RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/CTE/M/41 
30 November 2005 
 (05-5687) 
Committee on Trade and Environment  
  
 
REPORT OF THE MEETING HELD ON 11 OCTOBER 2005 
 
Note by the Secretariat
 
  
1. The Committee on Trade and Environment (CTE Regular) met on 11 October 2005 under the 
Chairmanship of Ambassador Shree Baboo Chekitan Servansing.  The following agenda, pr oposed in 
WTO/AIR/2670, dated 26 September 2005, was adopted: 
I.
 PARAGRAPH 32................................................................................................................... ...1 
A. PARAGRAPH  32 (I) (MARKET  ACCESS) ..............................................................................1  
B. PARAGRAPH  32(II)  (TRIPS)....................................................................................................2  
II. PARAGRAPH 33................................................................................................................... ...2 
III. PARAGRAPH 51................................................................................................................... ...5 
IV. ADOPTION OF THE 2005 REPORT ....................................................................................6  
V. OTHER BUSINESS................................................................................................................. .6 
 
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.  
2. The Chairman  recalled that at the previous meeting,  the Committee had held discussions after 
hearing information on a Sub-regional Workshop on Environmental Requirements in Market Access 
for Electrical and Electronic Goods held in Tha iland in May 2005, and a presentation on key findings 
of UNCTAD's recent sector-focused activities.  A numb er of delegations had expressed the view that 
the CTE could reflect on the results and recommenda tions from the various relevant workshops and 
case studies.   
3. The  representative of the European Communities  (EC), referring to the WTO Symposium, 
held prior to this meeting, on Trade and Sust ainable Development with in the Framework of 
Paragraph 51 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration,  noted the existing technical assistance activities in 
the area of environmental requirements and market  access conducted by organizations such as UNEP 
and UNCTAD.  He believed the fact that there was a high demand for such technical assistance 
showed that this market access i ssue was important.  The CTE should play its role in furthering its 
discussion on Paragraph 32 (i),  and seeking possible solutions. WT/CTE/M/41 
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4. The representative of UNCTAD
 briefed the Committee on forthcoming UNCTAD meetings 
and publications which could be relevant to the di scussion under this Paragraph.  (The statement is 
contained in document WT/CTE/GEN/21).    
5. The Committee took note  of the statements made. 
B. PARAGRAPH  32(II)  (TRIPS) 
 The relevant provisions of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property 
 Rights (TRIPS)    
6. The representative of Colombia  urged the Committee to further its discussion under 
Paragraph 32 (ii).  Referring to a presentation gi ven at the Symposium on Sustainable Development 
within the Framework of Paragraph 51 with resp ect to the relationship between the TRIPS and the 
Convention on Biological Diversity (CDB), she reca lled that three proposals had been put forward in 
the TRIPS Council.  Colombia supported the proposal made by India, Brazil and the other delegations 
which sought an amendment to the TRIPS Agreement.   This would require patent applicants to 
disclose:  the source and country of origin of an y biological resources or traditional knowledge used 
in inventions;  evidence of prior informed con sent from the competent authority in the country of 
origin;  and evidence of fair and equitable appropr iate benefit-sharing arra ngements.  Her delegation 
would continue to work with other Members w ho supported this initiative to seek the appropriate 
amendment to the TRIPS.  She believed that the CTE should hold a focused discussion on how intellectual property rights were having an effect  on natural resources and traditional knowledge, and 
on whether this impact was positive or negative.  She recalled that she had made a proposal at the 
October 2004 CTE meeting for the Secretariat to pr epare an inventory listing the studies carried out 
on this issue. 
7. The Chairman
 invited other Members to reflect on Colombia's proposal.   
8. The Committee  took note of the statement 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.   
Technical Assistance 
9. The Secretariat  drew the CTE's attention to a room document containing a summary of the 
Secretariat's 2005 TA activities in the area of trad e and environment, and the TA plan for 2006.1  
These activities included regional workshops, side-event s at the Conference of the Parties (COPs) of 
relevant MEAs, participation in meetings of other organizations , and WTO trade policy courses.  
Referring to the regional workshops, she explained th at their programmes catered  for the needs of the 
specific regions or countries.  Topics of inter ests would include market access and environmental 
requirements, as well as environmental goods and services.   In other cases, issues relating to fisheries 
or energy would be addressed, and na tional or regional experts would be invited to contribute.  She 
said that the programmes and presentations of th ese workshops could be found on the WTO website.  
With respect to the cooperation with other organi zations, she said that in most regional events, the 
Secretariat would invite UNEP, UNCTAD and the various MEAs to participate and contribute as 
speakers.  In some cases, the UNEP/UNCTAD Capac ity Building Task Force (CBTF) would organize 
                                                      
