RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/CTE/M/42 
1 September 2006 
 (06-4181) 
Committee on Trade and Environment    
  
 
REPORT OF THE MEETING HELD ON 5 JULY 2006 
 
Note by the Secretariat
 
  
1. The Committee on Trade and Environment (CTE Regular) met on 5 July 2006 under the 
Chairmanship of Ambassador Shree Baboo Chekitan Servansing.  The following agenda, pr oposed in 
WTO/AIR/2847, dated 16 June 2006, was adopted: 
I.
 PARAGRAPH 32................................................................................................................... ...1 
A. PARAGRAPH  32 (I) (MARKET  ACCESS) ..............................................................................1  
1. Market Access .............................................................................................................................1  
2. Sector Analysis ("win-win-win")................................................................................................ .5 
B. PARAGRAPH  32(II)  (TRIPS)....................................................................................................6  
C. PARAGRAPH  32(III)  (LABELLING).......................................................................................6  
D. OTHER  ITEMS  ON THE  CTE  AGENDA .................................................................................6  
II. PARAGRAPH 33................................................................................................................... ...7 
III. PARAGRAPH 51................................................................................................................... ...9 
IV. OTHER BUSINESS................................................................................................................1 0 
 
I. PARAGRAPH 32 
A. PARAGRAPH  32 (I) (MARKET  ACCESS) 
The effect of environmental measures on market access, especially in relation to developing 
countries, in particular the least-developed am ong them, and those situations in which the 
elimination or reduction of trade restric tions and distortions w ould benefit trade, the 
environment and development.  
1. Market Access 
2. The Chairman  recalled that at the meeting of Februa ry 2005 there had been general support to 
adopt a structured approach to move forward the discussion on Paragraph 32(i) based on national 
experience and information sharing with concrete case s in specific sectors.  Members, in particular 
developing country Members, had been invited to  provide substantive in formation on national 
experience in this regard.  Members' input woul d also cover information on their experiences in 
relevant technical assistance and capacity building.   Moreover, a suggestion had been made to 
mobilise resources from other inter-governmental organisations such as the OECD and UNCTAD on 
results of their relevant case studies.  In this r espect, at the July 2005 meeting, the delegation of 
Thailand had provided information on a sub-regiona l workshop held in May 2005 on electrical and WT/CTE/M/42 
Page 2  
 
  electronic goods, and UNCTAD had given a presentation on the key findings of UNCTAD's sector-
based activities.  There had been a view that the CTE could reflect on the results of recent work 
carried out in these international agencies.   
3. The representative of the OECD
, referring to the OECD 2005 publication which contained 21 
case studies on environmental requirements and market access1, informed the CTE of recent OECD 
work in this area.  She recalled that the OECD Joint Working Party on Trade and Environment had 
embarked on this project in 2001 to better understa nd the trade effects of environmental regulations 
and other technical measures taken by governments and private bodies in OECD members.  These case studies touched upon a wide range of natura l resource-based products and manufactured goods 
exported from developing countries.  They had been  carried out to identify specific market access 
difficulties arising from a variety of environmental and health requirements, for instance, standards 
for organic foods and beverages, limits of pesticid e residues in snow peas, tea and pineapples, as well 
as cadmium in plastics.  They also covered pr ivate industry and NGO initiatives, such as eco-labels  
for cut flowers and returnable packaging initiatives.   In each of the case studies, attempts had been 
made to explore responses and pr actices taken by OECD governments and their trading partners in 
developing countries to address market access problems.   
4. She said that these market-access problems face d by producers and exporte rs in developing 
countries varied.  In a number of cases, the pr oblem was simply getting access to information on 
regulations and standards.  For example, in the case of limits of pesticide residues in snow peas from 
Guatemala, producers had simply been unaware of the level of tolerance for pesticides in the US 
market.  As a result, the export of snow peas ha d been suspended, and ha d created a devastating 
economic effect on a large number of farmers in Guatemala.   
5. In certain cases, problems were identified as the existence of conflicting national 
requirements and the absence of international standards.   
6. In other cases, there was a lack of adequate means to adjust to the requirements.  For 
example, in the case of Azo dyes  in textiles, many European countries had banned the use of these 
dyes due to their potential cause of cancer.  As a resu lt, substitutes had to be found.  However, 
exporters in developing countries had faced difficu lty in finding these substitutes since they were 
covered by patents.  Moreover, there was the difficu lty related to the need for new technology to test 
the level of Azo dye residues.  Some exporters si mply did not have sufficient resources to undertake 
the tests, and, as a result, their ability to meet the requirements was hindered. 
7. She concluded that since the problems faced vari ed, and so should be the responses.  If the 
problem related to the access of information, the re sponse should be to improve the access.  In this 
respect, there had been a number of initiatives take n by national governments and inter-governmental 
organisations, such as the UNCTAD, to try to im prove the access of information.  If the problem 
concerned the procedure for the development of regul ations, other steps could be taken at the national 
and international levels.  For instance, early notif ication, consultation with producers and involving 
them during the development process could help.  A nother measure could be to use regulatory impact 
assessment or ex ante  analysis before the implementation to assess the possible effects of the 
requirement on trade.  If the problem faced was th e lack of adequate means to adjust to the 
environmental requirements, there was the need to build capacity and to support research.  For 
example, in the case of snow peas, the US governme nt had set up a joint research effort in Guatemala 
to help growers adopt integrated pest management techniques.  If the problem related to the absence 
of international standards, at the international leve l, efforts could be made to address specific market 
                                                     
