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Resisting behind the border talks in TTIP: The cases of GMOs and data privacy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 September 2017

Vinod K. Aggarwal  and
Simon J. Evenett
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Abstract

Despite initial intentions to better align transatlantic regulation and associated practices in the negotiation of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), this was not possible for rules concerning genetically modified organisms and data privacy. By 2016 both matters effectively fell off the TTIP negotiating agenda. This paper identifies the factors responsible, specifically the critical role played by independent regulatory agencies and associated bureaucratic politics, transnational coalitions of private sector organizations, and non-government organizations and contingency. These factors are not exclusive to the two salient regulations considered here, with the implication that the identification of cross-border spillovers is at best a necessary condition for the successful negotiation of binding trade rules on behind-the-border government policies.

Keywords

Mega-FTAsTTIPinternational negotiationsGMOdata privacy
Type
Research Article
Information
Business and Politics , Volume 19 , Special Issue 4: The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) , December 2017 , pp. 593 - 620
Copyright
Copyright © V.K. Aggarwal 2017 and published under exclusive license to Cambridge University Press 

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