TRADEANDENVIRONMENTBULLETIN
PRESS/TE 020
3December 1997
WTO COMMITTEE ONTRADE AND ENVIRONMENT
ADOPTS 1997 REPORT
TheWTOCommitteeonTradeandEnvironment(CTE),on25November1997,adopted
thefollowing Report onitswork in1997. ThisReport willbeforwarded totheGeneral Council
atitsmeeting on10December.
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REPORT (1997) OFTHE COMMITTEE ONTRADE AND ENVIRONMENT
1. Asdirected bytheSingapore Ministerial Declaration (WT/MIN(96)/DEC), theCommittee
onTrade andEnvironment (CTE) continued toworkwiththemandate andterms ofreference contained
intheMarrakesh Ministerial Decision onTrade andEnvironment under theChairmanship of
Ambassador Björn Ekblom (Finland). Atitsfirstmeeting, theCTEadopted aschedule ofmeetings
andprogramme ofwork for1997 (seetheattached Annex).
2. AllItems ofthework programme setoutintheMinisterial Decision onTrade andEnvironment
wereontheagenda oftheCTEinaccordance withtherecommendations contained inthe1996Report
oftheCTE totheSingapore Ministerial Conference (WT/CTE/1). Inorder tobroaden anddeepen
thediscussions, athematic approach wasfollowed soastoallow allItems tobeaddressed inasystematic
manner.
3. TheCTE heldthree meetings in1997. AssetoutintheAnnex tothisReport, thefocus of
themeeting heldon21-22 Maywasthose Items onthework programme related tomarket access,
including Items 2,3,4,and6.Atthe22-24 September meeting, theCTEaddressed those Items which
arerelevant tothelinkages between themultilateral environment andtradeagendas, including Items 1,
5,7and8.The24-26 November meeting focused onItems 9and10andadopted thisreport ofthe
CTE totheGeneral Council.
4. ASymposium withnon-governmental organisations (NGOs) wasorganized bytheSecretariat,
onitsownresponsibility, on20-21 May1997.1Approximately 70NGOs participated intheSymposium
representingawidespectrumofenvironment,development,consumerandindustryinterestsandresearch
organizations fromdeveloping anddeveloped countries. TheSymposium continued theongoing and
valuable exchange ofviews withNGOs onmatters related toWTO work ontrade, environment and
sustainable development.
5. Inorder tocontribute tothediscussions intheCTEonthelinkages between theenvironmental
andtradeagendas, aninformation session withrepresentatives fromtheSecretariats ofseven multilateral
environmental agreements (MEAs) andtwoenvironmental financial mechanisms washeld on
22September 1997. Theinformation gained fromthepresentations andthebackground papers prepared
bytheMEA Secretariats wasconsidered useful andfurther sessions ofthisnature wereencouraged.
6. TheCTEextendedobserverstatustothefollowinginternationalintergovernmentalorganisations
in1997:theUNFrameworkConventiononBiologicalDiversity(CBD),theConventiononInternational
Trade inEndangered Species ofWild Flora andFauna (CITES), andtheLatin American Economic
System (SELA).
7. TheCTE agreed toholditsfirstmeeting on19-20 March 1998 andtocontinue tobroaden
anddeepen theanalysis oftheItems onitswork programme based onthe"cluster approach" under
thethemes ofmarket access andthelinkages between themultilateral environment andtrade agendas.
1Asmandated bythe1996 Report oftheCTEtotheSingapore Ministerial Conference andpursuant tothe1996 Decision
oftheWTO General Council on"Guidelines forArrangements onRelations withNon-Governmental Organizations".
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ANNEX
COMMITTEE ONTRADE AND ENVIRONMENT
Work Programme andSchedule ofMeetings for1997
AllItems oftheworkprogramme setoutintheMinisterial Decision onTrade andEnvironment
areontheagenda oftheCommittee onTrade andEnvironment (CTE) thisyearinaccordance with
therecommendations contained inthe1996Report oftheCTEtotheSingapore Ministerial Conference
(WT/CTE/1). Inorder toadvance theCTE'sdiscussions in1997, athematic approach willbefollowed
soastoallow allItems ofthework programme tobeaddressed inasystematic manner.
AttheCTE'smeeting on21-22 Maythose Items relevant tothetheme ofmarket access will
bediscussed, including:
Item2: therelationship between environmental policies relevant totrade andenvironmental
measures withsignificant trade effects andtheprovisions ofthemultilateral trading
system;
Item3: therelationship between theprovisions ofthemultilateral trading system and:
(a) charges andtaxes forenvironmental purposes;
(b) requirements forenvironmental purposes relating toproducts, including
standards andtechnical regulations, packaging, labelling andrecycling;
Item4: theprovisions ofthemultilateral trading system withrespect tothetransparency of
trade measures usedforenvironmental purposes andenvironmental measures and
requirements which havesignificant trade effects; and
Item6: theeffect ofenvironmental measures onmarket access, especially inrelation to
developingcountries,inparticulartotheleastdevelopedamongthem,andenvironmental
benefits ofremoving trade restrictions anddistortions.
On22-24 September, theCTEwillholdameeting todiscuss theItems related tothelinkages
between themultilateral environment agenda andthemultilateral trade agenda, including:
Item1: therelationship between theprovisions ofthemultilateral trading system andtrade
measures forenvironmental purposes, including those pursuant tomultilateral
environmental agreements;
Item5: therelationship between thedispute settlement mechanisms inthemultilateral trading
system andthose found inmultilateral environmental agreements;
Item7: theissue ofexports ofdomestically prohibited goods; and
Item8: therelevant provisions oftheAgreement onTrade-Related Aspects ofIntellectual
Property Rights.
Atameeting tobeheldfrom 24-26 November, theCTE willaddress:
Item9: thework programme envisaged intheDecision onTrade inServices andthe
Environment;
Item10: input totherelevant bodies inrespect ofappropriate arrangements forrelations with
intergovernmental andnon-governmental organizations referred toinArticle Vofthe
WTO; and
prepare abrieffactual report forsubmission totheGeneral Council attheendof1997.
END