WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/TE/W/69 
30 June 2006 
 
 (06-3161) 
Committee on Trade and Environment 
Special Session Original:   Spanish 
 
 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT DIMENSION AS AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE 
 NEGOTIATIONS ON ENVIRONMENTA L GOODS:  THE PRINCIPLE OF 
SPECIAL AND DIFFERENTIAL TREATMENT 
 
Communication from the Republic of Cuba  
 
Paragraph 31(iii ) 
  
 The following communication h as been received from the delegation of the Republic of Cuba 
with the request that it be circulated am ong the Members of the Committee on Trade and 
Environment.  
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I. INTRODUCTION 
1. This contribution
1 to the negotiations on environmenta l goods is submitted as a follow-up to 
the considerations set out in document TN/TE/W/55, in which it was noted that one issue awaiting a 
solution was real and effective implementation of th e principle of special and differential treatment 
(SDT). 
2. Cuba attaches great importance to environmen tal protection and sustainable development and 
is convinced that the attainment of those goals, as far as these negotiations are concerned, will depend 
on how feasible it is for Cuba - and other devel oping countries - to have access to environmental 
goods and services on the terms that its national development requires and not merely through a 
liberalization process which is alien to such goals. 
3. The development witnessed in environmental goods and services since the Earth Summit and 
the adoption of Agenda 21 in Rio de Janeiro, h as to do with the growing environmental awareness 
worldwide and the will to take steps to protect the environment that open up greater opportunities for such goods and services to be marketed nationally and internationally. 
4. It is worthwhile recalling paragraph 2 of the DM D, which reaffirms the mandate to address as 
a matter of priority, in these and all negotiations, the interests and needs of the majority of the 
Member countries of this Organization: 
 "International trade can play a major role in  the promotion of econom ic development and the 
alleviation of poverty.  We recognize the need for all our peoples to benefit from the increased opportunities and welfare gains that the multilateral trading system generates.  The 
                                                     
 
1 The purpose of this paper is not to prejudge the outcome of the negotiations but to ensure 
implementation of the DMD mandate concerning the consideration of development goals. TN/TE/W/69 
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  majority of WTO Members are developing countries.  We seek to place their needs and 
interests at the heart of the Work Programme adopted in this Declaration.  Recalling the 
Preamble to the Marrakesh Agreement, we sha ll continue to make positive efforts designed to 
ensure that developing countries, and especially the least-developed among them, secure a share in the growth of world trade comme nsurate with the needs of their economic 
development.  In this context, enhanced ma rket access, balanced rules, and well targeted, 
sustainably financed technical assistance a nd capacity-building programmes have important 
roles to play."
2 
 5. Progress in the present negotiations will depend on the assurance the developing and least 
developed countries feel about proper fulfilment of th e mandate.  In our view, therefore, it is essential 
to start at once to promote a discussion involv ing all Members on how to ensure effective 
implementation of SDT so that the mandate in  paragraph 31(iii) can be put into effect. 
II. SPECIAL AND DIFFERENTIAL TREATM ENT:  AN ISSUE TO BE RESOLVED 
6. It is a well-known fact that liberalization does not automatically promote greater 
competitiveness in developing countries.  The capacities of such countries need to be built up so that 
they achieve the efficiency to co mpete on the world stage.  The negotiations will therefore have to 
take into account that fewer human, financial and t echnological resources are available to developing 
countries, and accordingly allow gradual liberaliza tion insofar as this accommodates their interests 
and priorities and not those of the developed countries. 
7. For Cuba, only if there are conditions in which r eal and effective differential treatment can be 
implemented on the basis of non discrimination and w ithout conditions, will trade liberalization in this 
area enable countries to implement projects aimed at sustainable development.  This will mean 
eliminating the qualitative disadvantages arising from the technology gap created by the difficulties of 
gaining access to technology and the know-how that goes with it. 
8. This view of SDT in fact sums up the mandate  laid down in the DMD and in the Hong Kong 
Ministerial Declaration itself, which recognizes in  paragraph 2 the importance of safeguarding the 
development dimension in a ll the current negotiations: 
 "We emphasize the central importance of the de velopment dimension in every aspect of the 
Doha Work Programme and recommit ourselves to  making it a meaningful reality, in terms 
both of the results of the negotiations on market access and rule-making and of the specific development-related issues … "
3 
 
