Abstract
This research project studies under which conditions the inclusion of principle-based regulation (PBR) in hybrid regulatory regimes affects both beneficiaries' and regulatees' trust in those regimes. Trust in regulation and in the actors that define, implement, enforce and judge the regulation - what we call the regulatory regime - is crucial. However, trust in regulatory regimes is often put to the test by high-impact events (e.g. financial crisis, COVID pandemic, PFAS scandal). In looking for ways to restore such trust, principle-based regulation (PBR) has been put forward as a responsive and flexible approach to regulation that sets principles or goals broadly and at a high level. Instead of focusing on 'pure' PBR, the project will advance current research by studying PBR in a hybrid context (combining prescriptive regulation and PBR), more specifically the food safety sector. Drawing upon state-of-the-art research, three conditions are formulated, analysed and assessed in order to study their role in explaining beneficiaries' and regulatees' trust in hybrid regulatory regimes: rule formulation, interest participation and regulatory enforcement. Methodologically, this project applies an innovative, mixed-method design combining conjoint survey experiments and focus groups.
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