Bridges Trade BioRes

Volume 5 • Number 12 24th June 2005

  • INDIA'S 'PROJECT APPROACH' CAUSES STIR AT ENVIRONMENTAL GOODS TALKS
    INDIA’S ‘PROJECT APPROACH’ CAUSES STIR AT ENVIRONMENTAL GOODS TALKS At an informal consultation on environmental goods on 10 June, WTO Members discussed a new submission by India proposing the use of what is now referred to as the ‘project approach’, which would link the accelerated (albeit temporary) liberalisation of environmental goods to their use in environmental…
  • WIPO COMMITTEE AT A STANDSTILL ON TK AND GENETIC RESOURCES
    WIPO COMMITTEE AT A STANDSTILL ON TK AND GENETIC RESOURCES The eighth session of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC), held in Geneva from 6-10 June 2005, ended with members unable to agree on proposals that could form the basis of an international…
  • DISCLOSURE CONTINUES TO DIVIDE TRIPS COUNCIL
    DISCLOSURE CONTINUES TO DIVIDE TRIPS COUNCIL Earlier divisions on the need for disclosure of origin of genetic resources and traditional knowledge (TK) along with evidence of prior informed consent and benefit-sharing in patent applications again emerged at the 14-15 June meeting of the WTO Council for Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS; see BRIDGES Trade…
  • CONSERVATIONISTS RETAIN MAJORITY AT WHALING COMMISSION
    CONSERVATIONISTS RETAIN MAJORITY AT WHALING COMMISSION With nine new member states and rumours regarding the buying of votes of developing countries, there was uncertainty regarding the power balance between pro- and anti whaling nations as the International Whaling Commission (IWC) met for its 57th annual meeting in Ulsan, South Korea, on 20-24 June 2005. A Japanese…
  • In Brief
  • EU Ministers Vote to Allow National GM Bans
    EU Environmental Ministers on 24 June voted to allow Austria, France, Germany, Greece and Luxembourg to maintain eight national bans on varieties of genetically modified (GM) maize and rapeseed. The bans, which have been challenged at the WTO by the US, Canada and Argentina (see BRIDGES Trade BioRes, 5 June 2005) and have been described…
  • Leaked G8 Draft on Illegal Logging 'Weak'
    G8 leaders at their upcoming meeting will only agree to voluntary measures “with each country acting where it can contribute most effectively” to end illegal logging, according to a draft leaked on 16 June. The draft communique for the 6-8 July summit stresses that logging countries have to bear their own share of responsibility for…
  • WTO Negotiations Begin on Non-Tariff Barriers
    After many months of discussions on how to categorise non-tariff barriers (NTBs) to trade, a week of talks at the WTO Negotiating Group on Non-Agricultural Market Access (NAMA) concluded on 10 June with an agreement to begin actual negotiations. NTBs can consist of national regulatory measures, including for social and environmental purposes, which impede international…
  • UNICPOLOS-6 Echoes WTO Talks on Fisheries Subsidies
    The final text adopted on 10 June by the sixth meeting of the open-ended informal consultative process on oceans and the law of the sea (UNICPOLOS-6) echoed concerns expressed earlier by WTO Members in the WTO Negotiating Group on Rules with regards to environmentally harmful fisheries subsidies. The group, which convened in New York City…
  • EC Proposed Major Cuts in Sugar Prices: Sugar Firms, ACP Concerned
    On 22 June, the European Commission announced much anticipated reform proposals to its sugar protection regime (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 3 December 2004). The Commission proposal comes in the wake of a successful challenge to the European sugar subsidies at the WTO by Australia, Brazil and Thailand (see Bridges Weekly, 4 May 2005). The proposals…
  • Food from Cloned Animals on the Way to US Supermarkets?
    A study assessing the safety of meat and milk products from cloned farm animals for human food consumption, undertaken by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), could soon lead to a lifting of the US moratorium on the commercial use of such products. During the annual conference of the Biotechnology Industry Organization BIO 2005,…
  • Forest Law Enforcement, Illegal Logging Discussed at ITTC
    At the thirty-eighth session of the International Tropical Timber Council (ITTC) in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, on 19-22 June, the governing body of the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) decided to continue the organisation’s efforts to assist countries to develop and enforce forest laws. In addition to decisions to fund a number of projects on…
  • Events
  • Events
    For a more comprehensive list of events in trade and sustainable development, please refer to ICTSD’s web calendar. Please bear in mind that dates and times of WTO meetings are often changed, and that the WTO does not always announce the important informal meetings of the different bodies. Coming up in the next two weeks 27-29 June,…
  • Resources
  • Resources
    If you have a relevant resource (books, papers, bulletins, etc.) you would like to see announced in this section, please forward a copy or review by the BRIDGES staff to Sarah Mohan . ICTSD Resource DEFINING ENVIRONMENTAL GOODS AND SERVICES AND THEIR TRADE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IMPLICATIONS: A CASE STUDY OF MEXICO. By Enrique Lendo (ICTSD and…