 
 1 The full text of this book is available on the OECD web site:  www.source oecd.org/environment/.  
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  access problems, and she gave the example of the de velopment of international standards for pesticide 
residues in the FAO.  
8. Furthermore, to address problems, at the implementation stage, a number of options could be 
considered.  If exporters did not have sufficient time to meet a requirement, there could be the 
consideration of delaying the implementation.  For example, in the case of the Azo dye regulation, 
Germany had delayed its implementation for a year.  If the difficulties related to conflicting national 
requirements, the option to be considered could be  to facilitate the recognition of other countries' 
regulations and standards as equivalent .  For example, in the case of organic standards in Japan, this 
approach had been used.  If the difficulty for exporters was the burden of conformity assessment 
procedures, the option could be to facilitate mu tual recognition of other countries' conformity 
assessment results.  Finally, to carry out periodic reviews of regulations could also contribute to 
minimize market access problems. 
9. The representative of the European Communities (EC ) believed that the OECD findings had 
confirmed that there were complex situations whic h should not be underestimated, and that there was 
not a single solution to the various situations.  He noted that the issues included the lack of 
information, absence of an impact assessment and e quivalence of standards.  From the EC's side, a 
number of lessons had been learnt in the last de cade.  The EC had been seeking to improve its own 
practices, such as in the areas of consultation, im pact assessment, equivalen ce, needs identification 
and export help desk to make in formation available.  On techni cal assistance, which was a demand-
driven process, more demands had been received to improve the capacity of developing countries in meeting product requirements. 
10. He believed that requirements concerning sanita ry and phytosanitary (SPS) measures was an 
area where there were difficult issues to be address ed, since health standards could not be changed 
easily.  Although for certain cases a delay in implem entation could be provided, in most cases, the 
general public would not accept a der ogation of health standards.  So lutions had to be found, and the 
EC was willing to continue its work in the CTE to s eek best practices.  In this respect, he found that 
the OECD studies had provided good examples.    
11. Furthermore, he pointed to the Environmental Database established under Item 4 of the CTE's 
Work Programme, and noted that many of the envi ronmental requirements compiled in the Database 
related to the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT).  He believed that the CTE could study these TBT notifications and look into the tre nds that had been evolving, including the ways 
developing countries were handling, commenting and meeting the requirements in the draft 
regulations. 
12. The representative of Argentina
 noted that the OECD studies had identified the difficulties 
faced by developing countries with respect to market  access.  These included the lack of information, 
the lack of involvement in the development of environmental standards, as well as the need for 
capacity building and technical assistance.  The st udies had provided concrete  experience in this 
respect.  Regarding the case of the US and Guatemal a on pesticide residues in snow peas, he sought 
further information from the OECD on the result of the US technical assistance effort.  Furthermore, 
he sought information from the EC on whether simila r projects existed in the EC's capacity building 
activities.  He believed that once exporters had ove rcome the difficulties in obtaining information, 
capacity building was needed to comply with the environmental requirements.  
13. The representative of th e European Communities  recalled that his delegation had submitted a 
paper on the "Trade-related Technical Assistance a nd Capacity building in the Field of Trade and 
Environment"2 which listed EC's activities in this field.  He said that the EC had been actively 
                                                      
