Transnational Regulation of Nanotechnology: Reality or Romanticism?

INTERNATIONAL HANDBOOK ON REGULATING NANOTECHNOLOGIES, Edward Elgar, Forthcoming

34 Pages Posted: 24 Jun 2009 Last revised: 9 Jan 2014

See all articles by Kenneth W. Abbott

Kenneth W. Abbott

Arizona State University

Gary E. Marchant

Arizona State University - College of Law

Douglas J. Sylvester

Arizona State University - College of Law

Date Written: June 23, 2009

Abstract

In less than a decade, nanotechnology has exploded from a relatively obscure and narrow technical field to a scientific, economic, and public phenomenon. The precipitous emergence of such a broad and significant technology has created an unprecedented opportunity to craft new regulatory or oversight approaches on a clean slate. Indeed, discussions of appropriate forms of regulatory oversight for nanotechnology have shadowed the exponential growth of the technology itself, with a rapid proliferation in calls and proposals for regulation. The actual adoption of nanotechnology regulations, however, has increasingly lagged both the technology and the academic and policy debate.

Regulatory scholars, including ourselves, have raised the option of international harmonization since the outset of the discourse on nanotechnology regulation. Despite these initial calls for harmonization, however, very little has occurred and the time for progress in this area may be quickly dwindling. Ultimately, there are appealing arguments for harmonization, summarized in part I below. To be sure, for the reasons stated in part II, formal international regulation, as traditionally understood and applied, is unlikely to be feasible anytime soon. Yet less formal "governance" approaches may still hold promise for promoting the international coordination, if not harmonization, of nanotechnology regulation; we explore these approaches in Part III.

Keywords: Nanotechnology, regulation, international law, technology, soft law, cognitive, harmonization, environmental

Suggested Citation

Abbott, Kenneth Wayne and Marchant, Gary E. and Sylvester, Douglas J., Transnational Regulation of Nanotechnology: Reality or Romanticism? (June 23, 2009). INTERNATIONAL HANDBOOK ON REGULATING NANOTECHNOLOGIES, Edward Elgar, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1424697

Kenneth Wayne Abbott

Arizona State University ( email )

Box 877906
Tempe, AZ 85287-7906
United States
480-965-5917 (Phone)

Gary E. Marchant

Arizona State University - College of Law ( email )

Box 877906
Tempe, AZ 85287-7906
United States
(480) 965-3246 (Phone)
(480) 965-2427 (Fax)

Douglas J. Sylvester (Contact Author)

Arizona State University - College of Law ( email )

Box 877906
Tempe, AZ 85287-7906
United States

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