Supranational Regulation Research Articles

Sustainability governance of the Danish bioeconomy \u2014 the case of bioenergy and biomaterials from agriculture

BackgroundThe EU bioeconomy strategy aims to accelerate the European bioeconomy and its contributions to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement. National policies and strategies in many countries promote their bioeconomies. The importance of agricultural crops and residues as raw materials for the bioeconomy is increasingly recognised, but agricultural production also contributes to large impacts on nature and environment. With the aim of assessing the governance measures and their effectiveness in addressing the sustainability of bioenergy and biofuel production, the purpose of this study was to map the governance complex relevant to agricultural crop production in Denmark, and to identify the achievements, challenges and lessons learned.MethodsThe analysis is based on a review and assessment of publicly available databases, inventory reports and scientific literature on governance measures and their effectiveness. Governance here includes a variety of legislation, agreements, conventions and standardisation. Environmental sustainability is represented by greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector, soil carbon, water quality and biodiversity.ResultsThe agricultural sector has a significant impact on Danish climate performance and on landscapes in the form of soil carbon losses, leaching of nutrients to water bodies and pressures on biodiversity. The governance complex addressing these issues is made up of a variety of state regulation and co-regulation between state and firms, state and NGOs, or NGOs and firms. Much regulation is adopted from EU directives and implemented nationally.ConclusionsThe analysis found that greenhouse gas emission is a virtually unregulated field and additional regulation is required to live up to Denmark’s 2030 emission reduction targets. The regulatory framework for soil carbon is criticised for its complexity, its competing instruments and its recognition procedures of voluntary co-regulation. For water quality governance measures in place have improved water quality, but it is still difficult to achieve the goals of the Water Framework Directive. It remains a challenge to protect biodiversity in agriculture. Biodiversity is mainly governed by national and supranational regulation, but co-regulating between state and firms and NGOs and firms have been initiated in the framework of the Agricultural Agreement.

The promise of bureaucratic reputation approaches for the EU regulatory state

ABSTRACT Reputation literature has provided crucial insights about the evolution of the US regulatory state. Daniel Carpenter’s influential account painstakingly demonstrates the relevance of reputation to bureaucratic ‘power’ and to early institutional state-building in the US context. We argue that adopting a reputational lens provides important insights for the EU regulatory state, the evolution of its regulatory agents, and their efforts at legitimation. This contribution proposes a novel research agenda by applying core bureaucratic reputation concepts and arguments to the scholarship on the EU regulatory state and its core actors to explore the following questions: To what extent does the theory ‘travel well’ in an EU context? Does it have purchase power, and what can it contribute to our understanding of the evolution of the EU regulatory state and the behaviour and legitimacy of supranational regulators?

Multilevel regulatory governance: Establishing bank-regulator relationships at the European Banking Authority

AbstractFollowing the 2007–9 financial crisis, the EU strengthened its institutional apparatus for bank regulation, creating a trio of sectoral bodies, including the European Banking Authority (EBA). Various aspects of this new system have been studied, but to date, little is known about how banks engage with their new supranational regulator. We argue that such engagement fosters an interdependence between banks and regulators, thus contributing to the efficiency and robustness of the overall regulatory regime; but also that it is contingent on the regulator exhibiting the qualities of credibility, legitimacy, and transparency. These qualities are grounded in the domestic regulatory governance literature, but we suggest that they are rendered problematic by the complexities of the EU's multilevel system and, in particular, the overlap in competences between the EBA and the European Central Bank. We examine the EBA in the light of these criteria and find that banks’ engagement remains pitched towards established national regulators and the EU's legislative arena. This poses concerns for the efficacy of agency governance in the EU's regulatory regime for banking.

