As the market subject to these regulations is international, it is acknowledged that, notwithstanding the high degree of similarity that already exists between the respective requirements, without coordination, subjecting the global market to the simultaneous application of each other’s requirements could lead to conflicts of law, inconsistencies, and legal uncertainty.
On July 11, 2013 European Commissioner Michel Barnier and United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Gary Gensler announced a Path Forward regarding their joint understandings on a package of measures for how to approach cross-border derivatives. This new pact responds to the G20 commitment to lower risk and promote transparency in the over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives markets, but in a way that recognizes the challenges of regulating what is now understood to be a virtually borderless market. Pledging cooperation, the EU and US hope to ensure that regulations put in place "pursue the same objectives and generate the same outcomes." Much coordination between US and EU regulators has already in many places resulted "in final rules are essentially identical, even though the regulatory calendars are not always synchronized."