Compliance as an administrative problem: transposition performance with multiple deadlines

In this paper we focus on transposition in the Netherlands using data in which the different stages of the national transposition process are identified. The analysis shows that transposition performance is primarily affected by the national administration. Delays (or relatively slow processes) are mainly caused by the national administration and not so much by decision-making in the cabinet or Parliament. This finding is further specified in an event-history analysis, which points at several causes of delayed transposition while controlling for alternative explanations. The results of this paper shed light on some of the controversies in the current (quantitative) transposition and compliance literature by pointing to factors closely related to the actual implementation of transposition.