Administrative implementation tools for enhancing trust in public Governance

While procedural guarantees have been introduced in most western democracies to enhance trust in the decision-making process of public bodies, less attention has been paid to the effectiveness of measures related to compliance levels. Implementation and enforcement work as a form of non-verbal communication, influencing trust more than express words, as the consistency between the content of the rule and its concrete application is a sign of credibility of government. The concept of “regulatory delivery”, defined as “all activities and tools that can be used to make regulations better implemented and complied with”, is a sign of a stronger awareness of the importance of “procedural justice” even at the implementation level. The recommendations of supranational organisations highlighted that, to achieve a good level of compliance, the use of coercive instruments should be limited, in favour of differentiated and cooperative (responsive) approaches, that encompass behavioural insights and risk-based methods, with a concomitant reduction of public spending and administrative burdens. These studies have mainly focused on controls and inspections on business. A compliance-based approach, however, could turn out useful in a wider range of administrative activities, such as prioritising ex ante documentary checks when releasing administrative authorisations, or when choosing when and how to apply administrative sanctions. This paper analyses to what extent the effective implementation of administrative activity is considered in the legislation of different European States. The study aims at highlighting how the concepts of administrative implementation and enforcement are understood in different jurisdictions and the tools employed to ensure their effectiveness. Legal systems such as Germany, France, Spain, and Italy will be compared to less codified systems, such as the UK, where a greater attention to administrative enforcement is displayed. The comparative study will be carried out from a legal perspective and will also consider the relevant case-law.