Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 7 • Number 5 • 16th March 2007
ENVIRONMENT AT THE WTO: MEMBERS DISCUSS INFORMATION EXCHANGE WITH MEAS
ENVIRONMENT AT THE WTO: MEMBERS DISCUSS INFORMATION EXCHANGE WITH MEAS
A recent meeting of the special (negotiating) session of the WTO Committee on Trade and Environment (CTE) focused on the relatively less contentious agenda item of procedures for information exchange between multilateral environmental agreement (MEA) secretariats and relevant WTO committees. Informal talks continued on liberalisation of environmental goods and services.
The meeting of CTE special session, which took place from 1-2 March, was the first following the resumption of full Doha round talks a month ago. Discussions revolved around a new US submission (TN/TE/W/70, available at http://docsonline.wto.org) on Para 31 (ii) of the Doha Declaration (information exchange). The submission proposed that MEA information sessions within the CTE take place on a regular basis, initially once per year. Regarding MEA observer status in other WTO bodies, the US proposed that the CTE special session develop a non-exhaustive list of "indicative questions" to aid these WTO bodies in making decisions on a case-by-case basis. Possible questions included whether an MEA contained specific trade obligations or other trade-related obligations, and if so, whether these were relevant to the particular WTO body’s scope of work. The US also proposed that the CTE special session grant seven MEA secretariats (which now have ad hoc observership) permanent observer status for the remainder of the Doha round.
The US stressed that communication between all interested ministries (i.e. transport, agriculture, customs) should be improved at the domestic level. It emphasised that enhanced international coordination, while useful and important, could not replace the much more direct and efficient means of ongoing national-level coordination between trade and environment officials. The submission proposed that the WTO secretariat, with the aid of relevant MEA secretariats, focus more assistance on building the capacity of developing country Members to foster their own internal trade and environment coordination processes.
Commenting on the submission, Switzerland wanted specific reference to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) included in any decision on information exchange. The EU called for permanent observership for all MEA secretariats. ‘On the whole,’ however, one developing country delegate said, ‘the US submission seemed acceptable to most if not all Members.’
Informal discussion also took place on the liberalisation of environmental goods and services (EGS). Generally, developed countries have proposed that Members should agree to a ‘list’ of specific environmental goods slated for liberalisation. Many developing countries fear that such a list would mainly feature goods of export interest to developed countries, and have come up with alternative approaches (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 14 July 2006, http://www.ictsd.org/biores/06-07-14/story1.htm). A developing country trade delegate said the recent informal talks had been ‘constructive,’ noting that he sensed a certain ’softening’ of attitudes among delegations.
The next CTE special session is scheduled for 2-3 May. According to trade sources, India is planning to submit a revised proposal on its ‘project’ approach to EGS before this meeting. The chair of the negotiations, Ambassador Toufiq Ali (Bangladesh), will likely convene an informal meeting on 30 March.
ICTSD reporting.