The Nation has a long article by Mark Schapiro about a topic I’ve been keeping an eye on: the impact of the EU’s growing regulatory power on global businesses and the growing divergence of thought on regulation between the EU and the US.

The story mentions the REACH chemical regulations regime which is in many ways emblematic of the issue. The heavyweight US lobbying against REACH, Schapiro writes, has achieved little except to delay the opening of hearings in the European Parliament until 19 January. The article also covers the impact of the Cosmetics Directive and the End of Life Vehicles Directive on American manufacturers.

Go read it. This is going to become an ever more important issue.