Guidelines set for trade talks

By BRIAN FALLOW economics editor

The Government has drawn up a set of principles covering the sometimes tricky interface between trade and environmental concerns, to guide it in international negotiations.

The guidelines talk of an overarching objective of promoting sustainable development, of the need for trade and environmental policies to be mutually supportive, and of the need to ensure that the World Trade Organisation (WTO) "continues to show proper respect for internationally agreed rules for the protection of the environment".

But they also say it is vital that environmental standards are not misused for protectionist reasons.

They say standards should focus on the environmental objective rather than seeking to prescribe unnecessarily the method by which the objective should be reached.



They point to the environmental harm subsidies do, citing collapsing fish stocks as an example.

Trade Liberalisation Network chief executive Stephen Jacobi said that on the face of it there was nothing wrong with the lofty ambitions expressed in the guidelines.

But on any detailed issue the danger was often that environmental concerns could be used as back-door protectionism. The perception that the WTO was somehow anti-environment was nonsense, Mr Jacobi said.

Not only is sustainable development already officially one of its objectives, its appeal body has just ruled in favour of United States measures to protect sea turtles.

For more than a decade the US has required its shrimp fishermen to use equipment called turtle excluder devices which drastically reduce the number of sea turtles killed in the course of trawling for shrimp.

It has also legislated to restrict imports of shrimp harvested by nets that do not include that device.

Malaysia, India, Pakistan and Thailand took a case to the WTO, saying it was inappropriate for the US to prescribe their national conservation policies.

They won before the dispute settlement panel, but the US successfully appealed.

The WTO's appellate body found that WTO agreements had to be read in the light of the preamble to the WTO agreement, which endorses sustainable development and environmental protection.

It confirmed that WTO members may adopt environmental measures such as the US shrimp-turtle law as long as these are administered even-handedly and do not amount to disguised protectionism.