2 Document WT/CTE/W/231, dated 5 September 2003. WT/CTE/M/42 
Page 4  
 
  identifying possible projects on the supply side.  These projects involved numerous countries and 
huge amount of work.  When developing Europ ean Union (EU) national indicative strategies, 
technical assistance, was one of the core issues, and the need for development cooperation had been 
recognized in order to enable trading partners to trade with the EU.   
14. The representative of the OECD
, referring to the question raised by Argentina on the case of 
snow peas in Guatemala, said that the results of  these OECD studies had been derived from exporters' 
identification of specific problems faced, and on ho w to address them.  Given the narrow scope of the 
studies, at this stage, there was no full account of the evaluation of the technical assistance made. 
15. The representative of UNCTAD  informed the CTE of the UNCTAD Trade and Environment 
Review 2006 and the outcome of the annual meeti ng of UNCTAD's Consultative Task Force (CTF) 
on Environmental Requirements and Market Access for Developing Countries held in Geneva on 3-4 
July 2006.  He said that the UNCTAD Trade a nd Environment Review, la unched in May 2006, had 
been devoted to the subject of environmental requirements and market access for developing countries.
3  The Review had included an analysis of a number of sector-focused country-case studies, 
a paper on key findings for the electrical and electronic equipment sector and an article on the 
production and export opportunities for organic agricu ltural products.  Regarding organic agricultural 
products, he noted that there had been an increase in the complexity and multi-dimensionality of new 
requirements on these products.  Many of these new requirements dealt simultaneously with quality, health, food-safety and environmental objectives, and, in some cases, social and animal welfare dimensions.  These requirements prepared by governments, the private sector or NGOs might differ from market to market, and, as a result, could become multiple and overlapping demands for 
exporters.  At the same time, developing countri es might not have access to the needed technically 
advanced monitoring equipment to demonstrate comp liance with some of the stringent environmental 
requirements.  He gave the example of the very lo w pesticide residue levels and the complete removal 
of lead from electronic equipment.  The cost of meeting these requirements might affect developing countries' competitiveness.   
16. He said that, in the past, due to the lack of infrastructural, technical and institutional capacity, 
developing countries had adopted a reactive, fire-fi ghting approach to envi ronmental requirements. 
The 2006 Review had set out an alternative: a stra tegic and proactive approach that could enable 
developing countries to minimize the negative im pacts of environmental requirements, while 
maximizing potential trade and sustainable development be nefits.  First, in developing countries at the 
national level, it would involve the anticipation of the impact of new requirements by gathering and 
analyzing information;  the carrying out of co st-benefit analysis on the various adjustment 
approaches;  the promotion of effective public-private partnerships for devising adjustment strategies;  
and the working together with other governments, international organizations, NGOs and the private 
sector to share experience, formulate joint adju stment strategies, and to identify new market 
opportunities.  The advantage of a strategic appro ach was that governments and exporters could gain 
time at the national level to take advantage of the potential benefits or effects of new requirements in 
terms of resource savings, emission reductions, e nvironmental and occupati onal health conditions 
improvement, adjustment costs reduction, new employment and export opportunities creation. 
17. Secondly, in export markets, developing countries needed to be more pro-active in 
influencing the development of environmental re quirements.  Governments and exporters should 
increase their participation in the consultative pr ocesses for the development and revision of these 
requirements.  In this respect, there should be  a 'shared responsibility' between developed and 
developing countries.  Governments and the privat e sector in developed countries should take into 
                                                     
