Law, Uncertainty and Emerging Technologies. Towards a Constructive Implementation of the Precautionary Principle in the Case of Nanotechnologies

The paper deals with the impact of nanotechnologies on the view of legal regulation and moves from the idea that emerging technologies offer an excellent perspective from which to analyze the shift from government to governance, that typically occurs nowadays. n the paper, a constructive meaning of the precautionary principle is embraced; it is maintained that such meaning can only be clarified through the implementation of the principle; self-regulation and soft law are thought of as a form of regulation suitable, if properly joined with hard law, to implement the precautionary principle and to manage the uncertainty arising from emerging technologies.