Globalizing Regulation: Reaching Beyond the Borders of Chemical Safety
| Published date | 01 March 2009 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6478.2009.00459.x |
| Author | Veerle Heyvaert |
| Date | 01 March 2009 |
JOURNAL OF LAW AND SOCIETY
VOLUME 36, NUMBER 1, MARCH 2009
ISSN: 0263-323X, pp. 110±28
Globalizing Regulation: Reaching Beyond the Borders of
Chemical Safety
Veerle Heyvaert*
This article argues that although globalization can benefit both
exporters and importers of regulation in absolute terms, it may turn the
globalization of regulation into a game with relative winners and
losers. Using the EU REACH Regulation of chemicals as a case study,
it explores the normative, social, economic, and strategic reasons that
push the EUtopromotethe global adoption of REACH.
Notwithstanding its attractions, rules globalization may result in a
mismatch between global norms and local priorities, particularly for
developing countries. It reduces regulatory diversity, and amplifies the
strengths but equally the weaknesses of the dominant regulatory
framework. While it can foster international trade through mutual
recognition of regulatory decisions and the development of trans-
national regulatory frameworks, it increases the likelihood of conflict
and trade flow desequilibria. The article calls for further careful
consideration of rules globalization, so that harmonization does not
come at the expense of local interests and values.
INTRODUCTION
What propels the globalization of health and environmental regulation, and
what are the likely consequences of regulatory globalization processes?
These two questions, which form the backbone of this article, inquire into the
fundamental nature of `rules globalization'. Whereas market globalization is
characterized by a free flows of goods, services, labour, and capital across
national borders, rules globalization refers to the regional or global diffusion
110
ß2009 The Author. Journal Compilation ß2009 Cardiff University Law School. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd,
9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA
*Law Department, London School of Economics and Political Science,
Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, England
V.Heyvaert@lse.ac.uk
Iamgrateful to Rob Baldwin, Damian Chalmers, Elizabeth Fisher, Maria Lee, and
Eckhard Rehbinder for comments on an earlier version of this article. Any mistakes are
mine.
of normative frameworks. Rules globalization assumes many shapes and
forms, from entirely privately orchestrated initiatives by, typically, firms
agreeing to adhere to voluntary codes of practice, such as the Responsible
Care programme in the chemicals sector,
1
to states being persuaded to
import mandatory regulatory frameworks developed and adopted by other
states. This article concerns itself with the latter variety. I will argue that, just
as the influx of imported goods has profound and sometimes disruptive
effects on local production and domestic markets, so does the importation of
foreign regulatory norms and procedures put pressure on local regulatory
priorities, cultures, and practices. The article identifies five challenges that
rules-importing countries, and in some cases both importers and exporters of
regulation, are likely to face. First, there is the risk of a mismatch between
global norms and local regulatory priorities. The second and third challenges
address the risks generated by increasing regulatory uniformity, namely, the
development of `regulatory monocultures' and the amplification of both
strengths and weaknesses of a dominant regulatory approach. The fourth and
fifth challenges consider the process of rules importation as a first step in the
development of transnational regulatory governance, and contemplate some
of the trade-offs between regulatory sovereignty and transnational
recognition of domestic rule making. In identifying these challenges, the
aim of the article is not to condemn rules globalization as necessarily per-
nicious, but to take a preliminary step towards a discussion of responsible
and responsive models of rules globalization, that reconcile global agendas
with local needs and capacities.
GLOBALIZING REGULATION: REACH AS A CASE STUDY IN
GLOBAL NORM DEVELOPMENT
The 2006 EU Regulation on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and
Restriction of Chemicals (REACH Regulation)
2
is a rewarding field to study
questions of rules globalization, as it is a quintessential example of
contemporary health and environmental regulation that addresses global
risks. Moreover, REACH is a regulatory framework for which globalization
is positively advocated by the EU, and actively contemplated by non-EU
countries. This paper does not offer a full overview of the regulation's
provisions or the institutional framework in which they operate; instead, it
will concentrate on those features relevant to the discussion of rules
globalization as they come up.
3
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1 See .
2 [2006] OJ L396/1.
3For a fuller treatment of the regulation's provisions, see J. Scott, `REACH:
Combining Harmonization and Dynamism in the Regulation of Chemicals' in
Environmental Protection: European Law and Governance, ed. J. Scott (2009); C.
ß2009 The Author. Journal Compilation ß2009 Cardiff University Law School
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