Implemented jointly by ICTSD and the World Economic Forum, the E15Initiative convenes world-class experts and institutions to generate strategic analysis and recommendations for government, business and civil society geared towards strengthening the global trade and investment system for sustainable development. The Task Force on Regulatory Systems Coherence is co-convened with the European University Institute (EUI) . Making domestic regulation more coherent and expanding cooperation between regulators has the promise of lowering the unnecessary costs of regulation for companies and consumers and thus translating into greater economic output for national economies. At a time when global economic growth has been slowing, policymakers are renewing their interest in reducing trade barriers from regulation. At the multilateral level, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has successfully completed the negotiation for the Agreement on Trade Facilitation and the new Information Technology Agreement. At the regional level, regulatory issues have been on the table in the negotiations for the Atlantic and Pacific trade agreements. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations were given greater impetus in June 2015 when the United States enacted new fast track trade negotiating authority. The E15 Task Force on Regulatory Systems Coherence is examining the problems posed by differences in regulation and regulatory...
Written by Steve Charnovitz