Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction / Mariolina Eliantonio, Emilia Korkea-aho and Oana Stefan -- Revisiting soft law : governance, regulation and networks / Imelda Maher -- Types of EU soft law and their national impact / Andreas Hofmann -- 'Whatever-law' and teenage member states? : the national reception of EU soft law and how to study it / Miriam Hartlapp and Emilia Korkea-aho -- 'Verba volant, quoque (soft law) scripta?' : an analysis of the legal effects of national soft law implementing EU soft law in France and the UK / Giulia Gentile -- EU soft law in Cyprus : in search of role and value / Napoleon Xanthoulis and Anastasia Karatzia -- The Finnish soft law puzzle: how can a rule-bound parliamentary democracy be reconciled with EU soft law? / Emilia Korkea-aho, Katri Havu, Päivi Leino-Sandberg and Liisa Tarkkila -- No longer small enough to fall through the cracks : a French story of adaptation to the petites sources of EU law / Nathalie Rubio and Oana Stefan -- Soft law in Germany : still opposing dynamics in status and effect / Miriam Hartlapp, Andreas Hofmann and Matthias Knauff -- The approach of Hungarian authorities to soft law: on the road to where? / Petra Lea Láncos -- Judges, public authorities and EU soft law in Italy : how you cannot tell a book by its cover / Jacopo Alberti and Mariolina Eliantonio -- Soft law and guidance in the Netherlands : at odds with legal principles? / Barbara Beijen -- The uneasy reception of EU soft law in the Slovenian legal order / Matej Avbelj and Katarina Vatovec -- In search of symmetry lost : European and Spanish soft law before the Spanish authorities / Luis Arroyo Jiménez and José María Rodríguez de Santiago -- EU soft law in the UK on the eve of Brexit : (not) much ado about nothing? / Mary Dobbs and Oana Stefan -- Three worlds of Chinese soft law / Francis Snyder -- Judicial review of soft law before the European and the national courts : a wind of change blowing from the member states? / Mariolina Eliantonio -- Legal effects and reviewability of EU acts : between institutional intentions and perceptions of concerned parties / Napoleon Xanthoulis -- Soft Law and the promise of transparency in the member states / Oana Stefan -- The national politics of EU soft law : Sweden and the balancing act between output and input legitimacy / Ulrika Mörth -- Final thoughts / Niilo Jääskinen.

Abstract freely available; full-text restricted to individual document purchasers.

"This volume analyses, for the first time in European studies, the impact that non-legally binding material (otherwise known as soft law) has on national courts and administration. The study is founded on empirical work undertaken by the European Network of Soft Law Research (SoLaR), across ten EU Member States, in competition policy, financial regulation, environmental protection and social policy. The book demonstrates that soft law is taken into consideration at the national level and it clarifies the extent to which soft law can have legal and practical effects for individuals and national authorities. The national case studies highlight the points of convergence or divergence in the way in which judges and administrators approach soft law, while reflecting on the reasons for and consequences of various national practices. A series of horizontal studies connect this research to the rich literature on new modes of governance, by revisiting traditional theories on soft law, and by reflecting on the potential of such instruments to undermine or to foster rule of law values"-- Provided by publisher.

Also published in print.

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