The following is a Joint Statement released in conjunction with the EU-US
Summit in Washington, DC, December 5, 1997.
Regulatory Cooperation:
Promoting Trade While
Facilitating Consumer Protection
In the New Transatlantic Agenda, the US and EU committed ourselves,
as part of efforts to create a New Transatlantic Marketplace, to strengthen
regulatory cooperation. This goal is strongly supported by our business
communities, including the Transatlantic Business Dialogue. Regulatory
issues are becoming ever more prominent in US-EU relations as public
interest in consumer protection issues has increased and trade in regulated
products has expanded.
The US and EU welcome the active and on-going technical dialogue that
regulatory authorities already have in the development, harmonization
and enforcement of regulations protecting health, safety, the environment
and the consumer. To further that effort, the US and EU have agreed
to enhance, whenever possible, their cooperation in the areas of:
-- consultation in the early stages of drafting regulations;
-- greater reliance on each other's technical resources and expertise;
and
-- harmonization of regulatory requirements or mutual recognition.
Although the main thrust of our cooperation at present is on trade in
goods, we will seek to extend it to cover the increasingly important trade
in services. We will also discuss how to extend our cooperation to other
trade partners and work together in international standard-setting bodies
to advance these goals.
This cooperation should involve public authorities and, as appropriate,
public and private technical bodies on both sides. The two sides are also
open to examining the feasibility of new bilateral agreements and legislative
changes where they are agreed to be necessary to achieve common goals.
In developing this cooperation, special attention will be given to assessing
the impact of regulatory systems on small and medium-size enterprises,
recognizing their important role in many product areas.
Our goal throughout this process will be to maintain a high level of
protection for health, safety, consumers and the environment and to ensure
the integrity of the regulatory processes as we seek to improve effective
market access for exports throughout each other's territories. US and
EU officials will monitor progress on regulatory cooperation and draw
attention at subsequent Summits to key issues that may require senior-level
review.
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