The regulatory cooperation chapter of the Transatlantic Trade and
Investment Partnership: institutional structures and democratic
consequences
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) has the
potential to remake political and legal relationships between the EU and
the US and pave the way to a new form of global economic governance
based on international regulatory cooperation. In particular, TTIP
presents an historic opportunity for the European Union and the United
States to remove regulatory divergence – today’s most prominent obstacle
to trade exchanges –, thereby increasing economic growth for the
citizens of both polities. Yet, the EU and the US have been attempting
to reduce trade barriers since the 1970s.
Despite decades of co-operation, EU and US policymakers too often
fail to mutually understand each other’s positions, giving rise to
regulatory differences. As an international agreement predicted to
contain a Horizontal Chapter – an innovative approach to international
trade treaty-making containing a framework for future bilateral
regulatory cooperation – , TTIP has the potential to transform this
impasse, if approached correctly. The envisaged chapter would provide a
‘gateway’ for handling sectoral regulatory issues between the EU and the
US, including by addressing both legislation and non-legislative acts,
regardless of the level at which they are adopted and by whom. Yet with
great promises come challenges too.
This article focuses on the structure, scope, discipline,
institutional design, enforcement and implementation of the envisaged
horizontal chapter, often defined Regulatory Cooperation Chapter. In so
doing, it addresses some of the concerns currently raised by civil
society, in particular the fear of a ‘race to the bottom’ that may stem
from the operation of this chapter and provides some recommendations.
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