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TABD-BRT-ERT Public Comments on US/EU Regulatory Cooperation Issues

Joint Statements by Business Roundtable, the TransAtlantic Business Dialogue and the European Round Table of Industrialists
Re: USTR-2012-0028 - EU and U.S. call for input on regulatory issues for possible future trade agreement 
 
The Business Roundtable (BRT), the TransAtlantic Business Dialogue (TABD,) and the European Round Table of Industrialists (ERT) are submitting the following comments jointly in response to USTR’s request for comments in the above referenced matter. Our organizations represent chief executive officers and chairmen of leading U.S. and European companies. We are pleased that the U.S. Government and the European Commission (EC) have together agreed to seek public comments and encouraged associations to submit views jointly with their counterparts across the Atlantic, hence this joint submission. 
 
In April, our three organizations issued the attached joint statement in strong support of the new High Level Working Group on Jobs and Growth (HLWG). In Forging a Transatlantic Partnership for the 21st Century, we recommended that the HLWG’s objectives “should be ambitious in eliminating trade, investment and regulatory barriers and distortions in promoting regulatory coherence and should result in commercially relevant new-generation accords” in order to promote economic growth and job creation in the United States and Europe. A June 2005 report issued by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) estimated that economic reforms in both the United States and the European Union (EU) related to the relaxation of regulations, tariffs, and restrictions on foreign direct investment could increase GDP per capita by up to 2.5 percent in the United States and up to 3 percent in Europe. USTR’s request for comments is especially timely and important because regulatory barriers are recognized as the most significant impediment to greater trade and investment between the United States and the EU.
 
In Forging a Transatlantic Partnership for the 21st Century, our three groups recognized that enhanced regulatory cooperation between the United States and the EU is central to strengthening and deepening our vibrant economic relationship. Promoting this goal will: (1) help U.S. and European businesses grow and create new jobs by eliminating unjustified regulatory differences and unnecessary red tape; (2) enhance the global competitiveness of our businesses by increasing productivity; (3) help our governments achieve regulatory objectives in a more effective and efficient manner; and (4) strengthen the ability of our governments to confront the disturbing rise of discriminatory standards in other countries. 

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