On the other side, the European Union has instituted more of a blanket regulatory system; it has a common directive that gives its citizens certain fundamental rights — like the right to obtain copies of records held about them by companies and institutions — that Americans now lack.
In the arena of transport it has previously used directives, which have force of law in all member states, to define air passenger rights in the Passengers Charter for Air Travel: "establishing common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation or long delay of flights" [17].
Whenever the European Commission gets serious about opening the European postal market to competition, as it did again last year with plans for a new directive, it has been Britain and France, another coddled monopoly, that have jointly led opposition.
It has also implemented European directives on a shorter working week and parental leave.
But the European Union is probably the most zealous regulator: it has separate legally binding "directives" on waste policy in general, hazardous waste, the transportation of waste, pollution control, landfills, incinerators, and a host of specific sorts of waste, from cars to packaging to electronic goods.
That explains why it has been possible for directives containing certain prohibitions to be adopted on the basis of article 100a' (para 45).
Since joining the E.U., in 2004, Cyprus has received repeated warnings from the European Commission for infringement of the directive, but it has so far avoided judgments and fines; if a member state's environmental laws accord on paper with the directive, the commission is reluctant to interfere with sovereign enforcement.
The Co-op has in effect adopted the strategy put forward in the directive before it has become law, telling bondholders to sacrifice around a third of their holdings to pay a third of the £1.5bn bailout package.
The European Venture Capital Association is calling on European entrepreneurs to lobby the EU and sign a petition it has drawn up against the Directive.
"The Board's report on the implementation of Presidential Policy-Directive No. 28 (PPD-28, which provides for privacy protections for non-Americans) has been made publicly available," the Commission writes, referring to a key Obama era directive that it has previously said the Shield depends upon.
