International regulation

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International regulation is regulation that occurs at the international level, often exercised by international organizations. An advantage of international regulation is that it allows localities and the individuals in them to be held accountable for the impact their actions (e.g. pollution) have on other localities.

[edit] Criticisms

Some criticisms of international regulation are that better information is available at the local level; that global regulation can prohibit useful policy experiments that might have resulted in better solutions; and that global policymakers are less likely to be held accountable for the impact their actions have on a particular community. International regulation involves heterogeneous populations that may not fit a "one size fits all" policy. Another criticism is that under the current system of multilateral treatymaking, countries unaffected by a treaty's regulations may become parties and exercise voting rights in the body's decisions. For instance, even landlocked countries are allowed to join the International Whaling Commission.