Regulatory cooperation is the ultimate tool to prevent or weaken future public interest standards. Civil society organisations denounce it as a danger to democracy and an attempt to put the interests of big business before the protection of citizens, workers and the environment.
Video on regulatory cooperation in the TTIP negotiations, a joint project of SumOfUs, Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), LobbyControl, Seattle to Brussels Network and Campact.
February 2015 – Statement by civil society organisations on regulatory cooperation in TTIP
We, the undersigned organisations, hereby express our deep concern about and our firm opposition to the direction of the TTIP negotiations regarding the regulation of vital areas, such as chemicals, food standards, public services, occupational health and safety, and financial regulation.
EU negotiators have claimed on a number of occasions that TTIP is not a threat to the laws and standards that protect us and the environment. (1)
But the latest leaked European Commission position on the regulatory cooperation chapter of the TTIP negotiations (2) has further heightened our concerns. The Commission proposes a system that can only result in further barriers to developing public interest standards as these would need to be ‘trade and investment’ proof. It also gives unprecedented influence to business lobby groups to stop any new regulation that would impact on trade and investment. The proposal strongly prioritises trade and investment over the public interest. The system would give enormous power to a small group of unelected officials to stop and weaken regulations and standards even before democratically elected bodies, such as parliaments, would have a say over them, thus undermining our democratic system.
The Commission calls for more «compatibility» between laws on both sides of the Atlantic and a “pro-competitive regulatory environment”. Compatibility is going to lead to «downward harmonisation» (3), as demonstrated by a July 2014 report for the European Parliament.
The Commission text suggests that any new law would need to be justified by new facts or scientific evidence if requested by a company or government. The Commission proposal also reflects industry’s demand to create a Regulatory Cooperation Body to facilitate an early information system of consultations and influence over the development of new laws.
Furthermore, according to the Commission proposal, US and EU businesses would have a greater say on most laws in Brussels, in EU capitals, in Washington and in US states. The Commission seems to have largely conceded to the demand of business lobby groups to essentially co-write legislation (4).
The Commission proposals for regulatory cooperation carry the threat of lowering standards in the long and short term, on both sides of the Atlantic, at the state and member state/European levels. They constrain democratic decision-making by strengthening the influence of big business over regulation.
For instance, a January 2015 report by CIEL shows that regulatory cooperation is likely to further delay and even stall stronger protections from toxic chemicals and pesticides. (5)
Regulatory cooperation could also constitute a gradual attack on the precautionary principle, slowly but widely opening doors to GMOs, nanomaterials and endocrine disruptors (6).
For these reasons, we urge the negotiators to remove regulatory cooperation from the TTIP negotiations.
Signed by
ACEP – Associação para a Cooperação Entre os Povos (Portugal)
Action for Breast Cancer Foundation (Malta)
ActionAid
Afri (Action from Ireland)
Afrika Kontakt (Denmark)
AITEC (France)
Alliance D19 D20 (Belgium)
Alliance for Cancer Prevention (UK)
Alternatiba Eraikitzen
Arbeitsgemeinschaft bäuerliche Landwirtschaft (AbL)
ATTAC Austria
ATTAC Bizkaia (Basque Country)
ATTAC Denmark
ATTAC France
ATTAC Germany
ATTAC HELLAS
ATTAC Hungary
ATTAC Ireland
ATTAC Portugal
ATTAC Spain
Biofuelwatch, UK/US
Both ENDS
Campaign for Real Farming (UK)
The Cancer Prevention & Education Society (UK)
Center for Encounter and active Non-Violence (Austria)