The EU Experience as a Model for the Development of a Single Financial Market Regulation in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU)

Five countries became members of the Eurasian Economic Union – an international organization of regional economic integration. The Republic of Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation, and the Republic of Belarus signed the international Treaty in the city of Astana, Kazakhstan on May 29, 2014. The Republic of Armenia and the Kyrgyz Republic acceded to the Treaty later. Harmonized regulation of financial markets should be one of the initial areas of cooperation, with the aims of creating a single financial services market within the EAEU and ensuring non-discriminatory access to the national financial markets of each of the member states. The EAEU member states have already entered into the initial stage of developing the Eurasian common market in financial services. A considerable part of the work should be carried out by a supranational financial market regulation body, which is to be established by 2025 according to the EAEU Treaty. Such financial integration in the EAEU has only been in progress for a limited time period and many of the key steps are yet to be done. The existing national-markets development level is highly non-homogeneous and is in need of further development. In such circumstances, a relevant question related to the study of foreign experience arises. European Union started to form its single financial services market in 1973, and since then it has gained certain experience in financial markets integration. This research paper is dedicated to the issue of necessity and possibility of using the EU experience in the course of the EAEU Single market development. The issue will be addressed in terms of political, legal, academic, and practical aspects. The article is of a general, theoretical legal character, which is why emphasis will be placed on legal and doctrinal questions. Special attention will be paid to an analysis of the Eurasian Economic Union Treaty and its Protocols. The work will be based on the academic research and opinions of Russian and foreign authors.

The tenuous link between CSR performance and support for regulation: Business associations and Nordic regulatory preferences regarding the corporate transparency law 2014/95/EU

AbstractDo countries with high corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance support more stringent supranational regulation? Following this logic, existing scholarship claims that Nordic countries push for tougher regulations to sharpen their competitive advantage. On the basis of an examination of the negotiations over the EU Directive 2014/95/EU, a corporate transparency law that requires firms to report on their social, environmental, and human rights impacts, this paper argues that strong CSR performance does not necessarily entail strong support for regulation. Nordic companies perform well when it comes to sustainability, but except for Denmark, Nordic governments’ support for the Directive was lukewarm. To explain why, I examine the dynamics between CSR leaders, business associations, and party politics. I find that business associations are key for explaining this outcome. While some Nordic CSR leaders provided support, business associations, in which SMEs with lower CSR performance comprise the bulk of the members, were forceful opponents of regulation, unless domestic regulations are in place, in which case these associations support supranational regulations to level the playing field. I also stress the importance of partisan politics and extend the analysis to mandatory human rights due diligence. In sum, Nordic countries are much more heterogeneous than what the literature often suggests.

Does the Multilevel Governance of State Aid Encourage Broadband Diffusion? Evidence from Three European Countries

EU broadband policy has been described as an example of multi-level governance (MLG) involving manifold actors across different sectors and levels of government. Whereas the extant literature has largely explored the interaction among public and private players and between national and supranational regulators in the context of the EU broadband markets, little attention has been paid to the MLG of state aid for broadband diffusion. This paper aims to fill such a research gap by employing multiple qualitative methods to explore how MLG has affected the implementation of public initiatives in support of broadband diffusion across Spain, Italy and the UK. The cross-country comparison reveals a trend towards the centralisation of public interventions, which created efficiencies in the management of state aid but raised tensions with local authorities. Therefore, the current MLG of state aid needs to be adjusted to balance the benefits of a greater coordination with the need to ensure the effective and active participation of local stakeholders to the implementation of broadband projects.

National Sovereignty: Socio-Political Transformation in Context of Modern Cyber Realities

The key idea of the study is the question of the relationship between such categories as “national sovereignty” and “cyberspace”. The authors consider that the current theory of law and positive legal regulation at the present stage do not offer reasonable options for interaction and coexistence of these concepts. 
 
 In the conditions of the dramatic changes in the existing realities over the past 30 years, the question arises of the differentiation of legal regulation, which is still more intended to the social relations that existed in the 20th century. Today technical progress is significantly ahead of social, in particular, legal regulation, which, in turn, is seriously tied to the state or, as any law student confirms, “territorial organization of power in a society with sovereignty...”. And here the main question arises about the reasonableness of the above formulation. Is it suitable for existing realities? Or is it itself an obstacle to legalization? The article analyzes various approaches to the legal settlement of relations in cyberspace, as well as offers two options for supranational regulation of these legal relations - through the development and establishment of an extraterritorial international body that will have not only the ability to control public relations within cyberspace, but also special instruments of coercion to influence the citizens of any state, either through the creation of a global system of international acts that will regulate most of the existing questions about the interaction of persons in cyberspace and included a clear mechanism to respond quickly to the emergence of new relations in this sphere.
 
 The authors also consider that the inability at theoretical level to conceptualize the relationship between these categories could lead to the discrediting of such notions as “national state” and “national sovereignty” in the future.

