Merging competition authorities and sector regulators; a good idea?

Chillin'Competition: "two incipient trends [emerge] whereby multiple specific/sector regulators are either (a) folded into one sole multi-market regulator (which allegedly takes advantage of economies of scale, minimizes the risk of regulatory capture and ensures a consistent approach to the regulation of network industries; this is the case of the German Bundesnetz; or (b) merged with the competition authority. To my knowledge, the only example of the latter “trend” has been that of the NMa in the Netherlands.... blurring the frontiers between the applicable standards, attitudes and instruments used under competition law (a sanctioning system with criminal features) and those characterizing sector regulation risks affecting the way competition law is enforced, and could result in a lowering of standards." 'via Blog this'