Environnement
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Brief history of the trade and environment debate
The trade and environment debate is not new. The link between trade and environmental protection consisting of both the impact of environmental policies on trade as well as the impact of trade on the environment was recognized as early as 1970. In the early 1970s there was growing international concern regarding the impact of economic growth on social development and the environment. This led to the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment.
Transparency and relations with other organizations
The provisions of the multilateral trading system with respect to the transparency of trade measures used for environmental purposes.
Relevant GATT/WTO provisions
The principle of non-discrimination has two components: the Most-Favoured Nation (MFN) clause contained in GATT Article I and the National Treatment principle contained in Article III. According to Article I WTO Members are bound to grant to the products of other Members treatment no less favourable than that accorded to the products of any other country. Thus no country is to give special trading advantages to another or to discriminate against it. Therefore all Members are on an equal footing and all share the benefits of any moves towards lower trade barriers. The MFN principle ensures that developing countries and others with little economic leverage are able to benefit freely from the best trading conditions whenever and wherever they are negotiated. A second component of non-discrimination is National Treatment. Article III stipulates that once goods have entered a market they must be treated no less favourably than equivalent domestically-produced goods.
Annexes
Ministers meeting on the occasion of signing the Final Act embodying the results of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations at Marrakesh on 15 April 1994.
Environment-Related disputes: An overview
Under the GATT six panel proceedings involving an examination of environmental measures or human health-related measures under Article XX were completed. Of the six reports three have not been adopted by GATT Contracting Parties. Under the WTO Dispute Settlement Understanding three such proceedings have been completed. The following provides a factual overview of these disputes.
The relationship between MEAs and the WTO
The relationship between the provisions of the multilateral trading system and trade measures for environmental purposes including those pursuant to multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs).
Trade and Environment at the WTO
Developed to assist public understanding of the trade and environment debate in the WTO this document briefly presents its history and focuses on trade and environment related issues within the Doha mandate the effects of trade liberalization on the environment the relationship between multilateral environmental agreements and the WTO and a review of trade disputes involving environmental issues.
National Environmental Policies and Multilateral Trade Rules
This paper provides an overview of institutional economic and legal aspects of the relationship between national environmental policies and the multilateral trading system. In particular it analyses some of the difficulties the WTO Dispute Settlement System faces when having to evaluate disputes on national environmental policies that have an impact on trade. From an economist's point of view it would be desirable that optimal environmental policies i.e. policies that correct existing market failures be ruled consistent with multilateral trade law. This paper argues that WTO law in theory provides appropriate tools to ensure rulings that are consistent with economic thinking. Yet the paper also argues that economists have a rather imperfect knowledge of the precise welfare effects of different types of environmental policies. In practice therefore it is questionable whether economists are able to give adequate guidance to legal experts when it comes to the evaluation of national environmental policies. This is one of the reasons why there continues to be some degree of uncertainty as to the possible interpretations of certain WTO rules in the context of environmental disputes.