Abstract

This paper deals with the effectiveness of public controls on private activities. Within this context, effectiveness is both an aim pursued by the regulatory enforcement, as well as an attribute of the controls themselves, which, in turn, need to be proportionate and effective in relation to their functions. In order to analyse the features of effectiveness of public controls on private activities, we must firstly observe the new forms of public control that have enriched the traditional function of administrative police. These new means of control have been included in a broad notion of public oversight over private actors, where the inspective activity has been interpreted as an instrument of effectiveness in the phase of enforcement of public regulation. The Anglo-Saxon literature has especially focused on the interdependence between the regulatory strategies adopted upstream and the enforcement models consequently implemented, and has established principles of effectiveness that have been endorsed by supranational and national organizations. The second part of the paper aims at evaluating the applicability of the effectiveness tools in the planning, implementation and monitoring of public controls over private activities. Some examples of controls and inspections carried out by Italian regulatory agencies and enforcement bodies will be provided. Finally, it will be argued that, in order for public controls on private activities to be effective, flexible and original models that can be adapted and respond to the different context in which they take place are required.