1 See Annex 1.  WT/CTE/M/41 
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separate back-to-back events, taking advantage of  the presence of the participants of the WTO 
workshops.  Moreover, the Secretariat was regularly invited to participate in events of these other 
organizations, and the Secretariat would participate,  to the extent that its limited resources would 
allow, contributing and sharing information.  Side events in COPs of MEAs were another type of 
activity that was beneficial for passing on information and explaining WTO trade and environment 
issues, in particular, with audiences who we re not familiar with trade issues.     
Environmental Reviews  
10. The representative of the European Communities  drew the CTE's attention to three room 
documents providing the following information on the EC's programme on sustainability impact 
assessment (SIA):  an announcement of a seminar on SIA;  an overview of the EC's SIA programme 
since 1999;  and results of the SIA of proposed WTO negotiations on the sectors of agriculture, 
forests and distribution services.   
11. Referring to the announcement of a SIA Stoc ktaking Seminar to be held in Brussels 
on 21-22 March 2006, he said that the questions to be raised could include:  Is SIA a tool which really 
produces results?  What does it actually deliver for tr ade negotiations and trade liberalization?  Since 
conducting SIAs cost money, and since other Member s had been consulted in the bilateral context on 
these studies, one of the objectives of the Seminar woul d be to bring together all interested parties to 
discuss how the EC's SIA programme had been evolving and what the results were so far.  He found 
that it was a policy challenge to conduct SIAs whic h made sense, and could actually be used in the 
end in the various fields of policy making.  He said that a brief explanation on why and how the EC 
conducted SIAs, such as the tools, main paramete rs and consultation processes, was provided in the 
room document.  He believed that this kind of information was essential for policy makers, not only 
from the trade perspective, but also from the envi ronmental and social sides.  He invited other 
Members to attend the Seminar, and said that a special website and link would be created for the registration.   
12. On the second paper, entitled "State of Play of DG Trade's Activities on Trade SIA", he said 
that the paper provided information, including the websites, on the studies that the EC had done so 
far, both in the WTO framework for the DDA and in the bilateral context.    He gave the example of 
the study carried out in 2001 on agriculture - food crops, and in 2002-2006 on sector trade SIAs on 
market access, environmental services and competition.  He noted that the outcome of certain past studies had predicted market opening effects which c ould be seen in today's situation.  Regarding 
fisheries, a study would probably be undertaken, whic h could look into the question of the effects of 
tariff reductions on artisanal fishing and professional high technology fishing.  He said that there was 
a regular update on the EC's website to provide in formation on the status of the reports and the 
consultation requests on the studies made by stake holders, including those from governments and civil society.   
13. The third paper provided a summary of the provisional report for the sectoral studies on 
agricultural, distribution services and forests.  It  was a result of independent external studies by 
professional academics, which the EC had commissione d.  He said that the European Commission 
would take a position in the findings.  The report pred icted not only sustainability impacts on the EC, 
but also impacts on third countries, including deve loping and least-developed countries, as well as 
other developed countries.  The impacts varied depending on the conditions, such as the economic 
structures and the markets of the different countri es and regions.  Since the negotiations were not 
concluded, the findings provided predictions on what would happen under the various scenarios, for 
example in terms of levels of tariff reducti on, domestic support or export subsidies.   
14. In addition to predicting the possible impacts of trade liberalisation, the report also suggested 
domestic or international actions needed to mitig ate possible negative effects, or enhance potential 
positive effects.  There were also recommendations on possible technical assistance, actions to be WT/CTE/M/41 
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carried out by the international co mmunity and the contribution of international financial institutions.  
He pointed out that the full report could be downloa ded from the EC's website.  The objective of this 
informal dissemination of information was to create interest, in particular, from the various relevant 
parties in other Members, and to use SIA as a tool to obtain a better picture on the impacts of trade linearization.  He invited other Members to shar e these papers with colleagues in capitals, and to 
discuss any aspects and questions regarding the EC's SIA programme.   
15. The representative of New Zealand
 said that his country also recently undertook assessments 
on its trade agreements.  The impact assessme nts conducted by New Zealand focused on the 
