On Regulatory Competition at the Global and European Levels

Benoît Frydman explains the nature, origins, and evolution of the phenomenon of regulatory competition in the context of globalization, pointing out that this competition involves the possibility for legal subjects to choose among multiple legal orders. The article demonstrates how globalization has transformed the nature of international law, gradually shifting the traditional system of state competition into a global legal market composed of domestic laws, where states and economic actors compete to offer more favorable legal rules. The author emphasizes that regulatory competition has become an important mechanism of global and EU governance, with countries using tools such as legal indices for mutual ranking and remote management, while also highlighting the profound threat posed by non-state standard-setting bodies to national judicial authority.