The Spread of Nano-specific Risk Regulation: The EU’s Global Impact

Since the late 2010s, nano-specific risk regulation has been an increasingly recognized international model. Countries from Switzerland to Malaysia and Israel have formally adapted their national sectoral regulations and expanded nanotechnology safety regulations in the public and private sectors, despite uncertainty about adverse health and safety effects. In this study, I examine how the European Union (EU) has influenced the regulatory choices of other non-EU countries. The main argument is that building regulatory capacity at both the national and supranational levels since the early 2000s to update regulations in the face of technological and regulatory uncertainties now provides the EU with important tools for shaping regulatory policies internationally. Moreover, its adaptive and proactive regulatory strategy serves as a key to strengthening the EU’s role as a global leader. The study is divided into three parts. The first describes the proliferation of nano-specific regulatory measures and the dominance of the EU in setting nano-specific safety rules. This is followed by a description of the EU policy instruments at work in the diffusion of nano-specific and proactive regulatory measures. The final section concludes with some theoretical implications of the argument.