environmental and economic aspects.  He found that th e EC's SIA, in terms of sustainability impacts, 
had evolved, since it covered the three pillars of sustainability, namely, economic, social and 
environment.  He raised concerns on certain assumpti ons of the EC's SIA, in particular, with respect 
to the modelling.  He said that one difficulty in assessing the effects on the environment was that 
many environmental issues, such as biodiversity a nd resources, were not linear, and were extremely 
difficult to effectively model using economic modelli ng techniques.  They were difficult to present in 
a pattern that could be tracked down easily.  He ga ve the example of a natural resource, which could 
collapse after being mined continuously for many y ears.  However, it was difficult to know exactly at 
which point negative feedback would occur.   
16. Referring to page 10 of the EC's paper on SI A of Proposed WTO Negotiations, Session 3.1 on 
Agriculture Study, he was concerned about the fourth bullet point, which said that "The overall 
environmental impact is likely to be negative,  with increased stress on natural resources and 
challenges for sustainable environmental devel opment."  He found that this kind of negative 
assumption of increased production on the environm ent was based on the presumption that there was 
a chilling effect on environmental regulations, and also  on the linearity of environmental effects.  He 
said that the approach used in New Zealand's im pact assessment was carefully tailored in specific 
areas.  For example, in fish stocks, the assessm ent was conducted only in the areas where there was 
scientific clarity, and where effective measurement coul d be used.  In this way, a meaningful outcome 
on the economic and environmental effects could be assessed.   
17. Further, he raised concerns on the assumption c ontained in the same bullet point, which stated 
that "An important issue here is whether the increased volumes are shipped by air or by sea."  He noted that there existed a view which made preferen ce to the transportation by trucks rather than by 
ships, since there was a lower level of emission.  If this was true, one should not purchase from far-off 
places, such as New Zealand.  However, there wa s another analysis revealing that it was more 
efficient and environmentally friendly to transport by ships than by trucks, considering the large 
volume of products ships could carry each time.  He recalled that it was a point that his delegation had 
registered on numerous occasions.   
18. He shared the point expressed in the report on the importance of and need for policy 
coherence in the trade liberalization process.  He be lieved that if there was an environmental problem, 
the answer to such a problem could not be derive d from a slowdown of trade liberalization, but from a 
better targeted technical assistance which aimed at mitigating that problem.  He found that this 
specific element had not been emphasized enough in th e report.  He further raised a question on how 
the study reports were to be used within the EC, a nd whether they would be used in assisting the work 
of European development agencies in terms of bette r coordination between them and trade ministries.  
He said that his country had been trying to impr ove coherence.  For example, in a project launched 
with respect to the negotiations with Pacific Is land countries, his authorities were working with 
domestic aid agencies, so as to ensure that the environmental, economical and social dimensions, 
namely sustainable development, were take n into consideration in their activities. 
19. The representative of the European Communities
, responding to the comments made by 
New Zealand, said that whether or not environment issues were linear, the modelling of SIA was 
difficult.  He recalled that there had been numer ous discussions on the workable models and on how  WT/CTE/M/41 
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to capture the various factors, and the methodology had evolved.  He said that information on this 
kind of discussion could be found on the EC's website.   He was open to looking into other possible 
modelling for SIA, since the process could be improved.   The need was to have a certain logic in the 
whole exercise.   
20. Concerning the point on transportation, he pointed  to the fact that it was just one general 
sentence contained in page 10 of that paper, and it was not enough to use it as a basis for a discussion.  
He noted that there was an ongoing debate on how po lluting ships were, and believed that there was a 
need to obtain clarity in this area.   
21. Regarding the point on coherence, he believed th at all Members had a duty to be coherent.  
Coherence should be ensured not only with developmen t agencies, but also with other agencies, such 
as those dealing with the environment, in order th at the SIA findings were taken into account in the 
policy-making processes.  He did not find the task of feeding the findings into all relevant bodies easy, since there were many players.  However, th is task was part of the whole SIA programme, 
namely, to use the SIA results to raise awareness of  trade negotiators, and to ensure coherence with 
other policies.  He believed that the coherence be tween assistance and trade policies was one of the 
most important part of the exercise.  
22. The representative of Japan
