By Dimity Kingsford-Smith, Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales
In Responsive Regulation (1995) Ian Ayres and John Braithwaite argued for the importance of PIGs, public interest groups, in regulatory tripartism. Since then the idea of responsive regulation has been expanded by recognizing the value of non-state participants in regulation, for example industry associations. This paper will consider, in the financial advisory sector, a variation to tripartism – the separate and partial role of role of regulators, the regulated and PIGs in responsive regulation. From regulatory experience, open-ended interviews and legal analysis, it will argue that industry associations have significant capacity for identifying and promoting the public interest, when there is no obvious PIG and despite heated resistance from important sectors of the association. The constitution of the association by a ‘regulatory contract’, resources and the willingness of individuals to be ‘regulatory entrepreneurs’ provide limits to public interest advocacy by industry associations. However, in all aspects of regulation – rule making, information collection and behavior modification – the contribution is valuable and means of promoting such participation (‘hybrid tripartism’?) worthy of theoretical reflection and practical regulatory action.