Davor Jancic on the Roles of the US and EU Legislatures in Shaping Transatlantic Interactions

Network member Davor Jancic (T.M.C. Asser Institute) has recently published two articles on transatlantic relations, TTIP, regulatory cooperation, extraterritoriality, and the roles of the European Parliament and the US Congress.  The first article is published in the Cambridge Yearbook of European Legal Studies, entitled “Transatlantic Regulatory Interdependence, Law and Governance: The Evolving Roles of the EU and US Legislatures” and freely accessible until February 2016. The second has just been released in Early View with the Journal of Common Market Studies, entitled “The Role of the European Parliament and the US Congress in Shaping Transatlantic Relations: TTIP, NSA Surveillance and CIA Renditions.” 

Full texts can be found at the links above; abstracts are below.

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Abstract: Transatlantic Regulatory Interdependence, Law and Governance: The Evolving Roles of the EU and US Legislatures

This article analyses the roles of the European Parliament and the US Congress in addressing regulatory interdependencies arising in the EU–US strategic partnership. It examines their international actorness as a potential remedy for the problems of democratic participation, executive dominance, and opaqueness in the shaping of transatlantic relations. It shows that legislatures significantly contribute to regulatory discrepancies and trade disputes and that the adverse consequences thereof justify more intensive ex ante cooperation between them. The analysis conducts two groups of case studies to demonstrate how the EP and Congress influence law and policy in areas of transatlantic regulatory and foreign policy divergence. The first group of case studies analyses parliamentary involvement in the making of international agreements (TTIP and ACTA). The second group of case studies inspects legislative action with extraterritorial effects (US Helms–Burton and Sarbanes–Oxley Acts). The article argues that the EP and Congress have so far frequently acted against the spirit of the strategic partnership in ways that are injurious to the interests of the other side, and discusses whether an interparliamentary early warning mechanism could reduce legislative and political frictions and increase the coherence of transatlantic lawmaking.


Abstract: The Role of the European Parliament and the US Congress in Shaping Transatlantic Relations: TTIP, NSA Surveillance and CIA Renditions

This article analyses the manner in which the parliaments of the EU and the US – two key global strategic partners – participate in the shaping of transatlantic relations. The article argues that the European Parliament (EP) and Congress aim not only to influence their executive branches but also to act autonomously in the transnational arena through parliamentary diplomacy. They seek to secure concessions both formally by scrutinizing transatlantic international agreements, such as TTIP, as well as informally by exposing injustices and diplomatic misconduct through human rights advocacy and institutional pressure, such as in the cases of the NSA surveillance and CIA renditions. The article demonstrates that the EP and Congress have created capacities for internal scrutiny and transnational interparliamentary dialogue and that they utilize their consent powers to make claims, condition transatlantic negotiations and gain greater presence, visibility and influence in international affairs.

EU Reform and Trans-Atlantic Cooperation in Data Protection (Richard Peltz-Steele, UMass)

In this post, network member Richard Peltz-Steele (UMass) reviews the state of EU data protection reform, US-EU cooperation on compliance and enforcement, and the prospects of a successful compromise in a time of legislative gridlock, government surveillance, and public controversy.  

Reflecting on discussions last month in Madrid in which he took a role, he argues that—despite continued European skepticism and the difficulties of reconciling regulatory ideals with commercial realities—solid grounds for optimism remain.

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For the last couple of years, the EU has been in the throes of birthing a General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).  The GPDR will replace the existing 1995 Data Protection Directive (DPD), which is showing its age in the struggle to confront problems of global electronic communication.  The impending changes were the subject of a program of the Union Internationale des Avocats (UIA) in Madrid April 17 and 18, in which I participated.  In light of those discussions, it seems a good moment to review the expected changes and their implications for the complex relationship between the United States and European Union in matters of data protection.

I.          From DPD to GDPR – A New Regime for Data Protection

Under EU law, the transition from a directive (the DPD) to a regulation (the GDPR) is a significant change in legal form.  A directive calls on Member States to legislate themselves into compliance by enacting compliant national laws, while a regulation constitutes self-executing Union law.  Accordingly, under the DPD, data protection law has evolved largely in the province of national legislatures, national courts, and quasi-independent national data protection authorities.  But the EU institutions have not been altogether excluded: for example, the EU Court of Justice (CJEU) has the power to construe the DPD, and the court has decided questions referred from Member States—notably including last year’s bombshell, Google Spain, in which the court ordered Google to de-link search results deemed untimely and unfair to a data subject.  And the DPD’s “Article 29 Working Party,” a body primarily comprising national data protection officers and officials of the European Commission (EC), has been influential in harmonizing data protection law across Member States.  In sum, the system that has evolved under the DPD has been a process of cooperation or dialogue between national and Union institutions, and one in which the national participants have played a leading role.

Call for Papers (Deadline March 15, 2014): New Directions in EU and Global Risk Regulation: Regulatory Autonomy, Evidence-based Policymaking and International Regulatory Co-operation

We are pleased to pass on the call for papers from network member Alberto Alemanno (HEC) for the 10th International Workshop for Young Scholars (WISH) at HEC Paris in December 2014 (date to be determined). The topic is ‘New Directions in EU and Global Risk Regulation: Regulatory Autonomy, Evidence-based Policymaking and International Regulatory Co-operation’. The Workshop offers outstanding young scholars an opportunity to present their best research work in a professional academic setting to an audience of other young scholars and more senior academics. The announcement along with information about the abstract submission procedure is below and can be downloaded in PDF form here.

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The European Law Journal, HEC Paris and the Center for Research on Transnational Law (CTL), Peking University School of Transnational Law (PKUSTL), Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, are welcoming proposals for presentation at the 10th International Workshop for Young Scholars (WISH)/10ème Rencontre Internationale des Jeunes Chercheurs (RIJC).

The 10th WISH builds on the success of the previous WISH held annually since 2002. It offers outstanding young scholars an opportunity to present their best research work in a professional academic setting to an audience of other young scholars and more senior academics. Selected revised versions of the papers may be published in a special issue of the European Law Journal or in a bilingual edited book (Bruylant, Brussels) destined for an international readership.