. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/CTE/GEN/14
30 October 2003
(03-5774)
Committee on Trade and Environment Original:  English
ACTIVITIES RELATED TO PARAGRAPH 32(I) OF
THE DOHA MINISTERIAL DECLARATION
Statement by UNCTAD at the Regular Session of the
Committee on Trade and Environment of 28 October 2003
1. Recent UNCTAD activities on the effects of environmental measures on market access have
focused on three clusters:
(a) A series of sector-specific country case studies;
(b) Exploratory activities on a Consultative Task Force on Environmental Requirements
and International Trade as project-oriented activity;
(c) The UNCTAD/FAO/IFOAM International Task Force on Harmonization and
Equivalence in Organic Agriculture.
2. Within the context of a UK-DFID-funded project on building capacity for improved policy
making and negotiation on key trade and environm ent issues, UNCTAD has commissioned a series of
country-case studies on environmental requirements, market access and export competitiveness for sixAsian countries (Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam), which focus on
three sectors: leather and footwear, horticultural products and electronics.  These studies are being
discussed at national and sub-regional workshops and focus on three clusters of issues: (i) information
gathering and dissemination on environmental requirements; (ii) current adjustment measures at
national level to new environmental requirements in key export markets; and (iii) pro-active policies
on environmental requirements and improved participation in pre-standard setting consultations in
export markets. The studies and workshops will also review the opportunities for sub-regional co-operation, if considered appropriate.
3. The sector-specific country-cases studies will also feed into exploratory work that is being
carried out by UNCTAD for a Consultative Task Force on Environmental Requirements and
International Trade, as mandated by the last session of UNCTAD’s Commission on Trade in Goods
and Services and Commodities.  UNCTAD is  commissioning several studies that, inter alia , review
the lessons that can be learned from existing early warning systems in developing countries on
environmental/health standards in external markets and a study on the contours of an international
clearing house mechanism for voluntary environmental and health requirements and its synergies with
comparable existing public and private data bases.  As a pre-UNCTAD XI event, UNCTAD and the
National Institute of Metrology, Standardization and Industrial Quality (INMETRO) in Brazil areplanning to hold an exploratory meeting in April 2004.
4. After its inauguration in February this year, the UNCTAD/FAO/IFOAM International Task
Force on Harmonization and Equivalence in Organic Agriculture held its second session in Geneva a
week ago.  The meeting reviewed drafts of various background papers on the costs and implications
of lacking harmonization of public and private organic guarantee systems and internationalWT/CTE/GEN/14
Page 2
approaches pursued in other sectors for implementing harmonization, equivalence and mutual
recognition.  The session discussed the further work programme of the International Task Force and
decided to commission two additional studies: one on the short- and long-term prospects and specific
methods for operationalizing harmonization, equivalence and mutual recognition in organic
agriculture and a second study on the relationship between existing organic guarantee systems and theTBT Agreement.
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