The EU and US will hold a summit tomorrow (June 15) to discuss their future cooperation agenda. Following an EU proposal in 2020, this cooperation could cover a number of regulatory files in the digital, health, and sustainability fields. The Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) – a forum of 78 American and European consumer and other civil society organisations – has issued six recommendations for such cooperation to meet the consumer interest.
Tomorrow’s summit follows years of geopolitical tension between the EU and US. It is the most significant engagement since the partners’ attempt to conclude a trade agreement – known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or simply TTIP – a few years ago.
The new cooperation agenda would not be a trade agreement, but rather take the form of a series of dialogues on regulatory topics. These could cover issues as diverse as sustainable finance, access to medicines, online platforms, or artificial intelligence.
It is important to underline that such dialogues could influence the policies that structure, or will structure, the day-to-day life of people on either side of the Atlantic. TACD has therefore set out six recommendations for this renewed EU-US cooperation to take into account the consumer interest.
- Ensure access to affordable medicines for all
- Deliver benefits to consumers
- Be transparent
- Meaningfully involve civil society
- Protect consumers in the digital sphere
- Be ambitious on sustainability
See also
- TACD letter to US President Joe Biden about a new transatlantic data transfer deal (June 2021)
- BEUC letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on the need for a governance policy to guide the new EU-US agenda (November 2020)
- TACD Positive Consumer Agenda: New Rules for the Global Economy (March 20217)
Background info
The Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) is a forum of US and EU consumer organisations which develops and agrees on joint consumer policy recommendations to the US government and European Union to promote the consumer interest in EU and US policy making.