Learning from the European union. (Other Countries).(Brief Article)

Michael Greve, "New Insights from the Old Continent," in Federalist Outlook (January/February 2002), American Enterprise Institute, 1150 17th Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036

As the member states of the European Union slowly meld into a giant superstate, some parts of that integration might be worth emulating by others. American Enterprise Institute resident scholar Michael Greve suggests that one principle worth imitating is the notion of "mutual recognition."

In the 1970s, West Germany outlawed the importation of French cassis, because the French beverage, with an alcohol content of 20 percent, did not have quite enough alcohol to be classified as hard liquor, and therefore could be consumed by minors. In the Cassis de Dijon decision (1979), the European Court of Justice ruled against the Germans and declared a principle of "mutual recognition," which allows products legal under the laws of one E.U. member state to be sold in all member states.

The "mutual recognition" principle has caused many countries to open their markets to previously blocked ...