Quote:
Originally Posted by Fiorenza
In general the US doesn't have too much leverage or will anymore to enforce anything...especially when the competitive interests of foreign states are involved. That's the best I can do to answer your question. Individuals and companies will go where they can seek the most advantage. That's globalism.
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While the sentiment articulated by Fiorenza is the dominant U.S. thought and proposition, it is not in actual practice true... if implemented properly. The E.U. has a strict and consumer-focused anti-trust policy, and they have stopped two Fortune 500 U.S. firms from merging on two occasions by maintaining that the combination would violate E.U. laws and thus disqualify the new firm from operating or selling in the E.U.
The E.U. is a highly regulated market where businesses are mandated to include social benefit and cost in cost-benefit analysis and required to have stake-holder representation on the Boards of large corporations. Yet, the E.U. is still home to some of the most advanced and largest firms in the world. They are a market of more than 500 million people with a GDP larger than the United States. The E.U. has leveraged these facts in a manner where corporations and business make profits while protecting citizens and consumers without driving off their companies.
Here's an article from todays Washington Post which delineates the extreme power E.U. regulation can have on U.S. firms and positively alter their course of direction and practice. So... we are now reduced in the U.S. to relying upon the Europeans to ensure our safety because faulty ideology blinds us to other options to improve quality of life, business, and overall society.
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Chemical Law Has Global Impact
E.U.'s New Rules Forcing Changes By U.S. Firms
Washington Post-Thursday, June 12, 2008; A01
Europe this month rolled out new restrictions on makers of chemicals linked to cancer and other health problems, changes that are forcing U.S. industries to find new ways to produce a wide range of everyday products.
The new laws in the European Union require companies to demonstrate that a chemical is safe before it enters commerce -- the opposite of policies in the United States, where regulators must prove that a chemical is harmful before it can be restricted or removed from the market. Manufacturers say that complying with the European laws will add billions to their costs, possibly driving up prices of some products.
The changes come at a time when consumers are increasingly worried about the long-term consequences of chemical exposure and are agitating for more aggressive regulation. Adamantly opposed by the U.S. chemical industry and the Bush administration,
American manufacturers are already searching for safer alternatives to chemicals used to make thousands of consumer goods, from bike helmets to shower curtains.
The European Union's tough stance on chemical regulation is the
latest area in which the Europeans are reshaping business practices with demands that American companies either comply or lose access to a market of 27 countries and nearly 500 million people.
From its
crackdown on antitrust practices in the computer industry to its
rigorous protection of consumer privacy, the European Union has adopted a regulatory philosophy that emphasizes the consumer.
"There's a strong sense in Europe and the world at large that America is letting the market have a free ride," said Sheila Jasanoff, professor of science and technology studies at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
"The Europeans believe . . . that being a good global citizen in an era of sustainability means you don't just charge ahead and destroy the planet without concern for what you're doing."
Under the E.U. laws, manufacturers must study and report the risks posed by specific chemicals. Through the Internet, the data will be available for the first time to consumers, regulators and potential litigants around the world. Until now, much of that information either did not exist or was closely held by companies. In the United States, laws in place for three decades have made banning or restricting chemicals extremely difficult. Instead, companies were asked to report toxicity information to the government, which would decide if additional tests were needed.
The E.U. standards will force many manufacturers to reformulate their products for sale there as well as in the United States. "We're not looking at this as a European program -- we're buying and selling all over the globe," said Linda Fisher, vice president and chief sustainability officer for DuPont and a former EPA deputy administrator.
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