Skip to content
Public InterestConsultantsPublic Interest Consultants
All focus areas

Regulatory affairs and regulator communication

A regulator is not an opponent, nor a partner. It is an audience with a mandate of its own.

Communication with regulators and supervisory authorities, from consultation to live proceedings.

What it is about

Authorities decide on law and on mandate. Anyone bringing political arguments where a legal one is asked for is politely heard and ignored.

Regulators such as the Austrian energy, financial market and telecoms authorities are independent and act within a statutory mandate. The lever is therefore not political pressure but the quality of the arguments and data submitted, and an understanding of what the authority may legally do at all.

The political lever sits one level up: in the law that defines the mandate. Anyone unhappy with a supervisory decision usually has a problem with the underlying law. Keeping those two routes cleanly apart is a large part of our work.

The points that decide

  • Mandate

    First establish what the authority may do. Much of it is not its decision at all.

  • Consultation

    Regulatory consultations are technical and are answered technically.

  • Proceedings

    In live proceedings procedural law applies, not communications.

  • Legislative level

    What the authority may not change, the legislator does.

How we work on it

  • Professional Analysis & Monitoring

    Curated monitoring of initiatives, draft legislation and public debate - assessed against your business goals.

  • Stakeholder & Network

    Simply "knowing" people adds nothing. Robust relationships of trust with decision-makers do.

  • High-Level Strategy & Campaigning

    A business strategy becomes a communications programme that reaches its goals faster.

All services

Frequently asked

May you talk to a regulator at all?

Yes, and outside live proceedings it is explicitly intended. Authorities run consultations, market dialogues and technical exchanges. Inside a procedure the rules of procedural law apply, and there the route is through legal counsel.

What belongs in a submission to a regulator?

Data, method and a concrete proposal. Authorities have to justify their decisions and therefore look for solid material they can rely on. A submission without figures gives nobody anything to cite.

Related focus areas

Facing an issue in this sector?

A first conversation usually settles quickly whether and how we can help.

Arrange a conversation