As duas grandes crises do constitucionalismo diante da globalização no século XXI

Ainda que a progressiva incorporação do constitucionalismo ao plano internacional e global implique avanços civilizatórios parciais, o certo é que o século XXI está provocando uma transformação essencial nas condições históricas que haviam dado lugar a sua formação e desenvolvimento. A globalização gerou um contexto caracterizado pela aceleração e transformação permanente, tanto no âmbito econômico como no tecnológico. As mudanças produzidas nas quase duas décadas do século XXI, alteraram substancialmente o mundo que conhecíamos até o final do século XX. Surgiram novos agentes de poder global tanto públicos como privados que não se vinculam aos valores inspiradores do constitucionalismo. NO caso dos públicos, porque se tratam de Estados autoritários nos quais não existem estruturas democráticas ou estas são muito débeis. No dos privados, porque vinculam sua atividade à lógica exclusiva do benefício econômico, desvirtuando os valores democráticos que haviam regido o espaço público até recentemente. A crescente permeabilidade do Estado aos agentes globais que agem no plano financeiro e comunicativo, determinou as duas grandes crises do constitucionalismo frente à globalização neste século XXI. Por um lado, a crise financeira, que deu lugar a uma exteriorização do poder estatal, submetido plenamente às condições econômicas ditadas do exterior. Por força da crise tentou-se implantar uma “interpretação econômica da Constituição” que debilitou os valores inspiradores do constitucionalismo. Por outro lado, a crise democrática, manifestada a partir do Brexit e das eleições presidenciais norte-americanas, com a incidência que tiveram as grandes agências provedoras de serviços de Internet sobre os processos eleitorais, mediante o desenho tecnológico de propaganda massiva adaptada às redes sociais. O Estado-Nação encontra-se atualmente indefeso ante tais agentes globais da especulação financeira nos mercados e da manipulação publicitária do espaço público (que têm conexões entre si). O constitucionalismo de nossa época somente pode aspirar uma regulação global ou, senão, supranacional, eficaz. Para além dos efeitos visíveis da intervenção destes novos poderes globais, surgem alguns problemas estruturais que podem afetar a própria essência do constitucionalismo em sua última fase de desenvolvimento até o momento, aquela representada pelas constituições normativas e a democracia pluralista. No plano econômico, minam-se as bases o Estado social e deterioram-se suas raízes culturais. No plano comunicativo, apesar da potencialidade participativa que têm as redes sociais, percebe-se um isolamento e encapsulamento da coletividade em grupos e uma mudança de padrões de conduta nos partidos políticos e nos meios de comunicação, que dificultam cada vez mais os processos comunicativos reflexivos, orientados no sentido da formação de consenso, que eram próprios da democracia pluralista. A segmentação e desagregação progressivas do espaço público se veem potencializadas extraordinariamente pelas redes sociais, já que lhes resulta economicamente produtiva às grandes plataformas de Internet. O fomento da instabilidade política e de conflitos sociais virtuais através das redes incrementa sua receita publicitária. A lógica economicista instalada nos grandes agentes globais está provocando um retrocesso civilizatório e uma crise existencial para o constitucionalismo como nós o conhecemos.

Transparency in the EU Institutions - An Overview

The concepts of transparency of the public sector has been in existence, in various forms, for centuries. Academics, however, agree on the fact that transparency should be qualified as a modern concept. The wave of government reforms that occurred in the 1950s and the 1960s fostered the culture of transparent, accessible and accountable bureaucracies. In the 1990s, following on the spread of technologies, terms like “Government 2.0” and “open government” were coined to describe the use that public administrations made of the Internet and other digital tools in order to foster civic engagement, improve transparency, and enhance the efficiency of government services. Transparency has come to the fore again over the past few years. National and supranational regulators (including the European Union) have placed transparency among the priorities in their regulatory agendas. Enhanced transparency in decision-making is considered to be a solution to the decline of trust in the public sector, a limit to the negative impact of conspiracy theories and fake news, and also a way to revitalise civic engagement. EU institutions promote transparency across different lines of action. Exemplary are the ongoing debates on reforming the legislative procedure of the Union, regulating lobbying activities, making available data in open format and digitalising services. Also relevant is the role of the European Ombudsman in promoting a culture of transparency at the EU level. Studies suggest that transparency and participation in public governance are having a positive impact on the accountability of EU institutions, and hence on citizens' perceptions of their activities. The present briefing offers an overview of the actions that EU institutions are implementing to foster transparency, analyzing the potential benefits and briefly discussing its possible drawbacks.

