EU regulation and transatlantic trade

Book abstract:

This work examines four environmental and consumer protection issues in which the EU adopted more stringent process or production standards than the US and Canada, which potentially affected exports from those two countries. The author shows that in effect the EU was exporting its own more stringent standards to these trading partners, and goes on to explore to what extent that led to a raising of the regulatory standards in US and Canada - a process which has been given the name 'California effect'.

The work is organised over seven chapters. After explaining the methodology and theoretical framework in chapter two the following four chapters each deal with one issue. Chapter three addresses the European leghold trap regulation. The European ban on the use of growth-hormones in meat production is examined in chapter four. Genetically modified foods and food products are dealt with in chapter five, and chapter six deals with the European data protection directive. Each chapter concludes with a view as to whether or not a 'California effect' has taken place. A systematic comparison of all the cases and a number of general conclusions are drawn out in the final chapter.

The work will interest lawyers, policy makers, and scholars in the field of international trade and regulatory practices.