GRC - Policy Areas

International Focus of U.S. Regulatory Agencies - There is a need to better define the international role and responsibility of U.S. regulatory agencies.  Many agencies were created and given mandates long before the rise of global markets and sophisticated supply chains.  A better understanding of the relationship between regulatory policy and trade policy needs to be foster in order for U.S. regulatory agencies to make trade facilitation a greater priority.

Regulatory Promulgation - Differences in the regulatory processes and administrative procedures adopted by governments around the globe is often the source of divergent regulations that cause market-distortions.  It is critical governments adopt a regulatory process that is transparent, involves stakeholder input, and uses a risk based and economic approach prior to promulgating regulations.

Competition Policy/Antitrust - Competition policy (antitrust) should be the vehicle through which market distortions are minimized, but differences in enforcement can make competition authorities instruments of market distortion themselves.  In addition, competition authorities must recognize the interface between competition policy and trade as well as its nexus with intellectual property and standards.  

State-Owned Enterprises and Subsidies - State-owned companies or those private firms that receive preferential national treatment often gain market share from their private competitors by taking advantage of subsidized lower costs or from artificial burdens governments place on their competitors.  These practices aimed at promoting national champions distort markets and damage consumer welfare.

Standards - Governments often adopt regulations that are incompatible with internationally-accepted standards and impose additional mandates, inconsistent with the goal of open and competitive markets to favor domestic companies over their foreign competitors.

Investment Policies - Investment policies that act as barriers to trade often take the form of questionable regulatory reviews of foreign investment, limits on the amount of foreign direct investment allowed, and the adoption of other conflicting financial rules and regulations.