Brussels, 15/04/2002 (Agence Europe) - As we pointed out yesterday, the US authorities and the European Commission announced last Friday that they had developed guidelines to promote more effective US-EU regulatory cooperation.
The guidelines were negotiated under the Transatlantic Economic Partnership launched in 1998. They are "non binding and voluntary" and are intended to promote a more systematic dialogue between US Government and European Commission regulators early in the development of regulatory approaches. They also stress transparency and public participation as necessary elements to promote more effective regulatory cooperation , better quality regulation, and to help minimise possible regulatory-based trade disputes. The guidelines outline specific cooperative steps that US and European regulators are encouraged to follow in bilateral dialogues, including early and regular consultations, data and information exchanges, and the sharing of contemplated regulatory approaches. Key transparency elements reflected in the guidelines are public announcements of draft regulations, meaningful opportunity for all interested parties to comment, and an explanation of how comments were considered in the regulation.
The United States and the Commission are currently working on the identification of "drafts" to be pursued under the guidelines. Commenting their adoption, European Commissioner for Enterprise and the Information Society Erkki Liikanen said that increased cooperation "will enable regulators to better discharge their public responsibility for health, safety, the environment and consumer protection" and that the guidelines would "facilitate trade in goods and minimise trade frictions". The European Commissioner responsible for competition, Pascal Lamy, added that he welcomes "what is an important step in ensuring transatlantic trade is made as easy as possible by responding to calls from business and consumer groups to involve them further in the regulatory process". US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick pointed out that "closer cooperation between US and European regulators is increasingly important for the transatlantic marketplace". (See EUROPE of 8/9 April, p.18, on the subject of US reactions to the Commission's White Paper on governance).