WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/TE/W/75 
27 November 2009 
 (09-5977) 
Committee on Trade and Environment 
Special Session Original:   English 
 
 
 
JAPAN'S PROPOSAL ON ENVIRONMENTAL  
GOODS AND SERVICES  
 
Submission from Japan  
 
Paragraph 31(iii) 
 
 
 The following communication, dated 25 November 2009, is being circulated at the request of 
the Delegation of Japan. 
 
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I. INTRODUCTION  
 
1. Under the Doha Ministerial Declaration (WT/ MIN(01)/DEC/1), paragraph 31(iii) provides for 
"the reduction or, as appropriate, el imination of tariffs and non-tari ff barriers to environmental goods 
and services."  And after the establishment of the Committee on Trade and Environment Special 
Session (CTESS) in 2001, negotiations  have been undertaken in view of achieving a "win-win-win" 
situation in the area of trade, environment and deve lopment.  In July 2008, the Chairman introduced a 
working plan to encourage Members to submit th eir lists of "Environmental Goods" and Members 
willing to discuss the subject of "Environmental Goods ".  This plan was renewed in September 2009 
at the CTESS with the approval of Members. 
2. Japan is a co-sponsor of the "Friends proposal" (Job (07)/54) which was first shared 
informally in 2007 with Members, and officially submitted in October 2009 in response to the Chair’s 
request.  At the same time, Japan is of the view that products which can directly contribute to the 
mitigation of the negative impact of climat e change should be a dded to this list. 
II. EXPLANATION OF THE PROPOSAL 
A. CONCEPT  
 
3. A sense of urgency in addressing the problem of climate change is widely shared by world 
leaders, as shown in their recent communiqués which calle d for specific measures to be taken, such as 
promotion of renewable energy, clean energy, and improvement of energy efficiency.1  Among the 
measures proposed, Japan would like to highlight the effectiveness of improving "energy efficiency", 
which is a concept not yet incorporated in the previous submitted lists, including the "Friends 
proposal".  This "energy efficiency" is directly re lated to the mitigation of the negative impact of 
climate change as referred to in the communiqués. 
                                                      
1 L’Aquila Summit (2009), “Responsible Leadership for a Sustainable Future”, Paragraphs 68 and 86, 
Pittsburgh Summit (2009), “Leader’s Statement”, Paragraph 31.  TN/TE/W/75 
Page 2  
 
  4. Today, improving energy efficiency is a shared policy goal of many governments around the 
world.  It is a way of lowering fossil fuel dependency and reducing accompanying CO
2 emissions. 
The IEA submitted 25 policy recommendations to th e G8 countries in order to promote energy 
efficiency.  It estimates that if all the measures are implemented, the global CO 2 emissions could be 
reduced to 8.2 gigatonnes by 2030.  This is mo re than the current combined energy-related CO 2 
emissions of Japan and the US.2 
5. Furthermore, improving "energy efficiency" c ould be cost-effective, and it would have a 
positive impact on trade.  According to the IPCC, im provements in energy efficiency have the largest 
potential for reducing emissions of CO 2 in the short-term.  It can diminish emissions by 30 per cent 
below the year 2000 levels, and this can be accomplis hed by only using existing technologies.  Half of 
this reduction could be achieved even with ex isting technology at zero or net negative cost.3  
B. IMPLEMENTATION STEPS  
 
6. We recognize that there are some difficulties in defining what is "energy efficiency" as it is a 
relative concept for which there are at the moment  many definitions and criteria. Although, some 
products, for example electric vehicles, can be  identified as environmental goods by their own 
technology and function, other products have difficu lties in being identified as "products with higher 
energy performance" among products with the same function. In such a case, some products can be 
identified by using an internationally harmonized energy performance standard and labeling system, 
such as "Energy Star".  
7. The "Energy Star" program is the United States labeling system which has also been adopted 
by the EU, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Chinese Taipei, EFTA (Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein), 
and Japan.4  It could be used as a good starting point for r ealizing the liberalization of energy efficient 
products.  In addition, up to now, there are more  than 50 countries which have already introduced 
their own "Standard" and "Labeling" system5 for identifying "energy efficient" products, and it could 
also be a good starting point. 
8. Based on the careful examination according to th e technological and functional identification 
and environmental priorities, we illustrate produc ts listed below as environmental goods.  We chose 
these products because they are widely used as ho me appliances and office equipment and because 
they are responsible for the second biggest emission category of CO 2 after manufacturing and 
transportation.6 
9. At the same time, considering the current situa tion where there is not a unified standard for 
"energy efficiency", Japan would like to propose to start working on harmonizing the "Energy 
Efficient Standard".  Japan believes that the creati on of this standard could lead to the spread of 
energy efficient products certified under a single standard for energy efficiency, which would 
contribute to the mitigation of the negative impact of  climate change.  It is not an easy task but we 
think that it should be undertaken by the CTESS. 
• Environmentally friendly vehicles;  
• Electric accumulators: fuel cells, lithium-ion batteries; 
• LED lighting; 
• Inverter refrigerator/freezers; 
                                                      
2 http://www.iea.org/press/pressdetail.asp?PRESS_REL_ID=286  
3“IPCC Special Report on Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage”, 2005, page 58-59  
4 Energy Star HP: http://www.energystar.gov/  
5 OECD (COM/ENV/TD(2003)35/FINAL), 19 May 2006, page 5 
6 “Towards a more energy efficient Future” OECD/IAEA, 2009, page 8  TN/TE/W/75 
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  • Inverter air conditioners; 
• Office equipments with lower power consumption or heat source; 
• Energy saving PCs; 
• Liquid-crystal display; 
• Printer, FAX with high-efficiency power supply etc.; 
• Audio-visual appliances with high-efficiency power supply/amplifier circuit: flat-panel TV, 
DVD player/recorder, Video cameras etc.; 
• Integrated Circuits; 
• etc. 
 
 * These items are mentioned only as testing pr oducts without prejudice to the Japanese final 
position on these specific items. Japan reserves the right to make further  modifications to 
these items in the broader contex t of subsequent negotiations. 
  
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