International Approaches to the Regulatory Governance of Nanotechnology

Abstract

This report is an initial exploration into the question: How have Canada and other jurisdictions reacted to the recent emergence of nanotechnology-based products in the marketplace (and what is the current state of affairs) undertaken from the perspective of regulatory governance. The report is largely based on a literature review (up to March 2009) that has been corroborated with expert interviews. Our focus is on five jurisdictions (US, UK, EU, Australia and Canada) and we describe how the emergence of nanotechnology triggered activities in three domains: (a) public and stakeholder debate, (b) development of initial policy options, and (c) the management of regulatory development in a situation of scarce data. On the basis of these up-to-date descriptions, we have selected a set of six regulatory governance principles and discuss the extent to which best practices are starting to emerge.