Building regulations from an European perspective

During the last ten years OTB has studied building regulations in various European countries. Developments in the building regulatory systems are being placed within the context of general trends in the regulatory sciences, particularly with reference to Europeanization studies. Within the regulatory sciences, there is broad consensus about the trend towards deregulation and privatisation in recent decades. Studies conducted under the rubric of ‘Europeanization’ analyse the effects of European policies on the policy frameworks of the member states in more detail. The results so far show that building control tasks are more and more privatised and administrative procedures are under the influence of deregulation processes. The influence of the European Union is especially recognizable in developments regarding the content, scope and formulation of technical requirements. In the end of last year we started a major new European comparative research project to actualize and expand our knowledge. In this new project the regulatory systems of all European countries will take be taken into account. Three main subjects are being addressed: \u95 The position of building regulations within the legislative system. \u95 The scope of technical requirements that regulate the minimum quality level for buildings. \u95 The building permit procedures and the system of building control. This paper highlights the results from previous projects and presents the research framework and the first considerations on the three main subjects of this ongoing research project. Actual trends and expected developments are sketched.OTB Research Institut