Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 8 • Number 34 • 13th October 2004
PPMS, Process Issues Addressed At WTO Environmental Goods Workshop
A workshop on environmental goods (EG) organised by the WTO Secretariat on 11 October witnessed active participation from delegations, capital-based officials and other experts who attended. The workshop was aimed at enhancing WTO Members’ understanding of the key issues involved in the negotiations on environmental goods. These are outlined in Paragraph 31 (iii) of the Doha Ministerial Declaration (DMD), which launched negotiations on "the reduction or, as appropriate, elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers to environmental goods and services."
The informal setting of the workshop contributed to a lively presentation of issues and ideas by panellists and a useful exchange of views on the subject among delegates. Environmentally preferable products drew a great deal of interest, particularly the treatment of organic agriculture and natural resources such as natural gas and eco-friendly fuels. While there was an acknowledgement that process and production methods (PPMs) were still a contentious issue, several suggestions came to the fore, including a one-time waiver for accepting PPM-based criteria exclusively for developing country EG exports. Some developing countries cautioned that PPM criteria could become a market-access barrier. Some pointed to the possibility of a sectoral treatment of environmental goods which could be worked into modalities established by the recent "July package" (WT/L/579) for negotiations in both industrial goods (para. 12) and agriculture (para. 49). Others criticised the consideration of environmental goods as a sectoral initiative. The identification and treatment of non-tariff barriers was regarded as a major challenge. An interesting example of technology licensing agreements being tied to market-restriction clauses (i.e. prohibition of exports to certain markets) was highlighted in a case study presented on the Indian situation.
Presentations were also made on the experience from sectoral initiatives in other areas such as civil aircraft, chemicals and information technology and how these could be relevant to environmental goods. The challenge of ‘multiplicity’ of end-uses with regard to certain environmental goods was further reinforced by a representative from the World Customs Organisation, who pointed out that identification of goods was usually by a description of the goods and physical and objective criteria that was verifiable. Hence Customs did not carry out verification of ‘end-use’ through labelling or certification.
Other issues raised included shifting technologies and the coherence between environmental goods and services negotiations. The role of the WTO Committees on Trade and Development and Trade and Environment in identifying and debating the environmental and developmental aspects of the environmental goods negotiations (referring to the mandate in DMD para. 51) was also pointed out. While some participants stressed the ‘developmental’ aspects of the negotiations, others pointed out that environmental protection was an important objective for all countries to be gained through the negotiations, and that Members should not lose sight of the link to sustainable development mandates such as the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) and objectives outlined in multilateral environmental agreements.
ICTSD reporting.