Regulatory science, Europeanisation and the control of agrochemicals

This paper addresses issues of regulatory convergence and Europeanisation as they have developed within the agrochemicals sector. Taking the UK as a case study, the paper considers the continuing importance of local and national factors within systems that are ostensibly international and standardised. In particular, the paper shows how the embedded social relations of regulatory science in the UK, including institutional practices, judgements of expertise and established relationships of trust, result in a ‘nation-centredness’ and divergence of regulatory cultures despite the putative development of a harmonised European framework. It is argued that, as a consequence, the claimed universalism of scientific culture in this area is in tension with the local conditions of its practice and enactment.