WTO Ministerial Section • Volume 7 • Number 19 • 28th May 2003

Environment Secretariats to Attend July WTO CTE Session

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At a 22 May informal consultation of the WTO special session of the Committee on Trade and Environment (CTE), delegates agreed to admit secretariats from six multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) as well as the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) to the body’s next meeting on 8 July.

The invited secretariats are the same as at the last meeting of the CTE special session (see BRIDGES Weekly, 7 May 2003), namely the Basel Convention; the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD); the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES); the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO); the Montreal Protocol, and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). They have been asked to attend as ad-hoc invitees, and will only be allowed to participate in discussions under paragraph 31(i) of the Doha Ministerial Declaration — on the relationship between WTO rules and specific trade obligations in MEAs.

In addition to talks on para. 31(i), Members will use the 8 July CTE session to consider a report by Chair Yolande Biké (Gabon) to be submitted under her own responsibility to the Fifth Ministerial Conference in Cancun, Mexico on 10-14 September. Thus far, there has been only one submission from Members on making recommendations to the Ministerial, namely from the EC on consolidating the ad-hoc invitations to MEAs and UNEP, though the EC has not specified what it means by ‘consolidating’.

Members did not decide on 22 May whether or not to allow MEA secretariats to attend the October meeting of the CTE special session, preferring instead to wait until after the Fifth Ministerial in the event a decision is taken on the issue of observership, which remains blocked for political reasons at the level of the General Council.

At the 8 July meeting, Members will also discuss para. 31(ii) — procedures for regular information exchange between MEA secretariats and relevant WTO committees, and the criteria for the granting of observer status. According to sources, Malaysia, supported by Brazil and other developing countries, said that Members should agree on guidelines / format for MEA participation in the special session, including how they should participate and which MEAs should attend.

ICTSD reporting.