In an article published on the news provider Euractiv, Hubert Mandery, Director General of the European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC) argues that the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is an opportunity to make the EU and U.S. chemical management systems more efficient. Mandery states that the TTIP should address a regulatory divide which deepened in recent decades and has resulted in duplicate testing, “divergent conformity assessment procedures, different standards […] and differing approaches to chemicals management”. While regulatory cooperation has attracted suspicion from consumer and environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs), cooperation could maintain high standards while bringing regulation closer together, Mandery maintains. He points to suggestions proposed by CEFIC in cooperation with the American Chemical Council (ACC), CEFIC counterpart in the U.S.. Proposed areas for cooperation include information exchange on priority chemicals and harmonizing the classification and labeling of chemicals. Mandery concludes that the TTIP should not result in lowering the standards of safety, health and environmental protection but rather in an efficiency increase in chemical regulation and management, thereby benefiting authorities, companies and consumers alike. Environmental NGOs and Members of European Parliament (MEPs) previously expressed concerns that mutual recognition of EU and U.S. chemical regulation would erode the EU’s chemical safety regulatory framework. On March 17, 2014 the EU chief negotiator of the TTIP Garcia Bercero assured the European Parliament that the EU is not to recognize U.S. chemical regulation (previously reported on by the FPF).
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Hubert Mandery (March 31, 2014). “TTIP: A remarkable opportunity.” Euractiv.
FPF article “Opinion: No more secrets over trade talks”
FPF article “EU will not concede to US chemical laws”
