NEWS - DATE Wednesday | 26 June 2024
CASE SI/4/2023/KR - OPENED ON Thursday | 13 July 2023 - DECISION ON Thursday | 20 June 2024 - INSTITUTION CONCERNED European Commission - COUNTRY France

• Inquiry opened 26/06/2023 Inquiry ongoing 13/07/2023 Inquiry outcome 20/06/2024

The Ombudsman has made a series of proposals to the European Commission to improve transparency and stakeholder participation in the EU-US Trade and Technology Council (EU-US TTC).

Established in 2021, the EU-US TTC is a platform for transatlantic coordination on regulatory issues such as the digital economy, supply chain resilience, and artificial intelligence. The EU-US TTC includes both ministerial meetings and working groups composed of experts and officials.

The Ombudsman said the Commission should make public agendas ahead of ministerial and working group meetings, as well as provide guidance to its departments so that they can ensure publically available information is consistent across the various working groups. The Commission should also do more to ensure it obtains sufficiently inclusive and diverse input from interested parties and should clearly communicate how this input is considered in the work of the EU-US TTC.

The Ombudsman encouraged the Commission to also apply these measures to other trade and technology councils, such as the one launched with India in May 2023.