Fom: Office of Management and Budget

Posted by Boris Bershteyn

Today the Administration is publishing a joint U.S. and EU request for public input on how to promote greater transatlantic regulatory compatibility.  By eliminating unnecessary burdens to trade, we can promote economic growth and job creation here in the United States, while ensuring the protection of health, safety, welfare, and the environment.

As has been noted by our EU colleagues, the American and EU economies together account for about half the world GDP and for nearly a third of world trade flows.  As Co-Chair of the U.S.–EU High Level Regulatory Cooperation Forum and a contributor to the Transatlantic Economic Council, OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) is working to enhance regulatory cooperation with the EU.  Today’s joint letter seeks specific ideas from the public about how we should prioritize our cooperation efforts. Through this open letter, we hope to receive detailed input on differences between existing regulation in the United States and Europe that may impose unnecessary costs and burdens on American businesses, and on priority areas where we should cooperate on future regulations affecting new and innovative growth markets and technologies, particularly for small and medium sized businesses. The United States and Europe have a long history of cooperation, and we believe there is no better time than the present to refocus our efforts on reducing red tape in transatlantic trade.  We look forward to hearing from the American people, including our nation’s small and medium sized business owners, as we work to identify both systemic and sectoral challenges that we should tackle in partnership with our European colleagues.

Send us your ideas at international-oira@omb.eop.gov.  Comments sent to OIRA will be made public on Regulations.gov.

See also http://trade.ec.europa.eu/consultations/?consul_id=170.