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‘Regulating Nanotechnologies in the EU and US’ - final project report published

Published: Thursday 10 September 2009

The collaborative research project entitled ‘Regulating Nanotechnologies in the EU and US ‘  (i.e. a project involving researchers from Chatham House, the London School of Economics, the Environmental Law Institute and the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars) has launched its final report: entitled ‘Securing the Promise of Nanotechnologies Towards Transatlantic Regulatory Cooperation’.

The report aims to address the question ‘What should the EU and US do to promote more effective and convergent regulation of nanomaterials?’

The project team found the following answers to the question:

  • Creation of scientific building blocks: Nearly all experts [consulted by the project team] agreed on the need to establish a firm scientific basis for risk assessment. Many of the scientific building blocks, with regard to definition and characterization of nanomaterials, metrology and testing methods, are as yet missing or have not been internationally standardized. […]The OECD enjoys broad legitimacy in promoting coordination on the building blocks for risk assessment, and is a central institution in the context of transatlantic regulatory convergence. At the same time, more political energy and resources need to be invested in the OECD process and greater transparency and inclusiveness should be achieved in its work.
  • Closing knowledge gaps: […] as a matter of priority, governments on both sides of the Atlantic need significantly to increase funding for research into EHS risks of nanomaterials. […] Given the persistence of these knowledge gaps, governments on both sides of the Atlantic should strengthen existing mandatory reporting requirements and, where necessary, create new ones, with a view to gaining a comprehensive overview of the commercial use of nanomaterials. […]
  • Risk management and consumer labelling: […] One important but controversial element of risk management is consumer labelling. So far, neither the US nor the EU has introduced legally binding consumer labelling requirements that specifically target nanomaterials, but moves are under way, particularly in the EU, to introduce such technology-specific labelling systems and some limited labelling requirements already exist, e.g. in food regulation. […] In the light of the contentious nature of labelling, in terms of its general necessity and specific form of implementation, we conclude there is no overwhelming case for arguing that the US and EU should prioritize international efforts to create new, mandatory, labelling requirements or harmonize existing ones at this time. US and EU authorities should explore the implications of potentially diverging consumer labelling requirements for nanomaterials, particularly in the context of international trade obligations. […]
  • Addressing global dimensions: […] [The] research suggests little if any interest in pursuing the more ambitious objective of creating an international treaty on nanomaterials regulation. […] In view of the ongoing and accelerating globalization of nanotechnologies, the EU and the US should perceive the global governance challenges arising from nanomaterials in broader terms. The OECD serves an important function as a forum for coordination among leading industrialized countries, but its work should be complemented by the development of international governance capacity in other areas, and there should be greater inclusion of developing countries. […]

The report concludes that ‘[t]he notion of regulatory convergence is much discussed and often misunderstood. One of the central tasks for this project was to address the effectiveness of existing regulatory approaches with a view to identifying the potential for transatlantic regulatory convergence. […] the project team distinguished between the following mechanisms of convergence:

  • policy diffusion: an informal process of communication and policy learning between regulators;
  • international coordination and cooperation: a formal or informal process of developing congruent approaches without a large-scale adjustment of domestic laws and regulation; and
  • treaty-based harmonization: formal negotiation of an international agreement on common rules and
  • standards for domestic regulation.’

Follow these links to find out more about the collaborative project, to download the project briefing paper, or to download the final report.

 
Related Links:
In the course of a conference of consumer groups, policy makers and international experts, held on the 10th June 2009 in Brussels under the title Regulating Nanotechnology in Food and Consumer Products:  Developing A Consumer-focused Transatlantic Approach, the Transatlantic Atlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD), a forum of US and EU consumer organizations, has published a ‘Resolution on Consumer Products Containing Nanoparticles’. (15th June 2009)
 
‘Industry has been upfront about its use of promising new technologies and that companies go to great lengths to ensure products are safe’, confirms Steffi Friedrichs, director of the Nanotechnology Industries Association, at a Trans Atlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) event, held in Brussels on the 10th June 2009. (15th June 2009)
 
The September Newsletter of the European Commission Scientific Committees reports the launch of a Transatlantic Dialogue on Risk Assessment; the launch was initiated through first discussions at a meeting in Washington in July, convened in Washington by the Executive Office of the US President, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), and attended by representatives of the Commission, the Commission Scientific Committees and other EU risk assessment bodies. (1st September 2008)