 
 3 Copies of the Review were made available to the CTESS, the TBT and SPS Committees.  It can be 
downloaded from the UNCTAD website at:  www.unctad.org/ trade_env/test1/publications.htm . 
  WT/CTE/M/42 
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  account the needs and special situation of deve loping country suppliers when designing and 
implementing new requirements.  They should also  provide transparent and inclusive consultation 
processes, comprehensive ex ante  impact assessments, flanking policies and technical assistance. 
18. With respect to the annual meeting of UNCT AD's CTF, he said that discussions had been 
held on the findings and conclusions of sector-focused CTF activities on electrical and electronic 
equipment and horticultural exports.  The followi ng elements had been highlighted:  (i) the 
importance of transmitting the requirements through the supply chain;  (ii) the risk of small economies 
and producers being marginalized;  (iii) the mul titude and uncertainty related to conformity 
assessment methods and tests;  (iv) the need to go beyond a cost- and compliance-centred adjustment 
approach to look at opportunities and catalytic effect s;  (v) the proactive approach by both standard 
setters and exporting countries in stakeholder consulta tions to understand the possible implications for 
developing countries;  and (vi) the continued pa rticipation of key developed countries in CTF's 
discussions on new environmental, health  and food-safety requirements.   
19. Proposals were made for the CTF to continue  to focus on the electrical/electronic and 
horticultural sectors.  It could also consider launc hing activities on new chemical safety requirements.  
At the sub-regional/country level, the CTF could pl ay a role in promoting further dialogues between 
government and private-sector standard bodi es, producer/exporter organizations and other 
stakeholders in developing countries on the ways fo r adjustment as well as th e strategies for capacity 
building for smallholders and SMEs.  Specifically, th e CTF should carry out the following:  (i) advise 
countries on conceptual issues related to adjustment  approaches;  (ii) undertake macro-economic cost-
benefit analysis on new requirement s;  (iii) advise countries and companies on how to create capacity 
to seize business opportunities arising from new environmental, health and food-safety requirements;  
and (iv) undertake impact studies on the costs and benefits of alternative adjustment strategies, 
including the cost of inaction.  Finally, the C TF had been called upon to conduct further analytical 
work on the interrelationship between mandatory and voluntary, supply-chain requirements.   
20. The Chairman  noted that since the report to the Ministerial Conference in Cancun in 20034, a 
lot had been done in relation to Paragraph 32 (i) in th e various fora.  With the wealth of information in 
front of the CTE, and with a view to facilitate  moving forward the Committee's discussion, he 
suggested that the CTE should request the Secretar iat to prepare a note to summarize what had been 
done recently within and outside of the WTO on envi ronmental requirements and market access.  This 
note would provide the CTE with an overview on the recent work carried out in other international 
organizations, for instance, the OECD and UNCTAD,  as well as in relevant WTO bodies, namely the 
TBT and SPS Committees.  He believed that this  factual summary would provide elements which 
could contribute to the CTE's future discussions.     
21. The Committee took note  of the statements made, and agreed  to request the Secretariat to 
prepare a factual note summarizing recent work re garding environmental requirements and market 
access which had been carried out in other internat ional organizations as well as in relevant WTO 
bodies.   
2. Sector Analysis ("win-win-win") 
22. The representative of UNEP  informed the CTE of the out come of a recent UNEP workshop 
on development and sustainability in the WTO Fish ery Subsidies Negotiations.  This workshop held 
on 11 May 2005 in Geneva, had been jointly orga nised by UNEP, ICTSD and WWF.  The focus had 
been on developing country interests in the current WTO Fishery Subsidies negotiations, including 
elements of special and differential treatment, artisanal and access agreement.  Around 80 experts 
from governments, in particular, from developing count ries, NGOs and IGOs had participated in this 
                                                      
4 Document WT/CTE/8, dated 11 July 2003. WT/CTE/M/42 
Page 6  
 
  event on their personal capacities.  The Chair's repor t of that workshop had been submitted to the 
WTO Rules Committee by New Zealand, and w as available from the UNEP-ETB web site.
5 
23. The discussion had revealed the following points:  (i) new disciplines need to be balanced and 
be in line with developing country interests and su stainable development consid erations;  (ii) effective 
specific and differential treatment does not mean " carte blanche " for unsustainable subsidies;  (iii) 
artisanal fisheries face specific ch allenges and needs;  (iv) new WTO rules should not impede or 
discourage access payments on which many small vulnerable economies depend;  and (v) the readiness to tackle the technical and political challenges that remain.   
24. The Committee took note
 of the statement made.  
B. PARAGRAPH  32(II)  (TRIPS) 
 The relevant provisions of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property 
 Rights (TRIPS)   
25. The representative of Norway  informed the CTE of a recent proposal made by his country to 
amend the TRIPS agreement to include an obligatio n to disclose the source of genetic resources and 
traditional knowledge in patent applications.6  He said that a disclosure requirement would contribute 
to reducing the risk of wrongful patents as well as facilitating the CBD objectives of prior informed 
consent and benefit sharing.  His delegation shared  the views of India, Brazil and others that a 
disclosure requirement would improve the TRIPS agre ement.  However, he believed it was important 
that a disclosure requirement was put in place in a ma nner that maintained the integrity of the patent 
system.  He recalled that a text based nego tiation on amending the TRIPS agreement had been 
engaged, and Norway would support a decision to start the negotiation as soon as possible.  He 
envisaged that detailed discussion on the proposal w ould take place in other WTO bodies rather than 
in the CTE.   
26. The Committee took note  of the statement made.  
C. PARAGRAPH  32(III)  (LABELLING) 
 Labelling for Environmental Purposes 
27. No statements were made under this sub-item. 
D. OTHER  ITEMS  ON THE  CTE  AGENDA 
Environmental Database (EDB) 
28. The Chairman , referring to Item 4 of the CTE Work Programme with respect to the 
transparency of trade measures used for enviro nmental purposes, drew Members' attention to 
document WT/CTE/EDB/3, which contained the envi ronmental database (EDB) for the year 2003.   
29. The representative of the European Communities  found that the EDB had provided a useful 
overview, and had shown how e nvironmental issues were important to a number of WTO 
                                                      
