Governance Capacity in Supervisory Authorities
An empirical study of what actually limits enforcement in technology supervision — comparing statutory powers against the staff, skills and time available to exercise them.
Policy debate concentrates on what regulators should be empowered to do. This project examines what they are equipped to do, which is frequently a different and smaller set.
Method
For each authority in the study we document the statutory powers available, the technical headcount able to exercise them, the volume of deployments in scope, the pay differential against the supervised sector, and the observed rate of enforcement action. We then interview current and former staff about the gap between the first and the last.
Why this rather than another survey of principles
Because the answer changes what should be recommended. If enforcement is limited by powers, the remedy is legislative. If it is limited by two overworked technical staff and a public pay scale, legislation produces a more detailed record of what was not examined.
Publication
Findings will be published with the full protocol and the anonymised interview schedule. Authorities participating receive the findings concerning them in advance and may respond in the published text, but have no right of review over the conclusions.
