The aim of this study is to collate and evaluate regulatory practices for network-based industries in Germany and Europe, in order to identify basic regulatory structures and those which recur in a number of markets. Ideally we hope to come up with a proposal to harmonise regulatory practice. In the medium term, this study should serve as an internal resource for the ZEW, to be used as the basis for the discussion of current issues surrounding regulation and for the identification of open research questions. Sectors in the process of deregulation are subject to analyses. In a first approach, analyses on sectors with a significant record after liberalization like telecommunication, as well as sectors with immediate changes like postal services have been conducted.The Industrial Economics department is coordinating this benchmark study in close cooperation with the ICT research group.