. /.WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION
ORGANISATION MONDIALE DU COMMERCE
ORGANIZACIÓN MUNDIAL DEL COMERCIOWT/CTE/W/123
8 July 1999
(99-2839)
Committee on Trade and Environment Original:  English/
                 anglais/
inglés
COMMUNICATION FROM THE SECRETARIAT OF THE UNITED NATIONS
FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE
The attached paper1 is being circulated to the Members of the Committee on Trade and
Environment as background to the presentation made by the Secretariat of the United NationsFramework Convention on Climate Change at the CTE Meeting held on 29-30 June 1999.
Comité du commerce et de l'environnement
COMMUNICATION DU SECRÉTARIAT DE LA CONVENTION-CADRE
DES NATIONS UNIES SUR LES CHANGEMENTS CLIMATIQUES
Le document joint en annexe1 est distribué aux membres du Comité du commerce et de
l'environnement comme document de référence pour l'exposé présenté par le Secrétariat de la
Convention-cadre des Nations Unies sur les changements climatiques à la réunion tenue par le Comitéles 29 et 30 juin 1999.
Comité de Comercio y Medio Ambiente
COMUNICACIÓN DE LA SECRETARÍA DEL FORO
INTERGUBERNAMENTAL SOBRE LOS BOSQUES
El documento adjunto1 se distribuye a los miembros del Comité de Comercio y Medio
Ambiente como información general sobre la exposición hecha por la Secretaría de la Convención
Marco de las Naciones Unidas sobre el Cambio Climático en la reunión del Comité de Comercio y
Medio Ambiente celebrada los días 29 y 30 de junio de 1999.
                                                     
1English only/En anglais seulement/En inglés solamente.WT/CTE/W/123
Page 2
COMMUNICATION FROM THE SECRETARIAT OF THE UNITED NATIONS
FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE
1. The ultimate objective of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change is to stabilize
atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases.  The Kyoto Protocol to the Convention is an
important step in meeting the objective of the Convention.  The Kyoto Protocol commits
industrialized countries to elaborate domestic policies and measures to achieve their legally-binding
targets for reduction of greenhouse gases.  The Protocol also recognizes economic instruments,
including emission credits and emission trading - new market mechanisms - as a  means to achieve
emission limitation.  The Protocol will build a comprehensive compliance system to ensure the
confidence and credibility of the Kyoto Protocol.
2. Article 3.5 of the Convention states that measures taken to combat climate change, including
unilateral ones, should not constitute a means of discrimination on international trade.  The Kyoto
Protocol reaffirms this principle.  No trade measures are included in these agreements;  implications
for the trade regime may arise from the national implementation of measures to meet commitments
under the Convention and the Kyoto Protocol.
3. Parties are in the process of developing principles, modalities, rules and guidelines for the
mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol.  The issue of the interaction between WTO rules and the
Protocol's mechanisms has been raised in a technical workshop, but has not been the subject of the
policy oriented work of the subsidiary bodies of the Convention.
4. Ways to facilitate cooperation to enhance the individual and combined effectiveness of
policies and measures are being considered.  The measures include promotion of energy efficiency,
sustainable forest management, new and renewable fo rms of energy, progressive reduction or phasing
out of market imperfections as well as measures to  reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, including in
the transport and waste management sectors.   Views of Parties on "best practices" will be available
later in the year.
5. A joint working group has been established to develop a comprehensive compliance system
under the Kyoto Protocol.  The discussions in this group have so far been on substantive rules,
procedures for addressing compliance and the consequences of non-compliance.  The group has also
considered that the objectives of a compliance system, consistent with the objectives of the
Kyoto Protocol, could be to facilitate compliance, prevent non-compliance or disputes from arising
and promote compliance through cooperative means.
6. Details of the above on-going work are expected to emerge only during the course of this
year, and more specifically in the year 2000.
7. As a point of information, the UNFCCC has received 179 instruments of ratification or
accession.
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