5 The report "Contribution by UNEP - Chair's summary of the Informal Dialogue on Development and 
Sustainability in the WTO Fishery Subsidies Negotiations;  Issues and Alternatives" was also circulated in 
document WT/CTE/W/242, dated 7 July 2006.      
6 The Norwegian paper for an amendment to the TRIPs agreement was presented to the General 
Council, the TNC and the TRIPs Council (document WT/GC/W/566, TN/C/W/42 and IP/C/W/473, dated 14 
June 2006).  WT/CTE/M/42 
 Page 7 
 
 
  Committees.  He believed that, at some stage, the CTE could draw lessons from the database, and, in 
light of the lessons drawn, for instance on where most activities took place and where most possible problems appeared, the Committee could consider wher e it might focus its future work.  He recalled 
that linkage had been made earlier, under agenda  item I (A) on Paragraph 32(i), between the CTE 
work and those in the TBT and SPS Committees.  
30. The Committee took note
 of the statements made.   
II. PARAGRAPH 33 
We recognize the importance of technical assistance and capacity building in the 
field of trade and environment to d eveloping countries, in particular the 
least-developed among them.  We also en courage that expertise and experience be 
shared with Members wishing to perform envi ronmental reviews at the national level.   
1. Technical Assistance and Capacity Building 
 
31. The representative of UNEP  updated the CTE on relevant UNEP projects.  The first project, 
funded primarily by the EU, was a four year project focused on building capacities in developing 
countries to assess the environmental social and ec onomic impact of trade liberalization in the 
agricultural sector.  It focussed on the challenge associated with identifying, assessing, and valuing 
the impact of agricultural liberalization on biodiver sity.  Given this focus, in the development and 
implementation of the project, UNEP had been co llaborating closely with the secretariat of the 
Convention on Biological Diversity.  On 31 May 2006, a second international advisory group meeting 
for this project was convened.  This meeting had marked the completion of the first year project 
implementation, and attention had been put on the development of a trade in biodiversity assessment 
reference manual which would serve as a tool for the national institution undertaking the project at the 
national level.  The meeting had provided a forum fo r international experts to comment on this draft 
manual, and currently, the draft was being update d based on the comments made.  Furthermore, a 
workshop which included representatives from the ministries of trade, agriculture and the 
environment had been held back to back with the advisory group meeting for potential project 
partners from eight ACP countries.  He anticipated th at projects in six African, Caribbean and Pacific 
countries would be launched by the end of Sept ember to support the national assessments.   
32. The second project related to national wildlife trade policy reviews was being implemented 
by the UNEP-UNCTAD Capacity Building Taskforce,  in partnership with the secretariat of the 
CITES and the Geneva Graduate Institute for Devel opment Studies.  It was funded primarily by the 
EU and the Geneva Graduate Institute in Develo pment Studies.  The project partners had recently 
convened the first international advi sory group meeting on 19-20 June.  At that meeting, international 
experts from NGOs, international organizations, academia and gover nment institution commented on 
a first draft of the wildlife trade policy assessme nt framework which would provide guidance to 
participating countries for conducting policy for wildlif e trade policy reviews.  The experts had also 
provided recommendations on the selection of the p ilot project countries and on the implementation 
of the national projects anticipated to be launched by  the beginning of October.   He informed the CTE 
that further information on these projects could be found on the UNEP Economic and Trade web site.   
2. Environmental Reviews 
 
