Regulatory cooperation

Tomorrow EU and US counterparts will sit down together for the first meeting of the EU-US Trade and Technology Council (TTC). This is a new transatlantic 'regulatory cooperation' effort with a special focus on the tech sector. Much is at stake in these discussions: from regulating tech giants to standards for artificial intelligence. Corporate lobbyists are keen to get a new industry-driven tool.

A deregulatory zeal continues to sweep through the European Commission and member states, now turbo-charged by the ‘innovation principle’ and the new ‘One In, One Out’ mantra.

The EU-UK trade talks begin with the UK objective to use the corporate-friendly EU-Canada agreement CETA as a template. This is not a good start for democracy nor the public interest.

The ongoing trade talks between the EU and the US give reason to many of the same concerns as the negotiations on TTIP. The US is looking to weaken EU standards on eg. chemicals, pesticides, GMOs and food. The European priorities include ideas that could undermine US protection levels on medical devices, toys and equipment used at workplaces. 'Conformity assessments' is a much more risky area than it sounds, according to our report 'Trading away protection'.

Any future EU-UK trade agreement post-Brexit will have to deal with the financial sector. And the financial lobby has been pushing its own model for long. Their risky plans on 'regulatory cooperation' are uncovered in this report from Corporate Europe Observatory, LobbyControl, Observatoire des Multinationales and SpinWatch.

Two years after the suspension of TTIP, the EU is preparing mandates for new trade talks with the US. Once again corporate lobby groups are working to set the agenda, while the European Commission covers over its links with big business.

The controversial EU-Canada trade deal CETA has now been provisionally applied. Our new mobile and desktop game Dodgy Deals lets players face some of the dangerous features of trade deals like CETA and shows what is at stake.

The European Commission is negotiating trade deals and it is currently finalising a deal with Japan, the Japan-European Union Free Trade Agreement or JEFTA. Regulatory cooperation in JEFTA has the potential to be detrimental to our democracy, giving big business more rights to be involved in lawmaking at an early stage.

Our new report exposes how corporate lobbies and think tanks have gone on what appears to be a concerted attack against NGOs and the movement for trade justice.

‘Dieselgate’ was the result of corporate-driven deregulation. Our new report takes a look at the complicity of the Commission's 'Better Regulation' agenda and at the way member states and European institutions have turned a blind eye to industry-wide abuse.

The EU is negotiating a number of highly controversial free trade agreements, which would give more powers to corporations. Our new report shows how regulatory cooperation in CETA and TTIP is a gift for Big Business that keeps on giving.

The recent leak of many parts of TTIP, allowing us for the first time to read the negotiating position of the US, confirms our most serious concerns.