Chamber Assesses U.S.-EU Talks

Calls for Concrete Action Next Year

WASHINGTON, D.C.-The U.S. Chamber of Commerce today, along with its European partner BUSINESSEUROPE, released a report on its assessment of the recent Transatlantic Economic Council (TEC) meeting. TEC was created at the last U.S.-EU Summit to resolve barriers in the transatlantic marketplace and to prevent impediments in the economic relationship due to divergent regulations.

"TEC has made a lot of promises, but will they be kept?" asked Stan Anderson, chair of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Global Regulatory Cooperation Project. "If TEC is to succeed, it needs to show results to deliver on its promises."

The Chamber and BUSINESSEUROPE have estimated that the commercial impediments in the transatlantic economic relationship cause an unnecessary 1.5% to 3% drag on the U.S. and European economies. The joint report on the TEC process highlights the following:

• The need for greater private sector input in TEC's agenda.
• The importance of transparency in TEC's work.
• The need for TEC to release documents that serve as road maps to the regulatory cooperation work under way.
• A requirement to institutionalize the TEC process so that it outlives this administration and the next EU Commission.
• A call for broad support from agencies across both governments to support TEC's mission.

"Without transatlantic regulatory cooperation, we will continue to see market distortions," Anderson added. "We need to get ahead of regulators who continue to create new barriers on both sides of the Atlantic faster."

The Chamber launched the Global Regulatory Cooperation Project last summer to spur global regulatory cooperation with key officials from across the U.S. government.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world's largest business federation representing more than 3 million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region.

For a copy of the report please visit www.uschamber.com/grc.

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