Suchergebnisse

Abstract
The impact of the European Union (EU) in strengthening nanotechnology risk regulation in non-EU countries is still an under-researched topic. This article focuses on the EU's influence on its trading partners, using the case study of Israel, which in 2023 adopted restrictions on nanotechnology in cosmetics products following the EU. It is argued that EU risk regulation have been both a trigger and a formative factor for the development of Israeli nanomaterials restrictions. The importance and economic interdependence in the EU market for cosmetics has prompted a response from Israeli policymakers. In addition, the EU regulatory capacity through its expertise and sanctioning authority have influenced the Israeli regulatory agenda. The article shows that the impact of EU regulation also coincided with domestic economic factors, concerns about technology policy and policymakers' preference for stringent standards. Israel's risk regulation of nanomaterials in cosmetics provides a useful case study for analyzing the EU's regulatory impact on its trading partners. Once again, stricter EU's health and safety regulation drives those of its trading partner upward.

AbstractThe European Union was hit by the financial crisis of 2008. The impact of this crisis, however, and the extent to which this has led to strengthening environmental, health and safety risk regulation in the EU remain open to debate. This article advances the discussion of the "ratcheting‐up" hypothesis by adding a new explanatory factor, namely the financial crisis, and shows what role it played in two cases of risk regulation: Nanotechnology and Alien Invasive Species. It is argued that the crisis, acting as an external economic pressure for the competitiveness and growth of the single market, advanced the economic rationale for strengthening environmental, health and safety standards with implications for effective risk governance, namely regulatory convergence across its (then) 28 member states.

In this study, we seek to explain a growing divergence between the US and EU regulatory policies over nanotechnology environmental, health, and safety risks. Faced with significant scientific and regulatory uncertainties, incremental approaches have been taken in both regulatory systems, but substantial differences are evident in terms of both policy processes and stringency. While the EU exhibits a regulatory integration process with stringent adjustments of existing legislative frameworks, the US is far less engaged in regulatory adaptations. We have carried out a comparative analysis of the EU and US regulatory policies. We suggest that literature perspectives that focus on differing public attitudes, economic interests, and advocacy pressure groups do not suffice to explain the regulatory policy divergence. We argue that a combined effect of domestic politics and policy styles provides the most powerful explanation of why the US and EU currently differ with respect to their regulatory responses to nanotechnology risks and uncertainties.