Self-Regulation: Leveraging Advantages, Mitigating Drawbacks and Contemplating its Use for Soft Narcotics Market
Author(s): Antonina Bobkova*, Pavlo Liutikov, Mykhailo Shevchenko, Nataliya Kantor and Vladyslav Lipynskyi
Abstract
Background: Relying on scientific sources and legal documents reflecting the advantages and drawbacks of self-regulation, as well as ways to mitigate them and ensure proper functioning of the self-regulation, the article determines the best scenarios for the development of market regulation, within which the most positive aspects of the delegation of regulatory functions to self-regulatory organizations are retained and the limitations and risks inherent in self-regulatory activities, as well as the issues of democratic legitimacy of self-regulation are mitigated.
Methods: The authors use a set of methods of scientific research required for accomplishing these tasks, which includes literature review, covering conceptual scientific material on advantages and drawbacks of self- regulation with delegated powers, interpreting and making generalizations of scientific viewpoints on these matters, occasional manifestations of normative juridical approach and making hypothesis on those premises regarding the most advisable policies in relation to further development of market regulation, including systemic improvement of structure and activities of self-regulatory organizations, as well as, alternatively, replacing self-regulatory organizations with a regulatory agency with a special status.
Results: It was concluded that the best scenarios for the development of market regulation, within which the most positive aspects of the delegation of regulatory functions to self-regulatory organizations are retained and the restraints of and risks inherent in self-regulatory activities are:
- Systemic improvement of structure and activities of self-regulatory organizations;
- Replacing self-regulatory organizations with regulatory agency with a special status.
Conclusion: The authors maintain that the latter model could be deemed most suitable for self-regulation in the market of pharmaceuticals as well as of the soft drugs, providing simultaneously a sufficient level of protection against abuse related to production and advertising of soft drugs, to which their users are particularly sensitive, as well as promoting the involvement of specialists with the appropriate level of expertise in establishing rules for the circulation of soft drugs along with healthcare and public order experts, who are able to develop reasonably balanced industry standards in this area.
