Policy Agenda

Issues at the top of our agenda include:

Regulatory Compatibility:  We advocate the negotiation of an ambitious and forward-looking transatlantic agreement between the U.S. and the EU to remove trade and investment barriers and promote regulatory compatibility.

Consumer and Environmental Protection Laws:  We fight to improve the transatlantic legal environment to eliminate sources of legal uncertainties, discourage the rise of litigious mentalities and class action proposals and reform faulty and costly legal systems.  We are particularly concerned with the renewed interest in several European countries to import U.S.-style class action lawsuits creating a transatlantic market for tort actions, costly litigation and trial lawyers.  Consumer Protection (PDF)

Competition and Innovation:  We support a competitive transatlantic business environment; one that provides the best possible incentive for business efficiency, innovation and consumer choice.  Today's knowledge-based economy calls for a reexamination of U.S.-EU competition and anti-trust policies with more coherent U.S.-EU collaboration on policy formulation and enforcement.

Energy Efficiency:  Europe's dependency on gas from Russia and oil from the unstable Middle East, coupled with soaring oil prices, has underscored the importance of secure, competitive and sustainable energy supplies for Europe.  Efforts to manage and reduce the risks are being stepped up, particularly through stronger policies promoting energy efficiency and renewable sources which could have far-reaching consequences on several industries.  Energy (PDF)

Data Privacy:  The EU believes that real protection of privacy will only happen with a clear, enforceable legal framework guaranteeing the individual's right to privacy and regulating the measures to achieve it.  We underscore the importance of U.S. and EU coordination in the development of privacy laws in order to minimize the potential proliferation of incompatible privacy regimes around the world.  Privacy (PDF)