33. The  representative of the European Communities  drew the CTE's attention to document 
JOB(06)/220, a non-paper on Trade Sustainab ility Impact Assessment (SIA) of WTO DDA 
Negotiation which described the EC's on-going work on sustainability impact assessment.  The paper 
provided information on the draft final reports of  the final global overview trade SIA of the DDA 
negotiations and the final report for the sectoral DDA study on fisheries.  He emphasized that the WT/CTE/M/42 
Page 8  
 
  findings were not an EU position, but remained under the responsibility of the researchers who had 
carried out the work for the European  Commission.   He invited other Members to study the executive 
summaries and provide comments on the findings of th e studies.  He believed that the findings could 
generate thoughts for a debate in the CTE, for instance, on how to make this trade Round truly a 
development round, and how trade could be made conduc ive to sustainable development.  He said that 
making trade conducive to sustainable development was not an automatic process, and focus had to be 
made on flanking and preventive measures that had to  be implemented, not only by the WTO, but also 
by coherent programmes to enhance positive impacts,  mitigate negative impacts, and further integrate 
trade reforms with wider actions to promote sustainable development.  
34. Referring to the study on fisheries, he said th at it had addressed the issues of subsidies and the 
effects of further reduction of fishery tariffs.  It  had looked into the impacts on developed countries, 
non-ACP countries, developing countries and the LDCs in order to show the difference.  For example, 
a substantial reduction of tariffs on imports into developed countries was likely to have the greatest 
impact on ACP/LDC countries that largely depended on preferential market access for their exports. 
This was due to preference erosion resulting in the loss of their competitive advantage, which in turn 
was expected to lead to lower profits as a conse quence of declining prices and lower trade volumes.  
He informed the CTE that the draft final reports  of the two studies were available on the DG Trade 
web site.
7   
35. He said that document JOB(06)/220 had also provided information on the Stocktaking 
Conference held by DG Trade on Trade SIA in March 2006.8  The Conference had been attended by 
an international audience of practitioners, negotiato rs, NGOs, business and social partners.  There had 
been an interest to further improve the effectiven ess of Trade SIAs, and one key theme had been the 
need to better integrate Trade SIA results into trade negotiations and to follow-up mitigating 
measures, such as development assistance.  He sai d that there was further on-going work by the 
European Commission, for instance, on what it would do in terms of EC trade policy to integrate its knowledge on SIA.  He noted that the EC was not  the only WTO Member which had conducted SIA, 
and that there were impact assess ments carried out in developing countries.  With this respect, he 
invited other delegations to further exchange expertise and experience in this field.  He believed that 
these assessments should be carried out not only for those who could afford it, but by every Member, 
since there were vulnerable systems everywhere, and if trade was be to liberalized, it was necessary to 
study its impacts.  He said that the EC had been wo rking with UNEP to contribute to projects in this 
area, and encouraged other Members to take an  interest and actively participate in these UNEP 
activities.  
36. He recalled that the Trade SIA Stocktaking Conference had also provided an opportunity to 
launch the Trade SIA Handbook.  This handbook wh ich described the Trade SIAs' methodology and 
compiled the first six years of the Trade SIA projects had covered trade liberalization in the context of the WTO DDA negotiations as well as bilateral ones.  W ith a view to seek best possible results, it had 
included not only the EC's experience, but also less ons learnt from interna tional organizations and 
other countries on methodology and challenges.  The handbook was available on the DG Trade web site,
9 and could be used as a refere nce document for interested Members.  He invited other Members 
to study and disseminate it to relevant expe rts and to provide feedback, if any.   
37. He recognized that impact assessments coul d be complicated, and noted the concerns 
expressed regarding the resource constraints faced, in particular by developing countries, in 
                                                      
