Chile was the first country in the world to implement a comprehensive reform of its electricity sector in the recent period. Among developing countries only Argentina has had a comparably comprehensive and successful reform. This paper traces the history of the Chilean reform, which began in...

The paper uses the analysis of the main regulatory problems in Argentina’s privatised railways to illustrate the importance of regulatory processes for the long run sustainability of privatisation strategies. Although many of the conflicts have been magnified by the recent crisis, we...

In this paper, we investigate methods for managing congestion on the grid in the Nordic power market. Specifically, we have considered the differences between using counter purchases as opposed to pricing out the transmission constraints of the grid. We show that the specific method used for...

A new regulatory framework for electronic communications (fixed and mobile telephony, Internet, cable TV, …) is due to be applicable in the Member States of the European Union in July 2003. This framework is composed of several Directives whose one – the Universal Service Directive...

The failure of the Community legislature to agree until very recently to the additional liberalization and deregulation of the postal services sector, which had been envisaged by the 1997 Postal Directive, has meant that the competition rules of the Treaty have retained a central role in this...

This article discusses which legal principles of good economic governance should form the basis of market legislation and supervision. Respect for the principles will contribute to a good functioning regulatory framework which is likely to enhance business confidence and produce the kind of...

Two-sided networks have recently received a great deal of attention both from academics and policy makers. This is not surprising, because some important industries such as telecommunications’ networks, credit card networks, the videogames industry, computer operating systems or...

Long hailed as a pioneer in telecommunications deregulation, this paper examines Hong Kong’s market liberalization experience since 1995. To understand Hong Kong’s deregulation effort, we proceed by evaluating the liberalization exercise in light of experiences derived from other...

In an earlier article, we presented a case study of local loop unbundling (LLU) in the Republic of Ireland in 2001. We explained how the predecessor regulatory body to the Irish Commission for Communications Regulation (Comreg) could select the least arbitrary interim access rate. This article...

The 1990s witnessed significant regulatory changes in several Spanish network industries such as electricity, telecommunications, natural gas and oil. This article provides an assessment of these developments, trying to ascertain what goals policymakers attempted to achieve with the deregulation...