The European Union as a Global Producer of Transnational Law of Risk Regulation: A Case Study on Chemical Regulation

This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of the role of the EU in the global production of transnational law of risk regulation (TNLRR). TNLRR is defined as a harmonious, cross-jurisdictional regulatory environment that results from the circulation of risk regulatory models among jurisdictions. The EU has adopted extensive regulation to address health, safety, environmental and other risks. In many instances, third countries have adopted the EU models when regulating their own industries and markets. This paper argues that this pattern of circulation turns the EU regulatory models into transnational models for risk regulation (TNLRR), and further illustrates this thesis by using a case study on the global circulation of the EU ‘REACH’ Regulation. The paper preliminarily concludes that the EU has been able to influence risk regulatory policy worldwide by turning its own regulatory models into transnational models, thus acting as a global producer of TNLRR.