Gold-plating and Double Banking: an Overrated Problem?

In this paper two recent research projects (Davidson Review UK and Europe-Asser Institute Leiden) into over-implementation of EC legislation are confronted. Both studies show that in neither the UK nor the Netherlands over-implementation is a wide-spread or systemic practice. Only a handful of examples are reported in both countries, most of them not very serious or problematic. Businesses and industries that operate throughout Europe seem to suffer more from differentiated implementation in different countries than from over-implementation at home. What the projects do show is that perceptions of over implementation in one's own country and suspected under-implementation in other countries are widespread and tenacious. Avoiding over-implementation even does not guarantee the best result. The paper argues that business and industry in future may have more to gain from comparisons between the way the domestic legislature has implemented EC legislation to that of other member states. Best practices of implementation may prove to be the future goldmines of regulatory reform.