The following articles, reports, letters and papers were produced by a wide range of civil society organisations involved in the campaign against the EU – US trade agreement TTIP. They give an overview of existing analysis and debates on Regulatory Cooperation in TTIP.Dangerous Regulatory Duet (CEO, Lobbycontrol, 36 pages, January 2016)
How transatlantic regulatory cooperation under TTIP will allow bureaucrats and big business to attack the public interest. The report examines the origins and impacts of TTIP’s proposals for regulatory cooperation and shows that the process has been dominated by big business right from the start. The examples highlighted in the study are the weakening of EU ambition on the management of hazardous electronic waste, the lack of supervision of the insurance giant AIG in the years leading up to the 2008 financial crash, the free pass offered to US companies on the Safe Harbour agreement that allowed them to ignore rules on the protection of personal data, and delayed or weakened proposals on animal testing, ozone-depleting substances, and aviation emissions. Also available in German.
Regulatory cooperation in TTIP: A blueprint for corporate domination? (Global Justice Now, 6 pages, October 2015)
This briefing shows that while the proposed ‘regulatory cooperation’ in TTIP may sound bureaucratic or even benevolent, it actually amounts to a ‘blueprint for corporate domination’. It also examines documented instances where the threat or possibility of TTIP is already having harmful consequences for EU regulations. “Some of the corporate lobbyists pushing for TTIP have stated that it is the ‘regulatory cooperation’ rather than ISDS that is the most important aspect of the deal to them, while some supporters of TTIP have even gone as far as to advocate sacrificing ISDS to protect regulatory cooperation.”
The planned regulatory cooperation between the European Union and Canada and the USA according to the CETA and TTIP drafts (Legal opinion commissioned by the Chamber of Labour, Vienna, 35 pages, June 2015)
Very useful study of the content of CETA and of the TTIP proposal. The 4 pages executive summary is a recommended reading.
Includes a good overview of existing regulatory cooperation mecanisms, including in WTO agreements and in other bilateral free trade agreements.
A central aspect of the TTIP threat comes from plans to introduce “regulatory cooperation” between the negotiating partners. Equally dangerous is the “European Commission’s” so-called “Better Regulation” agenda, which is an internal process that pre-dates the EU-US trade talks. “Better Regulation” is promoted as being about cutting unnecessary administrative burdens or red tape at the EU level. In reality it threatens essential environmental safeguards and citizens’ rights. Both processes are creating obstacles and delays for decision-makers who want to introduce new regulations, and they risk creating “regulatory chill” as law makers are discouraged from introducing new measures in the public interest.
Detailed analysis of both regulatory cooperation in TTIP (published before the February 2016 new version of the EU regulatory cooperation proposal), and of the EU’s own deregulatory agenda : the “Better regulation” agenda.
This short briefing aims at helping campaigners and policy makers understanding “Technical Barriers to Trade” in TTIP.
A short overview of ICT related issues in the TTIP negotiations
American regulatory process –
Note : Papers on TTIP and toxic chemicals have their own page
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