EU Financial Regulation Soft Law in the Member States: Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia and the UK

This paper presents the results of research conducted by the European Network on Soft Law Research (SoLaR) in the field of financial regulation. An empirical study was conducted to determine how the European Securities and Markets Authority’s (ESMA) guidelines and recommendations are complied with by some selected Member States: Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia and the UK. The research has also studied the attitudes of the officials and judges regarding ESMA soft law, in particular the potential differences between the two groups of stakeholders across the Member States. The paper consists of two parts. First, this introduction sheds some light on the history of the EU system of financial regulation, and the role ESMA has played in it. Having provided the necessary background for the research, the main elements of its methodology are presented next. This is then followed by a comparative analysis conducted on the selected seven Member States. The questionnaire used for the empirical analysis is attached in the appendix. The co-authors acknowledge funding from the European Commission under 575097-EPP-1-2016-1-FI-EPPJMO-NETWORK.