On February 4, 2015, the Brussels-based research and campaign group Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) published a statement signed by 169 civil society organizations on regulatory cooperation in Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The organizations are concerned about and oppose to the direction of the TTIP negotiations regarding the regulation of several important areas including chemicals and food standards. Amongst other arguments, the organizations stress that the European Commission (EC) proposes a system that prioritizes trade and investment over the public interest. The statement emphasizes that the EC proposals for regulatory cooperation constrain democratic decision-making by strengthening the influence of big business over regulation. In January 2015 a report by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) showed that regulatory cooperation is indeed likely to delay protections from toxic chemicals in the U.S. and EU. Moreover, regulatory cooperation could also constitute a steady attack on the precautionary principle opening doors to genetically modified organisms (GMOs), nanomaterials and endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). Therefore, the statement urges the negotiators to remove regulatory cooperation from the TTIP negotiations.

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CEO (February 4, 2015). “Statement by 166 civil society organisations on regulatory cooperation in EU-US trade talks.

CIEL (January 7, 2015). “Lowest common denominator. How the proposed EU-US trade deal threatens to lower standards of protection from toxic pesticides.(pdf)

 

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