Center for Sustainable Development of the Mountain (Bulgaria)
CIEL
CIG – Confederación Intersindical Galega
Collectif anti-gaz de schiste de Clapiers (France)
Collectif citoyen IDF Non aux pétroles et gaz de schiste et de couche (France)
Collectif d’action contre l’accord général pour le commerce des services (Loupian-Bouzigues, France)
Confederacion Intersindical (Spain)
Corporate Europe Observatory (EU)
Danish Eco Council
Earth Open Source (UK)
Ecologistas en Acción (Spain)
Ecoforum for Sustainable Development Association (Bulgaria)
EcoNexus (UK)
Economistas sin Fronteras (Spain)
ECOS (EU)
ELA (Basque Country)
ENSEMBLE! (France)
Entrepueblos/Entrepobles/Entrepobos/Herriarte (Spain)
Environmental Association Za Zemiata, Friends of the Earth Bulgaria
Esperanto Radikala Asocio Onlus (Italy)
EUrope NEWnited Serviceteam (EU)
European Federation of Building and Wood Workers (EFBWW)
European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU)
European Information-Human Rights Center (EIHRC)
European Transport Workers’ Federation
Fair Trade Hellas (Greece)
Fairwatch (Italy)
Food & Water Europe
foodwatch
Foundation for Environment and Agriculture (FEA) (Bulgaria)
Fracking Free Ireland
France Amérique Latine (FAL)
France Nature Environnement
Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland
Friends of the Earth Europe
Friends of the Earth France
Fundacja Strefa Zieleni (Green Zone Foundation), Poland
Future for Borino (Bulgaria)
The Gaia Foundation (UK)
GAIA – Grupo de Acção e Intervenção Ambiental (Portugal)
Gen-ethisches Netzwerk e.V. (GeN)
Global Justice Now (UK)
GMWatch (UK)
GRAIN
HEAL (EU)
Highlands and islands against fracking (UK)
IBD Initiative Bürger für Demokratie (Germany)
Iuridicum Remedium (IuRe) (Czech Republic)
Keep Ireland Fracking Free
Lithuanian Seamen’s Union
LobbyControl (Germany)
Magyar Természetvédők Szövetsége (MTVSZ / Friends of the Earth Hungary)
May Day (Denmark)
Mehr demokratie! Österreich
Mujeres de Negro contra la guerra (Spain)
Munich Environment Institute (Umweltinstitut München e.V.)
NABU e.V. (Germany)
National Justice & Peace Network (UK)
Not For Shale Ireland
Observatory on Debt in Globalisation (Debtwatch), Spanish state, Catalonia
ÖBV-Via Campesina Austria
Oikos – Cooperação e Desenvolvimento (Portugal)
PAN Europe
Plataforma Não ao Tratado Transatlântico (Portugal)
PowerShift e.V (Germany)
Pro Ethical Trade Finland
The Puntarji – movement for active citizenship (Slovenia)
Réseau Environnement Santé (France)
Seeds Action Network – SAN Germany
SIndikat žerjavistov p.d. – Luka Koper (Slovenia)
Social Europe Malta – Front Against TTIP
Solidarity and Cooperation CIPSI (Italy)
Solidary Bulgaria
Stichting Schaliegasvrij Nederland, (Shale-gas free Netherlands)
StopTTIP UK
SumOfUs
Sussex Against TTIP
Terra Nuova (Italy)
Transform! Europe
Transnational Institute (Netherlands)
UK National Hazards Campaign
UNI Europa
Union syndicale Solidaires (France)
USO (Spain)
VHUE e.V. (Germany)
War on Want (UK)
WECF Germany
WECF France
WECF The Netherlands
WEED – World Economy, Ecology & Development (Germany)
Werkstatt Ökonomie, Heidelberg (Germany)
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom Netherlands (WILPF NL)
Xnet, Spain
ŽALI.LT (Lithuania)
Notes
(1) http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/press/index.cfm?id=1219
(2) http://corporateeurope.org/international-trade/2014/12/ttip-covert-attacks-democracy-and-regulation
(3) http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2014/514007/AGRI_IPOL_STU%282014%29514007_EN.pdf
(4) http://corporateeurope.org/sites/default/files/businesseurope-uschamber-paper.pdf
(5) http://ciel.org/Publications/LCD_TTIP_Jan2015.pdf
(6) https://www.agra-net.net/agra/agra-europe/crops/ttip-must-prioritise-regulatory-co-operation-on-gmos—coceral–1.htm
http://www.merid.org/en/Content/News_Services/Nanotechnology_and_Development_News/Articles/2013/Jun/25/canada_and_us.aspx
http://www.croplifeamerica.org/sites/default/files/ECPA-CLA%20TTIP%20Position%20-%20Paper%2010-03-14.pdf
http://www.europeanpublicaffairs.eu/is-democracy-a-trade-barrier/