Abstract

Drawing on recent literature on regulatory constitutionalism, this article examines the EU regulatory state in comparative perspective, using the US regulatory state as contrast case. We find that whilst most observers were preoccupied with high-level constitutional politics and the Treaty of Lisbon, a quiet constitutional change was under way in the EU, triggered by mundane procedural requirements concerning rulemaking. We compare change first by first explaining the factors behind the institutionalization of rulemaking requirements; and then by discussing the constitutional effects of regulatory change.