US/EU Agreement for Science and Technology Cooperation

Abstract

Free AccessNews and AnnouncementsUS/EU Agreement for Science and Technology CooperationPublished Online:July 22, 2015https://doi.org/10.1027/1016-9040.3.3.239PDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditE-Mail SectionsMoreAfter a year of negotiations, conducted under the responsibility of Edith Cresson, European Commissioner responsible for research, innovation, education, training, and youth, a science and technology agreement between the European Union and the United States was signed on 5 December 1997. Signature occurred on the occasion of the EU/US Summit in Washington. The agreement was signed by Strobe Talbott, acting Secretary of State of the United States, Jacques Poos, President of the Council of the EU, and Sir Leon Brittan, Vice-President of the European Commission. Running for an initial period of 5 years, this agreement will help promote, develop, and facilitate cooperative R & D activities for mutual benefit, and covers virtually all areas of the natural sciences and engineering.There are traditional close links between the S & T communities of the individual member states of the EU and the United States. But the European Union and the United States have also been cooperating for many years in the area of science and technology, in sectors such as nuclear research, fusion, biotechnology, information technologies, and manufacturing processes.Building on this experience, it was decided under the New Transatlantic Agenda (December 1995) that both sides would actively work to reach a comprehensive science and technology cooperation agreement by 1997. At the initiative of Edith Cresson, the European Commission obtained a mandate to negotiate this agreement.The agreement will serve as a means for the EU and United States to “encourage, develop and facilitate cooperative activities in fields of common interest where they are pursuing research and development activities in science and technology.”Based on the principles of mutual benefit, reciprocal opportunities for cooperation, and fair treatment, the agreement should help researchers and research institutions on both sides of the Atlantic, including subsidiaries of both European and American companies, to work more closely together in a very wide range of research areas.The agreement provides for: The reciprocal participation of research entities and their respective subsidiaries, including the parties themselves, in R&D activities implemented with financial support from one or both parties in research areas covered by the European Community's framework program for R&D and similar research areas in the United States; the participation in reciprocal cooperation activities, including joint research, will be subject to the written consent of both parties. In this connection the application of the principle of equitable and fair treatment to European research entities to US research programs and activities will have to be closely monitored.In addition to reciprocal participation in each other's research activities, cooperation may also take place through coordinated and joint research projects, joint task forces, joint studies, the joint organization of scientific seminars, etc., the training of scientists and technical experts; the exchange or the sharing of equipment and materials, visits and exchanges of scientific personnel, and exchanges of information; when appropriate, cooperative activities shall take place pursuant to implementing arrangements.The coordination and facilitation of cooperative activities through the Joint Consultative Group, consisting of official representatives of each party.Cooperation activities to be subject to the availability of appropriated funds and to the applicable laws and regulations, policies and programs of the Community and the United States. As with other agreements of this type, each side will finance its own participation in cooperative activities.The appropriate allocation and protection of intellectual property rights.The possible extension, with possible amendments, for further 5-year periods, subject to review by the parties in the final year of each successive period.Sectors for cooperative activities are: Environment (including climate research),Biomedicine and health (including research on AIDS, infectious diseases and drug abuse),Agriculture,Fisheries science,Engineering research,Nonnuclear energy,Natural resources,Materials sciences and metrology,Information and communication technologies,Telematics,Biotechnology,Marine sciences and technology,Social sciences research,Transportation,Science and technology policy, management, training and mobility of scientists.From the above list, future research activities relating to the life sciences directorate should benefit most from the cooperation with US institutions particularly in areas such as human genome, vaccines, and agriculture research. At present, discussions are in progress on the details of the methodologies and procedures to be followed.FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Volume 3Issue 3September 1998ISSN: 1016-9040eISSN: 1878-531X InformationEuropean Psychologist (1998), 3, pp. 239-240 https://doi.org/10.1027/1016-9040.3.3.239.© 1998Hogrefe & Huber PublishersPDF download