The U.S. and the European Union took steps at their annual summit April 30 to further expand their economic cooperation and integration. The two sides established a new Transatlantic Economic Council and adopted a framework designed to foster cooperation on reducing regulatory burdens and accelerate work on key “lighthouse projects” in the areas of intellectual property rights, secure trade, investment, financial markets and innovation.
Regulatory Cooperation. The U.S. and the EU will pursue the following priority projects concerning regulatory cooperation in 2007 and 2008.
• collaborate on cosmetics regulations, in particular with a view to reducing the need for animal tests by cooperating on alternative testing methods
• seek final agreement on shifting resources away from implementation of the Medical Device Annex of the Mutual Recognition Agreement to a more productive bilateral collaboration on medical devices
• promote administrative simplification in the application of regulation of medicinal products
• address common concerns in the automotive sector in the area of road safety and fuel economy in order to avoid or reduce barriers to transatlantic trade
• expand cooperation on OECD activities relating to risk assessment, good laboratory practices and the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals, study templates, and information technology for data submissions
• initiate an exchange on conformity assessment procedures for the safety of electrical equipment
Lighthouse Projects. The two sides resolved to achieve progress within the next six to eight months on the following priority growth projects selected from the existing bilateral work program and other programs within the existing trans-Atlantic dialogue.
• Intellectual property rights – develop procedures for the exchange of information relating to goods suspected of infringing IPR, the exchange of customs officials and the organization of joint technical assistance and/or enforcement missions; seek progress in the harmonization of the different patent regimes
• Secure trade – develop common and accepted standards to maximize security, safety and facilitation of the international trade supply chain that could lead to mutual recognition of programs for economic operators; begin to exchange information on the validation results associated with the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism and Authorized Economic Operator programs in order to avoid duplication of controls and reduce business costs by avoiding divergent control requirements, as appropriate
• Financial markets – promote and seek to ensure that conditions for the U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and International Financial Reporting Standards will be recognized in both jurisdictions without the need for reconciliation by 2009 or possibly sooner
• Innovation and technology – conduct a high-level conference on innovation in health-related industries and a workshop on best practices in innovation policies; develop a joint framework for cooperation on identification and development of best practices for radio frequency identification technologies; develop a work plan to promote the interoperability of electronic health record systems; develop a science-based work plan for collaboration on innovative and eco-efficient bio-based products; sponsor joint workshops or conferences to foster the exchange of information on nanotechnology in areas of mutual interest
• Investment – establish a regular dialogue to address obstacles to investment
Work Program. Over the longer term, the two sides will promote trans-Atlantic economic integration in a number of other areas, including the following.
• IPR – cooperate on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the patent system at the global level; implement the EU-U.S. Action Strategy on IPR Enforcement by stepping up joint efforts in all areas, including strengthened customs cooperation
• Secure trade – establish a pilot project to study the similarities and differences in requirements for the two sides’ respective trade partnership programs, with the goal of developing a roadmap to facilitate mutual recognition of those operators that are authorized as secure on the basis of mutually acceptable security standards and requirements; strive to ensure that any mutually recognized trade partnership programs provide comparable benefits to the other party’s recognized operators
• Financial markets – take steps toward the convergence, equivalence or mutual recognition, where appropriate, of regulatory standards based on high quality principles, including in the areas of banking, auditor oversight, reinsurance and securities
• Investment – engage in regular discussions on laws, policies and practices that could impact investments in the U.S. and the EU; work to prevent, eliminate or reduce the impact from investment barriers, with special attention being given to small and medium-sized enterprises
