| Summary/Abstract |
This paper compares Japan’s negotiations on regulatory convergence with the United States in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and with the European Union (EU) in the Japan-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (JEEPA), focusing on the motor vehicle and medical device sectors. Despite the TPP being concluded first, JEEPA moved Japan closer to EU-defined or influenced standards in both sectors. This was primarily the result of path dependence created by existing interstate institutional arrangements in motor vehicles and by transnational cooperation in medical devices, rather than of the bilateral structure of the JEEPA talks producing more focused negotiating objectives and outcomes. The case studies suggest that PTAs can play a meaningful role in advancing regulatory convergence, but mostly as locking-in mechanisms for deals reached in other forums. Therefore, simultaneous PTA negotiations provide little impetus for regulatory triadic closure in the absence of a well-established path of regulatory cooperation.
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