Bridges Trade BioRes

Volume 5 • Number 19 28th October 2005

  • CTE LOOKS AT APPROACHES TO ENVIRONMENTAL GOODS LIBERALISATION
    CTE LOOKS AT APPROACHES TO ENVIRONMENTAL GOODS LIBERALISATION WTO Members remain divided on how to define ‘environmental goods’ earmarked for liberalisation under Paragraph 31 (iii) of the Doha Declaration. Discussions in the CTE Special (negotiating) Session (CTE-SS) on 14 October once again looked at two proposed approaches for defining such goods, namely the multilateral identification…
  • WTO FISHERIES TALKS ADDRESS INFRASTRUCTURE SUBSIDIES
    WTO FISHERIES TALKS ADDRESS INFRASTRUCTURE SUBSIDIES During negotiations on fisheries subsidies in the WTO Negotiating Group on Rules on 26 October, Members discussed subsidies to infrastructure based on a paper submitted by New Zealand which highlighted the need to include subsidies to fisheries infrastructure as a category into the disciplines (TN/RL/GEN/70). Motivated by statistics which indicate…
  • US AND INDIA CLASH ON DISCLOSURE AT TRIPS MEETING
    US AND INDIA CLASH ON DISCLOSURE AT TRIPS MEETING At the WTO Council for Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) on 25-26 and 28 October, discussions on disclosure of the source of biological materials and related traditional knowledge in patent applications once again saw countries clash on whether such a patent-based system was indeed necessary…
  • In Brief
  • EU Agrees to Timber Licensing Scheme
    European Agriculture Ministers on 24 October agreed to establish a scheme under the ‘EU Action Plan for Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade’ (FLEGT) under which countries that export timber to the EU could voluntarily decide to negotiate partnership agreements with the EU (see BRIDGES Trade BioRes, 21 January 2005). Once the agreement was signed,…
  • WTO Members Propose Enhanced Liberalisation of Forest and Fish Sectors
    Canada, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Thailand and the US on 14 October presented a proposal to initiate sectoral negotiations for enhanced liberalisation of the forest product sector to the WTO Negotiating Group on Non-Agricultural Market Access (NAMA) (TN/MA/W/64) (see BRIDGES Trade BioRes, 24 June 2005). Also on 14 October, Canada, Iceland, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore…
  • South Africa Considers Amendments to Biotech Laws
    A Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) Amendment Bill was introduced into the South African Parliament on 14 October in an attempt to ensure that the country, which is the only country in Africa to have commercialised GMOs, complies with its obligations as a signatory of the Cartagena Protocol. The amendments to the 1997 Genetically Modified Organisms…
  • CBD Experts Panel on Liability and Redress Makes Progress
    A 12-14 October meeting of legal and technical experts on liability and redress within Article 14(2) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was able to move beyond defining the legal elements of liability and redress to tackling technical aspects. The expert panel, meeting in Montreal, Canada, was mandated to clarify responsibility for damage to…
  • Cultural Expressions Convention Adopted Despite US Opposition
    The UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) voted on 20 October to approve the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions in spite of staunch opposition from the US. Supporters of the treaty hailed the vote, which was 142 to two (with only the US and Israel against) under…
  • Organic Movement Promotes its Role in Biodiversity Conservation
    Under the auspices of this year’s World Food Day theme, “Agriculture and intercultural dialogue”, the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) took the opportunity to highlight its role in global intercultural dialogue by coming out against unfair trade practices and in support of organic agriculture. At a time when over 800 million people worldwide…
  • Civil Society Groups Shine Light on Chinese Role in Illegal Logging
    Environmental NGOs Global Witness and Greenpeace International attacked China’s involvement in the trade of illegally logged timber in two reports released on 18 and 19 October respectively. The Global Witness report, entitled “A Choice for China: Ending the destruction of Burma’s northern frontier forests”, says that an environmental disaster is developing in Burma (now known…
  • 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 28-29 October,…
  • 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 . IS THE WTO IS THE ONLY WAY? SAFEGUARDING MULTILATERAL ENVIRONMENTAL AGREEMENTS FROM INTERNATIONAL TRADE RULES AND SETTLING TRADE AND ENVIRONMENT DISPUTES OUTSIDE THE…