  7 http://ec.europa.eu/comm/trade/i ssues/global/sia/studies_wto.htm#dda 
 8 The Conference report and other relevant documentation are posted on the DG Trade web 
site:   http://ec.europa.eu/comm/tr ade/issues/global/sia/seminar0306_en.htm  
 9 http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/ docs/2006/march/tradoc_127974.pdf  
  WT/CTE/M/42 
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  performing such activities.  However, he believed that these assessments were necessary in order to 
have an in-depth reflection on the consequences of tr ade liberalization.  It was important to provide 
opportunities to enable Members to exchange experti se and experience in this field, and that was the 
reason why the EC held the Trade SIA Stocktaki ng Conference and presented the Conference results 
to the CTE. 
38. The representative of Canada  informed the CTE of the current work in Canada on national 
environmental assessments (EA) of the WTO negotiations.  He said that it was a three-part process, and recalled that the first initial EA had been presen ted to the Committee in previous meetings.  At 
present, the second part - the draft phase - was underw ay to incorporate comments made by experts, 
provinces and territories within Canada.  He said th at, comparing with the preliminary version, the 
draft EA was a more detailed one, and his delegation would be able to share this draft with other 
Members in due course.  The EA, although a domes tic one, had served to inform Canadian trade 
negotiators of the potential environmental impact s which could accrue from the negotiations.  The 
relevant information, including examples of EA  conducted on bilateral tr ade negotiations and a 
recently updated handbook we re available from the Canadian government web site.
10  
39. The Committee took note  of the statements made. 
III. PARAGRAPH 51 
The Committee on Trade and Development and the Committee on Trade and 
Environment shall, within their respective mandates, each act as a forum to identify 
and debate developmental and environmental aspects of the negotiations, in order to  help achieve the objective of having sustai nable development appropriately reflected. 
40. The Chairman
 recalled that with the objective to provide an opportunity to further reflect on 
the meaning of sustainable development in th e context of the WTO, as well as to deepen 
understanding of the developmental and environmen tal dimensions of selected items of the Doha 
Work Programme, a WTO Symposium on Trade and Su stainable Development within the Framework 
of Paragraph 51 had been held at the fringe of  the last CTE meeting on 10-11 October 2005.  
Moreover, at that meeting, updated information ha d been provided to th e Committee regarding the 
environment-related issues in the negotiations on  Agriculture, Market Acc ess for Non-agricultural 
Products, WTO Rules, and on Services.11  
41. The representative of the European Communities  reiterated his delegation's view that 
Paragraph 51 was an important aspect of the CTE's work.  He recalled that the Environmental Data 
Base had brought his attention to the fact that envi ronment issues were taken up not only in the CTE, 
but also in other WTO committees and negotiating gr oups.  He said that if the CTE was to play a 
meaningful role of being the focal point on the subject  of trade and environment, as well as to fulfil its 
mandate according to the Preamble of the WTO Agreement and Paragraph 51 of the DDA, it should 
look into the environmental issues taken up in the va rious WTO fora, and could, at some stage, make 
an assessment and reflect on how it would discharge its mandate.   
42. He found the WTO Symposium on Trade and Sust ainable Development useful, but regretted 
that the Symposium together with the updated informa tion had not been able to generate an in-depth 
debate at the previous meeting.  He recalled that at that meeting, he had invited other Members to 
reflect on whether, at some stage, the informa tion provided to the CTE regarding the environment-
                                                      
 10 The web address is:  www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/tna-nac/env/env-ea-en.asp 
 11 Documents WT/CTE/GEN/8/Suppl.1, WT/CTE/GEN/9/Add.1, WT/CTE/GEN/10/Suppl.1 and 
WT/CTE/GEN/11/Suppl.1 respectively.  
  WT/CTE/M/42 
Page 10  
 
  related issues in the negotiations could be put toge ther in a more comprehensive way to reflect the 
state of play on environment-related issues in th e WTO DDA negotiations.  He noted that a similar 
document had been prepared in the Committee on Trade and Development on the development 
dimension of the Round.  He proposed to request  the Secretariat to compile the latest updates 
provided on the environment-rela ted issues in the negotiations. 
43. The Committee took note
 of the statements made, and agreed  to request the Secretariat to 
prepare a paper compiling the latest updates of the st atements by the Secretariat on the environment-
related issues in the various negotiating groups.    
IV. OTHER BUSINESS 
1. Request for Observer Status 
44. The Chairman  drew the Committee's attention to a recent request from the Energy Charter 
Conference for observer status in the Committee.12  He recalled that at the meeting of 4 October 2001, 
the CTE had agreed to postpone discussions of requ ests for intergovernmental observer status in the 
Committee pending discussions in the General Council.13  This would include this latest request from 
the Energy Charter Conference. 14    
2. Date of the Next Meeting  
45. The Chairman  informed the CTE that he would propose a date for the next meeting after 
consultations with interested delegations.   
46. The Committee took note  of the statements made.   
 
__________ 
 
  
                                                     
 
12 Document WT/CTE/COM/12. 
13  Paragraph 3 of document WT/CTE/M/28. 
14 A list of pending requests on observer status is contained in document WT/CTE/INF/6/Rev.3.