Equality Legislation and Reflexive Regulation: a Response to the Discrimination Law Review's Consultative Paper

The publication of the recent Consultation Document, proposing a new legislative framework for a Single Equality Bill for Great Britain, provides the opportunity for consideration of the regulatory approaches that might be adopted in such legislation. The regulatory approaches adopted in previous anti-discrimination legislation are considered, followed by a discussion of a newer approach to regulation, which has been termed ‘reflexive regulation’. This newer form of regulation appears to form the preferred basis for regulation in the Consultation Paper. The potential problems with this method of regulation are examined, in particular the need to ensure that the pre-conditions for effective reflexive regulation are identified and created. It is argued that the Consultation Paper has failed to address this issue, and that several changes need to be made before the use of reflexive regulation in the area of equality is likely to be successful.