Explaining the Regulatory Tone of EU Directives

What explains variation in the tone of regulation? While regulation is a central instrument of governance in the European Union, little is known about the factors that shape whether EU law obliges, constrains or enables its addressees. This study focuses on explaining regulatory tone, that is, the extent to which legal language imposes obligations, constraints or grants discretion, across EU directives. Using Large Language Models and Natural Language Processing, this study identifies regulatory addressees of directives and distinguishes four actor groups: individuals, firms and other private actors, member states, and EU institutions. It then analyses how the tone of regulation varies across these actors, policy domains, and over time. Drawing on a dataset covering 32 years since the early 1990s, the study sheds light on how and why the EU employs obligations, constraints, and permissions in regulation. The findings provide new insights into the political and institutional roots of European regulatory governance.