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n a short meeting of the regular session of the Committee on Trade and Environment in the morning of 6 June, Brazil made a lengthy intervention in reaction to the EC’s 20 June request for WTO consultations on a Brazilian ban on imports of used and retreaded tyres (WT/DS332/1, G/L/741). In a statement, supported by a document distributed to Members at the end of the meeting, Brazil defended the ban and other accompanying measures by saying they were adopted to mitigate harmful environmental and health impacts that have been recognised to arise from used, retreaded and waste tyres. As EC legislation restricting tyre disposal has partly recognised, Brazil argued, waste management of used tyres is extremely difficult, trade in tyres is an important factor in the spread of viral diseases around the world, and air and soil contamination often results from huge fires that frequently occur where tyres are stockpiled. The Brazilian delegate defended the trade ban by citing GATT Article XX and by saying that it was “unfair that developed countries adopt waste management strategies that include, in practice, dumping of used tyres in developing countries.”
ICTSD Reporting.
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