research@hec - Issue #18 - (Page VIII)

Lessons from the April 2010 Volcanic Ash Crisis On November 10 & 11, 2010, HEC Paris hosted a workshop Led by Alberto Alemanno, twenty European speakers, its implications for regulatory systems. Alberto Alemanno The event was sponsored by the HEC Paris Foundation and Lexxion (publisher of the European Journal of Risk Regulation). A book of all the papers presented during the workshop will be edited by Alberto Alemanno and published at the end of 2011 by Edward Elgar Publishing. A video of the workshop will soon be available on iTunes U. on European regulations for dealing with major catastrophes. researchers, and experts from a range of fields focused on the paralyzing April 2010 volcanic ash crisis and explored research 1st HEC Paris Regulation Workshop The April 14, 2010 eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano paralyzed European air transport for several days, because European civil aviation authorities responded to the large size of the associated ash cloud by closing their air space. As a result, on April 17, 2010, only 5,335 of the habitual 28,000 daily European flights actually took place. Were authorities overly cautious, as some airlines claimed? How can regulations be determined in emergencies without generating long term industrial damage? Who is competent to assess risk? How long should that take? Does industry tend to underestimate risk and do regulators tend to exaggerate it? These are just some of the questions addressed at the first HEC regulation workshop, led by Alberto Alemanno. The Icelandic Volcano Eruption: a Case for Study As far as Alemanno is concerned, the crisis caused by the eruption of the Icelandic volcano offers a case worth studying of an emergency situation calling for a rapid regulatory response. The example of an ash cloud that prevents travel on an entire continent is not found in any corporate or governmental risk hec management scenario, so it is hardly surprising that the initial regulatory response to the event generated measures that provoked immediate debate between industry and regulators … while customers remained caught in the middle! Coming up with a regulatory response to this type of crisis is extremely complex, because both risk analysis and subsequent decisions have to take diverse interests into account. The Workshop Program The workshop began with a description of the volcanic ash cloud crisis, followed by a presentation of the major principles behind the European crisis management regulation framework. Then, looking beyond the ash cloud crisis, a third session provided more general insight on how uncertainty affects emergency regulation processes. The second day of the workshop included more detailed explanation of the mechanisms that come into play when establishing emergency regulations, and a focus on the legal principles involved in the April 2010 volcanic ash cloud crisis. The final worship session highlighted new directions for emergency regulation frameworks. I The Eyjafjallajökull volcano. BIOGRAPHY Alberto Alemanno has been a law professor at HEC Paris since 2009. He teaches European, antitrust, and regulation law. VIII research@hec • December-January 2011 Picture: Istockphoto / © Tibinko

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of research@hec - Issue #18

Cover & Contents
Anger in the Workplace Men vs.Women: Unequal in Ire?
Renewable Energies: What Is Holding Investors Back?
Strategic Experimentation: Observing Others to Determine Behavior
Lessons fromthe April 2010 Volcanic Ash Crisis

research@hec - Issue #18