 thanked the EC for sharing its experience in SIA.  He said that 
Japan had been contributing to trade liberalization,  and had been experiencing various impacts from 
that.  His delegation was interested in this kind of studies, focusing on the trade and environment aspects.   
23. 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. 
24. The Chairman
 recalled that at the request of Memb ers in the CTE, with the objective of 
providing an opportunity to further reflect on the me aning of sustainable development in the context 
of the WTO, as well as to deepen understanding of the developmental and e nvironmental dimensions 
of selected items of the Doha Work Progra mme, a WTO Symposium on Trade and Sustainable 
Development within the Framework of Paragraph 51 had been held.  He hoped that the event held on 
10-11 October 2005 prior to this CTE meeting had provi ded elements to contribute to a more fruitful 
discussion on Paragraph 51 in the Committee. 
25. He drew the CTE's attention to 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,  which contained updates regarding the 
environment-related issues in the negotiations on  Agriculture, Market Acce ss for Non-Agricultural 
Products (NAMA), WTO Rules, and on Services respectively. 
26. The representative of Cuba  found the Symposium useful in helping to clarify the Doha 
Mandate.  Referring to Paragraph 51, he found th at the most important element for developing 
countries therein was special and differential treatment .  He regretted that this element had not been 
taken up in the Symposium.  With respect to su stainable development, he believed that it was 
important to take into account not only the aspects of economic development and the protection of the environment, but also the aspect of sustainable so cial development, which included the elements of 
education, health and culture.  He said that, in addition to the debate on the result of Rio 92 and the 
action plan of Johannesburg in 2002, there had not been fruitful discussion on the gaps in the results WT/CTE/M/41 
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arising from the Monterey Summit and the solutions to be put forward by financial institutions on 
sustainable development.  He stressed that without such development aid, it would not be possible to 
obtain sustainable development.   
27. He noted that within the CTE agenda, there were  items which were key to development.  He 
gave the example of the relationship between th e TRIPS and the CBD, whic h he believed was an 
important topic.  He supported the view expressed by  Colombia that the CTE needed to continue its 
work on this topic, and to discuss this from the st andpoint of developing countries to ensure the rights 
of indigenous communities, biodiversity, equitable an d fair sharing of benefits, and that TRIPS rights 
did not become barriers to trade.   
28. He believed that the importance of trade liber alization in attaining sustainable development 
had been exaggerated.  This needed to be dem onstrated.  One of the reasons for the stalled NAMA 
negotiations was due to the fact that it was not clear  what benefits trade liberalization would bring to 
developing countries.  He reiterated the need for de veloped countries to consider the issue of special 
and differential treatment in order for the negotiations to move forward.   
29. The representative of the European Communities
 thanked the Secretariat for organizing the 
Symposium on Paragraph 51, which he  had found useful.  He welcomed the updates of the reports on 
the environment-related issues in the negotiations  on Agriculture, NAMA, WTO Rules and Services.  
He invited other Members to reflect on whether, at some stage, this kind of information could be put 
together in a more comprehensive way.  He belie ved that it would be useful to have a document 
reflecting the state of play on environment-related issues in the WTO DDA negotiations.  It would be 
valuable, by such a document, to demonstrate how the environment was really a cross-cutting issue in 
the WTO, and that it was not only the CTE that was dealing with it.  He concluded that the 
environment was, and should be, reflected in all areas in the WTO. 
30. The Chairman  invited other Members to consider the EC's proposal. 
31. The Committee took note  of the statements made.  
IV. ADOPTION OF THE 2005 REPORT 
32. The Committee adopted  its 2005 Report based on the draft contained in document 
JOB(05)/219, with an additional paragraph re flecting the discussion of the present meeting.2   
V. OTHER BUSINESS  
33. The Chairman  drew the CTE's attention to a recent request from the Organization of Arab 
Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) for observe r status in the CTE (contained in document 
WT/CTE/COM/11),  and the list of pending requests (containe d in document WT/CTE/INF/6/Rev.2).  
He recalled that at the meeting of 4 October 2001,  the CTE had agreed to postpone discussions of 
requests for intergovernmental observer status  in the Committee pending discussions in the 
General Council (paragraph 3, WT/CTE/M/28).  This would therefore include this latest request from 
the OAPEC.  
34. The Committee took note  of the statement made.  
35. The Chairman  informed the CTE that its next meetin g would be held in March 2006 with the 
exact date to be announced nearer the time. 
 