Multilevel Coordination and Cooperation during Implementing Supranational Environmental Legislation: A Case Study on Invasive Alien Species

Coordination and cooperation are necessary topics to strengthen international environmental agreements that improve action against worldwide challenges towards sustainable development and environmental protection, such as invasive alien species (IAS). This study aims to assess to what extent national and transnational cooperation and coordination influences the implementation of a supranational regulation against IAS based on an example from the European Union (EU). Data is used from a broader study, including 47 responses to an online questionnaire and 22 interviews completed by experts from two countries (Austria and Romania), together with in depth literature. Additionally, the IAS-Regulation is analyzed from the perspective of cooperation and coordination. The terms “cooperation” and “coordination” were found within the text of the IAS-Regulation 11 and nine times respectively, whereas their context was transnational and national levels mainly, and transnational, respectively. It was further acknowledged from the majority of the answers from the survey respondents that the national coordination and cooperation is weaker than the transnational level due to the influence of the national competence distribution. Results from the interviews are separated into ‘transnational’ and ‘national’ cooperation and coordination. They show that the majority of the 47 responses indicate that the distribution of competence is one of the main influencing factors on the implementation. It is concluded that the current situation of cooperation and coordination in Austria and Romania renders it difficult for the European Commission to receive a realistic view about IAS and the implementation of the IAS Regulation in the two countries; hence, it is difficult to offer helpful support especially due to poor national cooperation. The current study can serve as a blueprint for further studies. Even in regional integration contexts beyond the EU, it can prove helpful to assess the impact of different kinds of competence distribution on the implementation of common norms. Thus, this research can path the way innovatively and serve as a comparative example for similar future studies.

The challenges of upward regulatory harmonization: The case of sustainability reporting in the European Union

AbstractWhat are the prospects for the upward harmonization of regulatory standards, and why do governments support or oppose more stringent supranational regulation? To answer these questions, this paper examines an important case of upward regulatory harmonization, the European Union's non‐financial disclosure Directive 2014/95/EU, which requires large firms to report on their social, environmental, and human rights impacts. In spite of favorable circumstances, the Directive's opponents watered down the Commission's proposal during the course of the negotiations. Upward regulatory harmonization is difficult because of the adjustment costs it imposes on the private sector. The paper provides an in‐depth analysis of countries’ positions in the negotiations: Germany was the most hardline opponent, France the strongest supporter, and the United Kingdom was somewhere in‐between. For most countries, private sector adjustment costs determine government support and opposition for upward harmonization at the supranational level, but the analysis shows that partisan politics and varieties of capitalism also matter.

Limits of Law in Ending Impunity for State Crime: Time to Re-frame the International Criminal Court's Mandate?

Adopting a definition of state crime as deviance, rather than international crime committed by states, this article critically evaluates the limits of law and the efficacy of the Rome Statute in delivering the International Criminal Court's mandate. It suggests that the replication of domestic criminal justice responses – crime defined by the state, an emphasis on individual culpability, reliance on deterrence and the rule of law – is unsuitable for conceiving and tackling state criminality at a supranational level. States may evade the jurisdiction of the Court and exploit delays caused by the Courts' formal rules of procedure and evidence. They may also depend on the non-cooperation of state parties to bring perpetrators to justice and the lack of political unity within the United Nations Security Council. With increasing resort to domestic courts and national agencies to close the impunity gap, it is timely to revisit the Court's mandate, to clarify its function as a supranational regulator in respect of a limited range of offences, rather than the decisive method of ending impunity for state crime that some have claimed and for which others had hoped.

