey, S.E. & Leiss, W., ‘Risk Management and Precaution: Insights on the Cautious Use of Evidence’ (2003) 111(13) Environmental Health Perspectives, pp. 1577–81, at 1580.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
118 See Tol, R.S.J., ‘Regulating Knowledge Monopolies: The Case of the IPCC’ (2011) 108(4) Climatic Change, pp. 827–39.Google Scholar
119 Hulme, n. 9 above (Mike Hulme served as a lead author in AR3).
120 Mike Hulme argues that the IPCC should be dissolved after the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) in 2014 and its work should be split into three types of assessment undertaken by three new groups. The first would be a Global Science Panel (GSP). The second group would be made up of Regional Evaluation Panels (REPs). The third group would be the Policy Analysis Panel (PAP): Hulme, n. 9 above.
121 The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) (available at: http://www.ieee.org) also produces safety standards in the field of RF electromagnetic fields; its work provides an alternative view to that of ICNIRP, although ICNIRP is more dominant: see Osepchuk, J.M. & Petersen, R.C., ‘Safety Standards for Exposure to RF Electromagnetic Fields’ (2001) 2(2) Microwave Magazine, pp. 57–69Google Scholar; Reilly, J.P., ‘An Analysis of Differences in the Low-Frequency Electric and Magnetic Field Exposure Standards of ICES and ICNIRP’ (2005) 89(1) Health Physics, pp. 71–80Google Scholar; and Roy, C.R. & Martin, L. J., ‘A Comparison of Important International and National Standards for Limiting Exposure to EMF Including the Scientific Rationale’ (2007) 92 Health Physics, pp. 635–41.Google Scholar
122 See OECD Competition Committee, available at: http://www.oecd.org/daf/competition/roundtables.htm.
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