Regulations and enforcement decisions that at
first appear to have only a domestic impact can have substantial spillover effects on
other nations' economies. Experience has shown time and again that there is no reason to
expect that these effects are confined to jurisdictions at the same level of development.
Governments on both sides of the Atlantic recognize this, yet their responses in many
policy areas are not aligned - sometimes deliberately so. This creates a complex
regulatory landscape that appears to be the product of both cooperation and competition,
and which can only be fully understood by looking through a number of disciplinary lenses.
Drawing on some of the best legal, economic and
political science expertise from both sides of the Atlantic, as well as on the knowledge
of officials and private practitioners with experience in both industrialized and
developing countries, this timely book assesses the systemic, global implications of
transatlantic regulatory cooperation and competition. Insights from thematic papers are
integrated with those from sector-specific analyses, and a rich set of implications for
policymakers, business and civil society is offered.
Table of Contents
Preface xiii
Chapter 1 Condemned to Cooperate? 1
1 Introduction 1
2 Economic Interdependence, Transatlantic Cooperation, and Multilateralism 3
2.1 From economic interdependence to the Merkel Initiative 3
2.2 Economic interdependence and the case for transatlantic cooperation 8
2.3 The impact of transatlantic initiatives on the multilateral trading system, and vice
versa 11
2.4 Transatlantic cooperation and cosmopolitan regulation 15
3 Contributions to this Volume 17
4 Concluding Remarks 19
References 21
Chapter 2 The Banking Crisis: Causes, Consequences and Remedies 23
1 The Basics of Banking 23
2 The Efficient Market Paradigm 25
3 Are Financial Markets Efficient? 27
3.1 Bubbles and crashes are endemic in financial markets 27
3.2 The mirage of self-regulation of financial markets 33
4 Unintended Consequences of Regulation 35
5 On Causes and Triggers 39
6 The Reaction of the Authorities 40
7 Short-term Solutions 41
8 Long-term Solutions: A Return to Narrow Banking 42
9 Conclusion 45
References 46
Chapter 3 The Political Economy of Transatlantic Regulatory Cooperation and
Competition: A (Unofficial) View from Europe 47
1 Introduction 47
2 The New Transatlantic Economic Partnership: Hype or Hope? 49
3 New EU and a New World 52
4 Prospects for the New Transatlantic Agenda 55
5 Conclusion 60
References 61
Chapter 4 How Hard and Soft Law Interact in International Regulatory Governance:
Alternatives, Complements and Antagonists 63
1 Introduction 63
2 The Canonical Literature on International Hard and Soft Law: Their Attributes as
Alternatives and their Interaction as Complements 67
2.1 Definitions of hard and soft law 68
2.2 Advantages and disadvantages of hard and soft law as alternatives 72
2.3 Hard and soft law interaction as complements 78
3 Theorizing International Hard and Soft Law Interaction: Power, Distributive Conflict and
Regime Complexes 82
3.1 The EU, the US, and power in international regulatory governance 83
3.2 The challenge of distributive conflict 87
3.3 The challenge of fragmented regime conflicts 93
4 Hard and Soft Law Interaction as Antagonists 96
5 Hypotheses as to the Interaction of Hard and Soft Law Instruments 111
6 Conclusions 120
References 122
Chapter 5 EU-US Regulatory Cooperation and Developing Country Trade 131
1 Trade Policies 134
2 Market Access 139
3 Non-tariff Measures 141
3.1 Other sources of trade costs 143
3.2 Services policies 147
4 Reducing Regulatory Differences and Associated Cost Differentials 151
4.1 Trade costs vs. border barriers: Gravity simulations 156
4.2 Services 157
5 Policy Implications 158
6 Concluding Remarks 161
References 161
Chapter 6 Transatlantic Trade, the Automotive Sector: The Role of Regulation in a
Global Industry, Where We Have Been and Where We Need to go, How Far Can EU-US Cooperation
go Toward Achieving Regulatory Harmonization? 165
1 Globalization 166
2 Regulating a Global Industry 167
3 Example of Disparity - Surrogates for Humans in Crash Testing 171
4 Comparison of US and EU Safety Regulations 174
5 US-EU Market Competition and Manufacturer Cooperation 175
6 EU-US Cooperation - The Transatlantic Business Dialogue 176
6.1 Transatlantic automotive industry conference on international regulatory harmonization
177