ACTIVITY OF INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL INSTITUTES AND THEIR PARTICIPANTS OF THEIR RELATIONS WITH UKRAINE

The article deals with the peculiarities of the activities of international financial institutions and their relationship with Ukraine in modern conditions. The main goals and directions of the activities of key international financial institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, are specified. It is noted that in the context of globalization their role and significance grows, because they are supranational regulators that affect financial security of both the individual countries of the world and security of the world financial market as a whole. The main reasons for the emergence of international financial institutions and the basic goals of their activities are systematized. The International Monetary Fund is the main international financial institution, which is the institutional basis of the world monetary and financial system. The IMF assesses the sufficiency of the global financial protection system, provides economic supervision and control over the safe operation of the global monetary and financial system, and should respond to emerging problems and imbalances in a timely manner, providing the necessary funding and technical assistance to countries under the approved arrangements. The analysis of the statistics on loans provided by the IMF within various lending mechanisms, the analysis of the state of the world 's debts to the IMF in the context of its privileged and non – beneficial loans, the peculiarities of the IBRD' s relations with the member countries are analyzed and there are identified current trends in this direction. The key problems and challenges in the work of international financial institutions are formulated and prospective ways of their development are defined, the use of which will promote both optimization of their activities and strengthening the security of the world financial market.

Protection against competition law violations: Opportunities for compensation for damages in the Eurasian Economic Union and the European Union

The article analyzes current legal regulations in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and European Union (EU) governing protection against integrated entities’ violations of their respective competition laws. The issues of the policies implemented in this area in accordance with EAEU law, the correlation of national and supranational regulation and their application (including the principle of non bis in idem), and the delimitation of the competence of national and EAEU bodies in this area are clarified in light of the provisions of the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union (EEC) of May 29, 2014 and advisory opinions of the Court of the Eurasian Economic Union (of April 4, 2017; of December 17, 2018; of June 18, 2019). The absence of a legal ground for “private enforcement” of the EAEU competition laws, including its most important element — compensation for losses — is noted. In this regard, the authors analyze the experience of the European Union in this sphere, which is reflected in the Directive 2014/104/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of November 26, 2014 on certain rules governing actions for damages under national law for infringements of the competition law provisions of the member states and of the European Union. Its key provisions are considered in sufficient detail. Based on the results of the research undertaken, it is concluded that it is necessary to empower the Eurasian Economic Commission in the EAEU Treaty to calculate the damages caused by the infringements of the EAEU Treaty competition rules that have or may have a negative effect on competition in cross-border markets in the territories of two or more EAEU member states. In order to implement this, it is also proposed to vest the EEC with the competence to approve the procedure of recovery and methodology of calculating these damages. According to the authors, the development of such a procedure requires the study, inter alia, of the mentioned EU experience.

Вплив фінансової глобалізації на формування фінансової архітектури.

The article studies the influence of financial globalization on the formation of financial architecture. The essence of the concept of “financial globalization” is examined, and it is determined that the most optimal is the definition of financial globalization as a free and efficient movement of capital between countries and regions, the functioning of the global market, the formation of a system of supranational regulation of international finance, the implementation of global financial strategies of multinational corporations and transnational banks. The positive aspects that affect the formation of the financial architecture, such as the growth in foreign trade and product sales markets, are examined; access to resources of other countries (attraction of investments); increased competition; taking advantage of the international division of labor; additions to the latest technologies and negative: asymmetry of its results for different groups of countries; deepening the level of dependence of countries in conditions of instability of the global financial system threatens each subject of economic relations; an increase in the share of speculative operations while increasing the scale of cross-border capital flows; reduction of tax revenues and the level of controllability of the financial sector, there are opportunities for tax evasion; bankruptcy of non-competitive industries.

Komparativna analiza poreske regulacije transfernih cena u zemljama bivše SFR Jugoslavije

Transfer pricing, as a potential instrument for avoiding real tax liability, is one of the growing tax issues of the 21st century. In an effort to shed light on the negative effects of transfer pricing application on local tax budgets and identify certain mechanisms for efficient tax control, the paper discusses basic implications of transfer pricing misuse in terms of taxation, as well as some instruments of taxation thereof. Also, in order to determine the awareness of the seriousness of this issue in former Yugoslavian countries, the presentation and analysis of the representation of certain instruments of transfer pricing taxation in these countries were carried out in the context of supranational regulations. The analysis showed that there are large oscillations in the tax approach to the control of implementation of transfer pricing when conducting transactions between related legal entities, and that these differences are conditioned on the level of development and structure of legal regulations.