                                                      
2 The final Report was circulated in document WT/CTE/12, dated 14 October 2005.     WT/CTE/M/41 
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Annex 1 
 
WTO TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE ACTIVITIES IN THE AREA OF  
TRADE AND ENVIRONMENT  
2005 AND 2006 
 
Information from the Secretariat  
 
 
Technical Assistance Activities Undertaken in 2005  
 
1. Regional Workshops on Trade and Environment    As has been the case in previous years, th e programmes of these regional workshops were 
designed to inform participants about the WTO rul es relevant to the environment as well as the work 
of the CTE, both the regular and the special sessions .  They were tailored to the interests of the 
respective regions, with focus placed on the current  state of negotiations with respect to trade 
liberalization on environmental goods in the CTESS;  the relationship between WTO and MEAs;  the 
effects on market access of environmental requirement s; and trade liberalizati on and the environment.  
Thus, participants were brought up  to date with the WTO trade a nd environment negotiations and the 
regular work of the CTE.  These workshops also provided opportunities to increase dialogue between 
trade and environment officials at the national le vel, and the sharing of national experience among 
economies in the regions.       In 2005, the following workshops have been held:   
 
 - For Asian and Pacific Economies, in Manila, the Philippines, on 14-16 June.  UNEP 
and UNCTAD were invited to par ticipate and make presentations.   
  - for Latin America and the Caribbean , in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 
on 19-21 July.  UNEP, UNCTAD, the SIECA Secretariat, and a number of national 
experts from the Dominican Republic were i nvited to participate and contribute.   
 
 A third such regional workshop will be held in Vienna, Austria, in December for Central and 
Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus.    
 
2. Side-events 
  
 As has been the case in the past , the Secretariat used the opportu nity of the Conference of the 
Parties of relevant MEAs to brief officials from developing countries on relevant Trade and Environment issues, on the work of the CTE, and th e ongoing negotiations.  Such events were held at 
the First COP Meeting of the Stockholm Convention in  Punta del Este, Uruguay, on 5 May, and at the 
Second COP Meeting of the Rotterdam Convention in Rome on 28 September. 
 
3. Participation in Meetings of Other Organizations   The Secretariat will participate in the Globa l Forum on Trade on Technical Assistance and 
Capacity Building for Trade and the Environment to be organized by the OECD in partnership with 
the OAS and with the support of the Government of Costa Rica, on 3-4 November, in San José, 
Costa Rica.  The Secretariat will provide informati on on the relevant discussions in the Committee.   WT/CTE/M/41 
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4.  Trade Policy Courses   As is the case for other areas of the WTO's work, the subject of trade and environment is included in the programme of Regular WTO Trade Po licy Courses held in Chile;  Hong Kong, China;  
Jamaica;  Morocco and Namibia.  The subject is also included in the programmes of the Trade Policy 
Courses and the Introduction Courses on th e WTO for LDCs held in Geneva. 
 
Technical Assistance Activities in 2006  
 
 
 Concerning technical assistance activities for the year 2006, three regional workshops have 
been proposed, and were conse quently approved by the Committee on Trade and Development 
(document WT/COMTD/W/142).  These are for Englis h-speaking African countries, French-speaking 
African countries and the Arab and Middle East countries. 
 
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