ABOUT THE EUROPEAN UNION ADMINISTRATIVE LAW PROJECT

In this interconnected world, the impacts of administrative processes in other countries transcend their national boundaries, affecting US citizens, US economic interests, and US regulatory choices. In particular, the European Union's (EU) legislative and regulatory initiatives acutely affect US interests because of the magnitude of US-EU trade and investment.

Yet most US business people and their US lawyers have little knowledge or understanding of the European Union or its regulatory systems. They have even a poorer understanding of how to effectively participate in EU administrative proceedings or how to comply with EU regulatory directives. Moreover, the mutual lack of understanding about each other's system has led to barriers to cooperation and communication between the US and the EU and exacerbated trade tensions and hindered commercial activity.

Agencies in the US and the EU are attempting to harmonize their rules and increase the transparency of each other's processes so their citizens can effectively participate in the rulemaking processes of the others. It is therefore becoming even more critical that US citizens gain better knowledge and understanding of EU administrative law.

Private practitioners have clients affected by EU law. They may need to know more about, or wish to participate in, the development of EU regulations because they do business in EU member states. They may simply want to learn how to obtain documents from an EU agency. Governmental lawyers are finding themselves more frequently involved in collaboration with their EU counterparts. They may, for example, need to have a better understanding of EU law while they work with EU agencies on harmonization efforts. Academic lawyers may wish to research EU law for comparisons or the development of alternatives to current US procedures.

The American Bar Association Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice in collaboration with the sections on International Law; Antitrust Law; Environment, Energy and Resources; and the Judicial Division, are cosponsoring a European Union Administrative Law Project. The objectives of the Project are to:

2. Encourage and facilitate constructive discussions between US and EU lawyers and interested members of the public; andProduce scholarly studies that will serve as a basis for transatlantic dialogue and for suggesting changes to EU or US law that may be desirable.

To accomplish these objectives, the Project will develop a report about EU administrative and regulatory law for use by US private practitioners, government lawyers, and scholars. At this time, no such report exists, and basic unfamiliarity of the EU administrative systems among US lawyers and scholars can be a substantial impediment to work with or research on the EU. In addition, to further its educational mission, the Project will hold conferences and workshops at which recognized private sector experts, government officials, and affected parties will participate. These conferences will be an integral part of the Project's overall effort to facilitate discussions between US and EU lawyers and scholars, generating greater mutual understanding of each other's systems and perhaps some agreement on features of an optimal administrative system. The Project will seek to encourage scholarly analysis of the EU administrative law system, emphasizing traditional features of due process and transparency. One product of this analysis may be the development and adoption by the ABA of resolutions for changes to US or EU law or practice.

Below are links to the products of the Project and related materials: the report, reports on specific regulated sectors, past and planned conferences, and research sources:

The Report. The Project will publish a report on EU administrative law for US practitioners and legal academics. Primarily intended to educate Americans about the EU, its authors, all top US administrative law experts, will also compare EU administrative law with that of the US.

The reports’s introduction sets out the basic foundations of EU government and law. Five chapters, titled according to US administrative law principles, will analysis specific areas of EU administrative law. The first chapter discusses administrative adjudications, i.e. individual decisions. This chapter will not only explain the various procedures in terms of US administrative law but also compare EU and US approaches. The second chapter discusses methods for developing implementing measures, know in the US system as “rulemaking.”

While the EU has been considering adopting US participatory rights, such as notice and comment procedures, it tends to pursue other participation strategies. This chapter will describe and analyze these strategies. The opportunity for the transfer of knowledge here is particularly potent. The third chapter describes the judicial review of EU governmental measures. The mixture of various European
legal cultures enriches but also complicates EU legal development. The fourth chapter examines data protection, transparency and access to EU government information. Different concepts of business privacy make data protection an area of considerable conflict between the EU and the US. Transparency in Europe is a broader concept than in the US. There, the term encompasses participation, accountability and access. The Fifth chapter describes the various vehicles for
oversight over the administrative actions.

Sectoral Reports. The Project investigated the administrative processes of several selected European economic sectors. The sector study teams were comprised of Brussel-based practitioners practicing within the particular fields and staff members of the offices of the European Commission with responsibilities in those areas. These teams conducted legal and policy research, interviewed key stakeholders, and engaged in other fact-finding activities. The sector reports provide information about these key regulatory fields and serve as background for the adjudication and rulemaking studies. The reports concentrating on adjudication are: state aid (subsidies), trade sanctions, pharmaceutical regulation, and trademarks. The reports concentrating on rulemaking are: telecommunications, environmental, workplace, and financial services. Reports on competition and food safety investigated both adjudication and rulemaking in those fields.

Conferences. The Project has generated and will continue to generate conferences and workshops. In particular, the Project will sponsor three major conferences to discuss the results of its studies and develop additional information. The conferences and workshops will be largely educational, at least at first. Nonetheless, they should also result in the exchange of opinions and ideas among administrative law experts in the US and the EU. The conferences will actively engage lawyers with transatlantic practices, business leaders whose businesses are impacted by EU regulation, administrative law academics and prominent officials from trade related agencies on both sides of the Atlantic. In the end, the training and reforms resulting from these conferences, as with the Project in general, will accrue to the benefit of general public on both sides of the Atlantic.

Resources. Also included are links to key EU materials and research sources.

Project Supporters. Delegation of the European Commission to the United States; Citizens for a Sound Economy; Foley & Lardner; Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP; Steptoe & Johnson LLP; Ropes & Gray LLP; Morgan Stanley; American Chemistry Council; Suffolk University School of Law; William and Mary Law School; George Washington University Law School; and Indiana University.

To learn how you can support this Project please contact Eleanor Kinney (ekinney@iupui.edu),

Chair, Fund Raising Committee at: