EU-US TRANSATLANTIC CIVIL SOCIETY DIALOGUES

Background

The Partnership Instrument (PI) was designed to promote the EU's strategic interests worldwide by supporting cooperation on areas of mutual interest with major international actors.

Under the PI, public diplomacy aims to meaningfully engage with target audiences and stakeholders in third countries for the purpose of building trust and mutual understanding that facilitates future cooperation. The EU and US have arguably the most developed and active civil society anywhere in the world. Civil society organisations play a critical role, ensuring that both the public's voice and experts' ideas are heard in domestic and international policy debates. It is therefore appropriate and important that civil society organisations on both sides of the Atlantic be able to engage with each other around some of the most relevant issues in EU-US relations and provide their feedback to EU and US policymakers

Objectives of the Programme and Priority Issues

The global objective is to increase ties, cooperation, and understanding between EU and US civil society groups through dialogue among a broad set of stakeholders on a wide range of issues in EU-US relations, complementing formal policy dialogue at government level.

The specific objective(s) are:

• to stimulate dialogue and cooperation between non-governmental organisations, associations, and interest groups, representing a wide range of constituencies in the EU and the US;
• to increase understanding of EU policies amongst relevant civil society audiences and multipliers from both the EU and US; and
• to improve the feedback loop between policymakers and civil society actors in the EU and US.

In order to complement PI-funded activities implemented by universities and research centres, the objective of the actions should not be purely of academic nature but involve wider audiences. In line with current EU policy priorities of relevance to the EU-US civil societies, three topics have been identified as priorities .

1. Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue:  The Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) was launched in September 1998 in the context of the New Transatlantic Agenda (NTA; launched in 1995) and in particular of the New Economic Partnership (launched in 1998). The TACD is a forum of US and EU consumer organizations which develops and agrees on joint consumer policy recommendations to the US government and the European Union to promote the consumer interests in EU and US policy making. By launching the TACD, the EU and US showed their support to an increased involvement of civil society - and in particular of consumer organizations - in transatlantic policy-making. The TACD regularly provides insightful recommendations on important consumer issues, such as food, ICT, intellectual property, financial services and nanotechnology, most notably in the context of the EU-US Privacy Shield and the EU's Rapid Alert System for Non-Food Products (RAPEX). The TACD ensures that consumer welfare is promoted and advocated within EU-US regulatory processes and cooperation such as through the Transatlantic Economic Council (TEC). Furthermore, the TACD should contribute to relevant trade negotiations and also produce policy and position papers for discussion with the European Commission. The TACD should foster mutual understanding and promote closer cooperation between US and European Union officials working on a broad range of regulatory issues. TACD representatives may support the EU Delegation in its analysis of the current US regulatory reform agenda.

Activities To Be Considered

• Identification of consumers issues that benefit from transatlantic cooperation and sharing of experience to respond to common challenges;
• Promotion of consumer views in the context of transatlantic relations;
• A mechanism for EU and US consumer representatives to provide input into EU-US political dialogues and EU-US dialogues on economic, regulatory, and trade issues; this may include meetings with policy officials and regulators to help define a common agenda and facilitating the sharing of experience among consumer representatives working on these issues;
• Exchange and dissemination of expertise and knowledge on shared consumer issues in the EU and the US (e.g educating US and EU consumers on the EU's respective public policy priorities and tools to protect consumers in domestic markets on both sides of the Atlantic);
• Contribution to the discussions in relevant transatlantic dialogues and on relevant areas discussed in the Transatlantic Economic Council under the auspices of the Transatlantic Economic Framework agreed at the Washington EU-US Summit of 2007;
• Formulation of joint policy recommendations between EU and US consumer representatives which should be disseminated as widely as possible in the EU and in the US;
• Organisation of events and completion of (short) studies in support of the aforementioned activities.

Members of TACD

US

1. American Council on Consumer Interests (ACCI)
2. Americans for Financial Reform (AFR)
3. Center for Digital Democracy (CDD)
4. Center for Food Safety (CFS)
5. Center for Media and Democracy
6. Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI)
7. Center for Study of Responsive Law (CSRL)
8. Community Nutrition Institute
9. Consumer Action
10. Consumer Federation of America (CFA)
11. Consumer Reports
12. Consumer Watchdog
13. Economic Justice Institute
14. Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
15. Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)
16. Federation of State Public Interest Research Groups (U.S. PIRG)
17. Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP)
18. International Centre for Technology Assessment (ICTA)
19. Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
20. National Association of Consumer Advocates (NACA)
21. National Consumers League
22. Prevention Institute
23. Privacy Rights Clearinghouse
24. Public Citizen
25. Public Knowledge
26. World Privacy Forum

EU

1. ADUSBEF, Italy
2. Aktive Forbrugere, Denmark
3. Altroconsumo, Italy
4. Asociacion Valenciana de Consumidores y Usuarios, Spain
5. Associazione Consumatori Utenti (ACU), Italy
6. Associazione per la Difesa e l’Orientamento dei Consumatori (ADOC), Italy
7. BUKO Pharma-Kampagne, Germany
8. Bulgarian National Consumers Association (BNAP)
9. Centro de Arbitragem de Conflictos de Consumo (CPS), Portugal
10. Citizens Advice, UK
11. Comitato CODACONS, Italy
12. Compassion in World Farming, UK
13. Confederación de Consumidores y Usuarios (CECU), Spain
14. Consommation, Logement et Cadre de Vie (CLCV), France
15. Consumentenbond, The Netherlands
16. Consumer Protection Centre (KEPKA), Greece
17. Consumers’ Association (EKPIZO), Greece
18. Consumers’ Association of Ireland
19. Consumers’ Federation of Greece (INKA)
20. dTest, Czech Republic
21. European Association for the Coordination of Consumer Representation (ANEC)
22. European Community of Consumer Co-operatives (EUROCOOP)
23. European Digital Rights (EDRi)
24. European Public Health Alliance (EPHA)
25. Federconsumatori, Italy
26. Forbrugerraadet (Danish Consumer Council)
27. Forbrukerradet (Norwegian Consumer Council)
28. Genewatch UK
29. Health Action International – EU
30. Knowledge Ecology International Europe (KEI Europe)
31. Kuluttajaliitto-Konsumentförbundet ry (The Consumers’ Union of Finland)
32. Movimento Consumatori, Italy
33. Open Rights Group, UK
34. Organizacion de Consumidores y Usuarios (OCU), Spain
35. Országos Fogyasztóvédelmi Egyesület (OFE), Hungary
36. Privacy International, UK
37. Romanian Association for Consumer Protection
38. Slovene Consumers Association (ZPS)
39. Sustain, UK
40. Sveriges Konsumenter (The Swedish Consumers’ Association)
41. Sveriges Konsumenter i Samverkan (SKIS – The Swedish Consumer Coalition)
42. Swedish Consumer Co-operatives (KF)
43. Test – Aankoop / Test – Achats, Belgium
44. The European Consumers’ Organisation (BEUC)
45. Tudatos Vásárlók Egyesülete (TVE), Hungary
46. Union Fédérale des Consommateurs-UFC Que Choisir, France
47. Union Nacional de Asociaciones Espanolas (UNAE), Spain
48. Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband (VZBV), Germany
49. Verein für Konsumenteninformation (VKI), Austria
50. Which?, UK

Observers

1. American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
2. Choice, Australia
3. Consumers International
4. Public Interest Advocacy Centre, Canada
5. Union des Consommateurs, Canada

Key Experts

• Robert Adler, Commissioner at the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
• Dr. Douglas Balentine, Director of the Office of Nutrition and Food Labeling at the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.
• Dr. Fred Bergsten, Senior Fellow and Director Emeritus at the Peterson Institute for International Economics
• Isabelle Buske, Head of the EU liaison office in Brussels of the Federation of German Consumer Organisations- Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband – vzbv
• Jeff Chester, Executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD), a Washington D.C. nonprofit. CDD is one of the leading NGOs advocating for consumers on digital privacy and consumer protection issues.
• Rohit Chopra, Senior Fellow at the Consumer Federation of America.
• Bart Combée, President of Consumentenbond, the Consumers Association in the Netherlands.
• Pinuccia Contino, Head of Product Safety and Rapid Alert System in the Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers of the European Commission (DG JUST).
• Sue Davies, Leads the food policy work at Which?, the UK consumer organization
• Abby Dilley, Vice President of Program Development at RESOLVE.
• Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat, Heads the international practice at Covington & Burling
• Geraldine Emberger, European Delegation's Trade Counsellor for Regulatory Affairs.
• Thea Emmerling, Leading the Food Safety, Health and Consumer Affairs Section in the Delegation.
• Keith Ernst, Associate Director for Consumer Research and Examination Analytics at the FDIC
• Anna Fielder, Senior Policy Advisor to the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD), covering all aspects of consumer policy from regulations to digital rights.
• Sean Flynn, Associate Director of the Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property (PIJIP).
• Francisco Fonseca Morillo, Deputy Director General in the Directorate General Justice and Consumers of the European Commission.
• Andrea Glorioso, Counsellor for the Digital Economy at the Delegation of the European Union to the USA, in Washington DC.
• Matea Gold, National political reporter for the Washington Post, covering money and influence.
• Monique Goyens, Director General of BEUC which represents 41 independent national consumer associations in 31 European countries, currently EU co-chair of TACD.
• Susan Grant, Director of Consumer Protection at the Consumer Federation of America.
• Jaydee Hanson, US co-chair of the TACD Product Safety, Chemicals and Emerging Technology group of TACD.
• Hiddo Houben, Heads the division responsible for trade and investment relations with the US and Canada in the Directorate General for Trade of the European Commission.
• Michael Jacobson, Co-founder and President of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nonprofit health advocacy organization.
• Breda Kutin, Founding member and President of the Slovene Consumers Association – ZPS.  
• James Love, Director of Knowledge Ecology International. U.S. Co-chair of the TACD Intellectual Property Policy Committee.
• Laura MacCleery, Vice President for Consumer Policy and Mobilization.
• Jeremy Malcom, Senior Global Policy Analyst at Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Sylvia Maurer, EU co-chair of the TACD Product Safety, Chemicals and Emerging Technology group of TACD. She is director in charge of sustainability and safety at BEUC, the European Consumer Organisation.
• Peter Maybarduk, Directs Public Citizen’s access to medicines and knowledge economy group, which helps people around the world overcome high-price pharmaceutical monopolies and secure the benefits of science, technology and culture for all.
• Ed Mierzwinski, Federal Consumer Program Director and Senior Fellow for U.S. PIRG. He has worked in the federal advocacy office of the Federation of State Public Interest Research Groups (U.S. PIRG) since 1989. He is a founding and current member of the Steering Committee of the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue.
• Klaus Müller, Executive Director of the Federation of German Consumer Organisations (vzbv), an umbrella organisation of 41 consumer organisations – a consumer policy network with more than twenty million members. Mr Müller is also a founding member of the Heinrich-Boll Foundation, a member of the Consumers International Council and TACD Steering Committee and on the Executive Council of the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC).
• Maureen Ohlhausen, Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission, was designated to serve as Acting FTC Chairman by President Donald Trump in January 2017.
• Ancel.la Santos Quntano, Senior Policy Advisor at Health Action International, leads HAI’s European work on medicines regulatory issues, rational use and good governance.
• Agustín Reyna Senior Legal Officer and Digital Team Leader in the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC).  Agustín is the EU Co-chair of the TACD Intellectual Property Policy Committee.
• Ira Rheingold, Executive Director and General Counsel of the National Association of Consumer Advocates (NACA), an organization dedicated to protecting consumers from unfair and deceptive business practices. Ira is also the US chair of TACD’s Financial Services Policy Committee.
• Jennifer Sass, Senior Scientist in Natural Resources Defense Council’s Health and Environment program, and a Professorial Lecturer at George Washington University.
• Michael Taylor, joined Freedman Consulting in 2016 to continue his multi-faceted career in government, academia and the private sector focused on issues affecting the success of the food system in the United States and internationally.
• Kim Tuminaro, currently serves in the European and Eurasian Bureau at the Department of State as the Coordinator for the Transatlantic Economic Council (TEC). In this capacity, she manages all aspects of the U.S. government’s participation which covers cooperation programs with the EU of over a dozen agencies.
• Camilla Udsen, Senior Food Adviser in the Danish Consumer Council
• Petr Wagner, Counsellor (with special responsibility for financial services regulation) in the Economic and Financial Affairs Section of the Delegation of the European Union to the United States.
• Lori Wallach, Director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch
• Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen.

2. Transatlantic Dialogue on Social Resilience, Violent Extremism, and the Role of Religion in Society The phrase "Countering Violent Extremism" (CVE) has become toxic amongst many practitioners and civil society organisations, as many previous initiatives have been too heavily focused on security and the role of religion (primarily Islam) at the expense of broader social resilience issues such as education, employment, and tolerance. Section 14 of the 2017 G7 Taormina statement on the fight against terrorism and violent extremism explicitly acknowledges the importance of "social and economic inclusiveness and opportunities." The experience of previous CVE initiatives also creates an opportunity for dialogue and exploration into the actual role of religion and religious actors in society more generally. This broader context, however, does not at all diminish the important common challenge that violent expressions of extremism still pose to both the EU and US. The specific objective of this dialogue is to facilitate conversation between civil society organisations on both sides of the Atlantic in which they can exchange best practices on how to successfully address radicalisation or violent extremism through the lens of social/community resilience, intercultural dialogue and/or religious engagement. Dialogues should also include opportunities to share relevant insights and conclusions with EU and US policymakers. Relevant civil society organisations might include local actors, religious communities, nongovernmental organisations and interest groups, including social partners, representing wide constituencies in the EU and the US. Civil society could be engaged in areas such as underlying political, economic, religious and social factors conducive to radicalisation, including stigmatising, discriminatory, racist or xenophobic attitudes, as well as the role of the internet and social media. In designing the dialogues, existing work as well as experience and best practice of the EU-wide Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN) should be explored in order to avoid duplication and develop complementarities.

Activities To be Considered

• Assessment of efforts to address the challenges of violent extremism through social and community resilience and counter-narratives, including inter alia youth education, employment, intercultural dialogue;
• Exchange of best practices in the area of prevention of violent extremism and radicalisation, with the emphasis on social resilience the cooperation with civil society organisations, minorities, and communication strategy;
• Examination of what role religion and religious actors may play in the context of social and community resilience efforts to combat violent extremism;
• Enhancement of cooperation and exchange of information by identifying the gaps and areas for improvement;
• Formulation of joint policy recommendations which should be disseminated as widely as possible in the EU and in the US.

3. Transatlantic Dialogue on Energy Issues in the Context of Climate Change Activities should engage around areas for closer transatlantic cooperation on energy, particularly in the context of a transition to a low carbon economy. Thematic areas include: promoting transatlantic dialogue on cybersecurity in the energy sector; evolution of power markets amid greater integration of renewable energy sources in power grids; the role of innovation and technology as a driving force for the clean energy transition (particularly in advancing the deployment of energy efficient technologies); innovative business solutions and the economic/business case for climate action in the context of implementation of the international Paris Climate Agreement. Activities may also address EU-US cooperation vis-à-vis third countries on capacity building and transition to cleaner sources of energy. This dialogue should strengthen engagement and cooperation between a wide range of EU and US civil society groups including local/community grassroots organisations from relevant sectors, trade associations, private sector organisations, faith groups, consumer organisations, think tanks/research centres, and other stakeholder organisations. The dialogue should also provide added value and relevant information, examples, and recommendations in addition to the existing official exchanges between EU and US policymakers on these issues. --- A meaningful inclusion of gender perspectives is strongly recommended in the proposed action(s) and its activities. This implies including a description of the strategy to achieve meaningful gender mainstreaming in the framework of the targeted priorities and the establishment of gender-related objective verifiable indicators  

Activities To be Considered

• Organisation of events/meetings and development of an online platform that will convene relevant civil society an grassroots actors/groups from the EU and US and facilitate the exchange of knowledge, experience, and good practices in the fields of energy, low carbon economy, and climate action;
• Enhancement of cooperation and exchange of information between the EU and US by identifying gaps and areas for improvement;
• Produce/publish joint policy recommendations which should be disseminated as widely as possible in the EU and in the US;
• Showcase and share good practices and successful strategies within and between communities in the EU and in the US. These could include examples of:

o successful low carbon/energy efficient strategies implemented at sub-national level;

o successful multi-stakeholder community partnerships (including public-private);

o innovative business models in the field of green technologies and renewable energies that have contributed to clean energy investments, job creation, and emission reductions; and

o models of civil society participation that have significantly contributed to boosting community awareness of the challenges related to climate change

• Contribution to the discussions in relevant transatlantic dialogues and on relevant areas discussed in the EU-US Energy Council;
• Organise events and conferences on the side-lines of relevant large-scale or high-profile energy or climate change negotiations/events and act as a catalyst for international efforts to build and strengthen the low carbon economy worldwide.