Предпосылки «антиотмывочного» регулирования в современной экономической теории

The FATF (Financial Action Task Force) obtained the status of an intergovernmental organization, and published the first edition of anti-money laundering standards (40 Recommendations) in 1999. Economists have investigated money laundering typologies, as well as the principles, objectives, and financial instruments of anti-money laundering control, which are formed and implemented by governments and financial organizations in pursuance of anti-money laundering standards. At the same time, all authors mention FATF standards as something unshakable, not subject to discussion. The theory and methodology of anti-money laundering regulation's impact on financial institutions, national financial systems, international finance, and macroeconomics have been developing fragmentarily. We study the known forms of supranational regulation of financial sectors and the vector of their evolution, and present the prerequisites of anti-money laundering associated with the negative impact of money laundering on the economy and society.

ФІСКАЛЬНІ ПРАВИЛА ТА КОРИГУВАННЯ БЮДЖЕТНОЇ ПОЛІТИКИ

Висвітлено питання використання фіскальних правил у проведенні бюджетної політики (одного з інноваційних механізмів, спрямованих на обмеження фіскальних дисбалансів та посилення позитивних впливів на економічний і соціальний розвиток). Проведено аналіз підходів до визначення змісту фіскальних правил. Запропоновано його трактування, що відображає не тільки їх обмежувальні, але й коригуючі функції. Розглянуто рекомендації МВФ з питань застосування фіскальних правил, наднаціонального регулювання бюджетної політики в рамках інтеграційних об’єднань, їх позитивний та негативний вплив на розвиток держав-членів. Зазначено, що фіскальні правила мають бути досить виваженими і гнучкими для їх використання в державному управлінні. З метою підвищення результативності фіскальних правил протягом останніх років в ЄС було внесено істотні зміни щодо їх складу. Виявлено основні завдання застосування фіскальних правил, а також їх значення в підвищенні бюджетної відповідальності уряду, зокрема, у забезпеченні бюджетної дисципліни, а також ефективності витрачання коштів. Розкрито механізми коригування бюджетної політики, які запроваджуються в рамках фіскальних правил. Особливу увагу приділено заходам продовження фіскальної консолідації, а також підтримання економічного зростання та фінансової стабільності. Зроблено висновки, що посилення жорсткості фіскальних правил на наднаціональному рівні в ЄС перешкоджало гнучкості в управлінні бюджетними ресурсами, отже, вони вимагають реформування. З використанням фіскальних правил актуалізувалися питання внесення змін до інституційної структури управління державними фінансами та поглиблення прозорості бюджетних операцій.Зазначено, що зміни до застосування фіскальних правил є досить важливими для України. Ті правила, які використовуються в нашій державі, є недостатніми і повною мірою не вирішують покладені на них завдання. Вони потребують розширення і вдосконалення, а також запровадження дійових механізмів імплементації. Для підвищення результативності фіскальної політики в Україні слід ураховувати досвід зарубіжних країн, а також розробляти і запроваджувати більш детальні та гнучкі фіскальні правила.

National versus supranational bank regulation: Gains and losses of joining a banking union

We ask how the structure of international banking affects the decision of a national regulator to join a banking union and to transfer regulatory powers to the supranational level. The focus is on bank supervision and bank resolution. A national regulator ignores possible gains or losses, which accrue to other jurisdictions if banks are internationally active. A supranational regulator takes these regulatory external effects into account. While supranational regulation improves total welfare, this is not necessarily the case for welfare in single countries. By analyzing the size and determinants of spillover effects we show how they constrain a country’s willingness to participate in a banking union. Our results may explain why some member states of the European Union currently hesitate to join the European Banking Union.

The safety of tattoo inks: Possible options for a common regulatory framework

Tattoo prevalence has been increasing in the last 25 years, but specific regulations on tattoo inks are still missing. In the European Union, no supranational regulation is available and only few national provisions cover them. In the United States, tattoo inks are classified as cosmetics but are not approved for injection into the dermis.Health risks for consumers may derive from microbiological contamination and the presence of toxic substances or nanomaterials. However, current regulations and non-binding recommendations, where present, only address the microbiological and chemical risks, completely overlooking nanotoxicity.The aim of this paper is to promote awareness of the risks associated with tattoo inks and the nanomaterials contained therein. In particular, the need for a harmonised regulation or, at least, a set of minimal requirements is highlighted to improve the safety of tattoo inks and market surveillance by regulatory authorities.