DTU REMS II

The Doctoral Training Unit on Enforcement in Multi-Level Regulatory Systems II (REMS II) is a joint research programme of the Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance (FDEF) and the Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for Procedural Law (MPI Luxembourg). DTU-REMS-II follows up the first DTU research programme on Enforcement in Multi-level Regulatory Systems running at the University of Luxembourg since 2017 (more information on the first programme can be found here).
Multi-level regulatory systems are a key feature of post-modern societies. They are characterised by the interdependence between public and private actors cutting across a variety of governance levels; and by substantive specialisation, which determines different modes of multi-level interactions, adjusted to the regulatory needs of each policy field. Enforcement ensures conformity between behaviour and legal rules and is key for both the credibility and effectiveness of multi-level regulatory regimes and for their legitimacy. Despite its importance, enforcement has received relatively limited academic attention. Existing studies, fall short of comprehensively assessing the complex patterns of interaction that cut across international, European and domestic governance levels.

Against this background, the goals of DTU REMS II are twofold:

mapping the legal problems and weaknesses of enforcing legal norms in multi-level settings;
defining how those legal problems can be addressed by identifying the possible choices between various forms of judicial or non-judicial enforcement institutions (or combinations thereof) that respect the constitutional principles of democracy, fundamental rights’ protection and the rule of law.

DTU-REMS-II is designed to capture the overall process through which conformity between behaviour and legal norms can be progressively achieved in multi-level regulatory systems and to enable a comparative institutional analysis between the various enforcement mechanisms employed in multi-level regulatory systems.

The research programme is supported by an inter-disciplinary doctoral training programme covering economics and law, based on seminars and collaborative research-based activities dedicated to topics tailored to the research programme.