On April 28, 2015, Chemical Watch published a news release reporting on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations between the U.S. and the EU. At a press conference at the end of the ninth round of negotiations, EU chief negotiator Ignacio Garcia Bercero said that there is no intention of excluding the chemical sector from the TTIP negotiations. He stated that that the objective is to identify practical steps for regulatory cooperation by sharing data, comparing risk assessment procedures and looking into technical issues in a way that does not undermine the implementation of either regime. U.S. chief negotiator Dan Mullaney said that the overall goal of the regulatory coherence and transparency agenda is to avoid unnecessary divergence between future regulations in the U.S. and EU. The progress in giving the U.S. President trade promotion authority (TPA) is an important step in the TTIP process, Mullaney added. Industry groups such as the American Chemistry Council (ACC) and the Society of Chemical Manufacturers and Affiliates (Socma) approve legislation of TPA as it would help increase U.S. chemicals exports and remove costly trade barriers. However, non-governmental organizations such as the Center for International Environmental Law (Ciel) oppose it and claim that trade agreements like TTIP serve industry interests rather than the needs of the American people.
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Chemical Watch (April 28, 2015). “EU negotiator rules out exclusion of chemicals from TTIP.”
