Comments From Lynn L. Bergeson Featured In Bloomberg BNA Daily Environment Report Article “European Commission Sets Out Terminology for Nanomaterial Assessment”

On April 15, 2016, Bloomberg BNA Daily Environment Report published “European Commission Sets Out Terminology for Nanomaterial Assessment,” an article focusing on the EC Joint Research Center’s release of definitions for 43 nanotechnology risk assessment terms.

[…]JRC technical reports are respected resources that have demonstrable value, and can be widely used, but it has no binding legal effect, Lynn Bergeson, managing partner of the U.S.-headquartered law firm Bergeson & Campbell PC, told Bloomberg BNA. Her law firm has monitored nanotechnology policy developments for more than 10 years.

“If it is favorably received, it could become the default lexicon by virtue of its utility and popularity, but in a strictly legal context, the terms would need to be codified more formally to be ‘enforceable’ or have a more consequential legal and regulatory impact,” Bergeson said.

Bergeson said agreeing to common terms and definitions necessarily involves some policy decision.

“It is not my understanding that any one partner intended to invite a particular political or partisan view to the process,” she said. “However, definitional ‘clarity’ can result in exceedingly consequential regulatory implications.”