7 International Harmonized Research Activities 177
7.1 Industry petitions for functional equivalence determinations 180
8 1998 Agreement Administered by WP.29 181
8.1 1998 Agreement accomplishments and lessons learned 183
9 Discussion of Several GTR Efforts, Successes and Unsuccessful Outcomes to Date 184
9.1 Lighting installation GTR 184
9.2 Controls and displays GTR 185
9.3 Pedestrian protection GTR 186
9.4 Electronic stability control (ESC) GTR 187
10 Summary of Global Technical Regulation Experience 188
11 An Additional Initiative: A Competitive Automotive Regulatory System for the 21st
Century 190
12 Conclusion and Recommendations to Help Achieve Vision for the Future 192
Chapter 7 Systemic Implications of Deeper Transatlantic Convergence in
Competition/Antitrust Policy 197
1 Introduction 198
2 The Differing Historical Origins and Orientations of Competition Policy in the US and
the EU, and the Process of Convergence Thus Far 202
2.1 The United States 203
2.2 The European Union 207
2.3 Recent indications of convergence: The adoption of more economics-based approaches in
the EU 210
2.4 Possible Indications of Further Convergence: Antitrust Policy in the Obama
Administration 214
3 The Need for Cooperation in Principle, and the Cooperation Arrangements that Have Been
Implemented Thus Far in the Transatlantic Context 216
3.1 Rationales for cooperation in the competition policy field 216
3.2 Existing transatlantic cooperation arrangements 220
3.2.1 The 1991 US-EU Competition Cooperation Agreement 220
3.2.2 The 1998 US-EU Positive Comity Agreement 221
3.2.3 The Administrative Arrangement on Attendance (AAA) 221
3.2.4 The set of best practices on cooperation in merger cases 222
3.3 Use and effectiveness of the above arrangements 222
4 Are Current/Future Policy Conflicts Manageable Through Voluntary Cooperation/Convergence
Alone? and What About the World Beyond the Transatlantic Zone? 224
4.1 Examples of US-EU policy clashes to date 225
4.1.1 The Boeing/McDonnel Douglas merger 225
4.1.2 The GE/Honeywell merger 226
4.1.3 The Microsoft cases 228
4.2 The broader global context 230
4.3 Summary observations 232
5 Concluding Remarks 234
References 235
Chapter 8 Transatlantic Regulatory Cooperation on Chemicals - An Idealist's Dream?
241
1 Introduction 241
1.1 Some figures concerning transatlantic trade and investment in chemicals 243
2 The Chemical Industry's Input to Regulatory Cooperation: The Race against REACH within a
Declining and Re-emerging TABD 248
2.1 Industry's input to TABD 249
2.2 Governments' Responses to the New TABD 262
2.3 New Industry Initiatives Towards Harmonization 264
3 Regulatory cooperation on chemicals in the context of the Transatlantic Economic Council
265
3.1 The Transatlantic Summit of 2007 and the Transatlantic Economic Council: The
re-emergence of a political will to co-operate 265
3.2 REACH and cosmetics: A new transatlantic trade war? 269
3.2.1 Registration of existing substances 270
3.2.2 REACH and animal tests 271
3.3 The Globally Harmonized System - Harmonization of classification and labeling of
chemicals? 276
3.4 Cooperation on chemicals within the OECD 279
4 Conclusions: How to Achieve a Barrier Free Transatlantic Market 281
Chapter 9 Transatlantic Regulatory Cooperation on Accounting Standards: A
'Varieties of Capitalism' Perspective 287
1 The Puzzle: Successful Transatlantic Regulatory Cooperation on Accounting Standards 287
2 Convergence in Substantial Terms: A Variety of Capitalism Perspective on Accounting
Standards 290
3 Convergence in Institutional Terms: From National Representation to the Rule of Experts
296
4 The Politics of Transatlantic Convergence on a US Regulatory Model 297
5 The Broader Picture: Towards Global Convergence on the Liberal Regulatory Model? 303
6 Conclusion 308
References 308
Chapter 10 Transatlantic Regulatory Competition and Cooperation in Pharmaceuticals
313
1 Introduction 313
2 Regulatory Differences in the United States and European Union 315
2.1 Snapshot of the US and EU industries 315
2.2 Competitive structure and challenges 316
2.3 Comparative regulatory systems 318
2.3.1 Drug approvals 319
2.3.2 Pricing regulations 321
2.3.3 Intellectual property rights (IPRs) 323
3 Evolution of Regulatory Cooperation 325
3.1 Bilateral regulatory cooperation 325
3.2 Trilateral cooperation: The ICH 327
3.3 Intra-EU coordination 330
3.4 Cooperation in intellectual property rights 334
4 A Concluding Assessment 336
References 337
400 pages, Hardcover
