Brussels, 30/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - European Commissioner for Trade Karel De Gucht wants to set horizontal rules with the Americans in order to guide the negotiation on the regulatory cooperation component.
Ahead of the second round of negotiations for the transatlantic trade and investment partnership agreement (TTIP) in Brussels on 7-11 October, De Gucht spoke to US Trade Representative Michael Froman - during Froman's visit to Brussels on 30 September - of his ambitions on the regulatory chapter of the negotiations for a future agreement.
On Monday, De Gucht spoke of his desire for the EU and the US to be supported by a set of horizontal rules to guide their regulatory cooperation. The idea is that the EU and the US open their regulations for mutual recognition across a broad range of sectors. “In my mind, this is the most efficient way to connect our two systems to allow our businesses to operate more effectively across the Atlantic”, he said.
In De Gucht's view, this objective is attainable because Europe has already experienced such an exercise during its initial preparations for the single market in the 1980s. “Of course, neither side has the ambition to go that far but our aim should still be to progressively build a more integrated transatlantic marketplace”, he said. Through this process, the European experience of which proved a success in De Gucht's view, De Gucht also wants to “reassure critics who claim the TTIP will water down Europe's current set of rules and regulations”. “The reality is that over the last decades, Europe has seen its standards rise to a level of global excellence and leadership. And it's on this basis that both sides agree to use such a transformative process to raise their game”, he said.
Stating that both sides agree to use a set of rules and institutions that ensure efficient regulatory cooperation and avoid unnecessary duplication of costs - in the food safety domain and in that of financial services (regulation of derivatives, for example), or that of standards for electric cars - De Gucht called on the negotiators “to be creative” with the aim of presenting a commonly agreed outline of the regulatory component of the TTIP for joint political review in January 2014. (EH/transl.fl)