EC Law and trade agreements’ impact on public health and alcohol policy.Meeting in Riga 25-26.2.2009
The space for alcohol policy-making has changed due to what is often referred to as the process of globalization. By international agreements politics looses its geographical boundaries and is governed by aims of pacts tied for reasons of economic competitiveness in a global context. These types of actions for liberalizing trade have some evident and serious side effects on the public health policy field. One notable structural change has been the so called judicialisation of politics, where international courts make decisions that have direct impact on the space for action in issues of public health. Judges in international courts decide on matters that used to be on the tables of national or local politicians.
It is becoming more evident that in order to know the alcohol policy field in Europe of today one needs to be acquainted with the logics of EC law, EFTA and WTO. Taking this assumption as a starting point the Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services is arranging a seminar about EC Law and international trade agreements’ impact on public health, with alcohol policy as a special focus. The meeting, which will take place in Riga in February 2009, is co-arranged with the Nordic Centre for Alcohol and Drug Research (NAD, Nordic Centre for Welfare and Social issues). The target audience is European civil servants, researchers and policy makers, especially in the geographical area of the Northern Dimension Partnership (NDPHS, http://www.ndphs.org/).
The programme is structured around presentations by specialists of trade agreements, EC law as well as public health and alcohol policy. The seminar will for example discuss policy processes at an EU level, and will present special cases of monopolies, alcohol marketing and cross border trade. It will offer an opportunity to get insights in the larger processes that shape everyday policy making.
____________________________________________________________________
