Emancipation of the underrepresented? Explaining access to EU regulatory agencies’ advisory committees

This paper examines which non-state stakeholders – such as interest groups, firms or research organizations – have privileged access to EU regulatory agencies in terms of having a seat in a permanent advisory committee. These advisory committees can bring different stakeholders with various interests around the table in a formal setting. The question is whether such settings can counter the structural advantage of the regulated sector in gaining access, and in this way potentially reduce the risk of agency capture. I expect that advisory committees, which are formal bodies and subject to various transparency requirements, are not only used as sources of expertise. The composition of these advisory committees can also help agencies demonstrate that they are not (only) dependent on the sector they are supposed to regulate. Showing that a diverse set of stakeholders is involved, rather than only the regulated sector, can foster an agency’s reputation as an autonomous actor and strengthen its legitimacy. In this regard, agencies should also grant access to stakeholders representing other interests than the regulated sector, leading to a rather balanced representation of interests, and even a strong representation of traditionally weaker interests, like consumer groups or patient organizations. The paper combines data on advisory committee membership with data on participation in EU regulatory agencies’ online consultations. This enables me to assess to what extent the group of ‘insiders’ is representative for the wider population of stakeholders seeking to influence EU agencies. Are certain types of stakeholders more likely to gain access to formal advisory bodies? By comparing the composition of advisory committees to a ‘population’ of stakeholders assumed to be interested in having a seat, I seek to overcome a problem that many previous studies on access face, namely the lack of a benchmark against which to judge biased representation.