Privacy Regulation and the Consolidation of a Networked Regulatory Order in the EU

This paper focuses on the institutionalization of an European regulatory framework in the field of privacy and data protection, in order to investigate the dynamics of agencification, or lack of it, in the EU. In a first step, the patterns of interaction among domestic regulators within EU and international networks will be mapped out and illustrated. The second part of the paper will examine the relation between network-level interactions and the main features of domestic regulators, such as their powers and organizational capacity. Finally, the patterns of interactions and the characteristics of regulators will be considered as crucial factors to understand the current situation where data privacy regulation relies on a networked order based on regulators in the country of operation, and to account for the perspectives for agencification. The empirical analysis consists of a combination of cases studies and statistical analysis for the period 2000-2014.