9. Paragraph 15 of that Declaration also refers to  this matter in reaffirming the mandate of the 
NAMA Negotiating Group: 
 "We reaffirm the importance of special and differential treatment and less than full reciprocity 
in reduction commitments, including paragraph 8 of the NAMA Framework, as integral parts 
of the modalities.  We instruct the Negotiating Group to finalize its details  as soon as 
possible."4 
 10. As the negotiations on environmental goods now st and, there is an obvious lack of consensus 
on a number of key issues.  On others, and the SDT principle is a case in point, there is as yet no 
clarity as to how they can be implemented althou gh their relevance to the negotiations has been 
                                                     
 
2 WTO, Doha Ministerial Declaration, paragraph 2. 
3 WTO, WT/MIN(05)/W/3/Rev.2, 22 December 2005, page 1. 
4 Idem , page 4.  TN/TE/W/69 
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  acknowledged.  However, we are now at a juncture wh ere it is essential that the negotiations take into 
consideration the sustainable developm ent needs of the developing countries. 
11. It is for these reasons that Cuba, ever since it submitted document TN/TE/W/55 in July 2005, 
has been pointing out the urgency of responding to this mandate.  More recently, in informal and 
formal meetings of the Committee on Trade and E nvironment there has been  broad acknowledgement 
of the need to include the development dimension in the current negotiations on environmental goods. 
III. PROPOSALS ON SPECIAL AND DIFFERENTIAL TREATMENT TO BE 
INCLUDED IN THE NEGOTIATIONS ON ENVIRONMENTAL GOODS 
12. First, Cuba's views on SDT implies recognition of  Principle 7 of the Rio Declaration of 1992, 
ratified by the World Summit for Development held in Johannesburg in 2002.  Principle 7 says that 
countries have common but differentiated responsibilities according to the level of their development.  
This does not entail imposing equal treatment among unequals, as the outcome would be unfair. 
13. As Cuba already said in the document referred to above, the project approach is best suited to 
making SDT viable because it ensu res that the environmental objective sought is automatically 
defined and the assistance involved is obviously assigned to sustainable development.  Discussions to 
date, including those in recent informal technica l meetings, have shown that the development 
dimension cannot on its own be guaranteed by the li st approach, which is why Cuba prefers the other 
approach to be applied in these negotiations. 
14. In view of the foregoing, it is important that  the Committee should u ndertake an in-depth 
analysis of the development dimension that these negotiations should have and the forms that SDT 
would take.  This would appear to be a prerequisite for pursuing the current discussion, with a view to 
agreeing on effective SDT which goes beyond the mere  granting of implementation periods and less 
discretionality not to liberalize. 
15. Without prejudice to other forms of SDT being identified in the discussion generated by the 
present contribution, Cuba considers that if the inte ntion is to pursue the discussion on the basis of the 
established parameters, it will be necessary to agree that: 
• The developing countries will not make new tariff reduction commitments on 
environmental goods that they deem to be out of keeping with their sustainable development policies and objectives either  because the goods do not constitute an 
environmental or social problem or because they constitute an infant industry or an 
industry that needs promotion.  At the sa me time, there will be no numerical caps for 
the reduction process in respect of goods for which a tariff reduction is decided.  The 
developing countries will deci de on the proportion of goods to  be liberalized and their 
own levels of reduction. 
 
• Environmental goods for export that the developing countries identify must have low 
enough tariffs to allow their effective entry into the markets of the developed countries for which they are destined, and th ere must be approval, mutual recognition 
and financial and technological support m easures to achieve such entry where the 
goods are subject to non-tariff barriers.  Th is would mean taking up an outstanding 
issue – analysis of non-tariff barriers – that has not been seriously addressed in this Committee. 
 TN/TE/W/69 
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  • In the case of environmental goods that constitute environment-friendly technology 
packages and clean technologies of interest  to developing countries, these should be 
transferred on favourable and preferential terms together with the related know-how 
and the necessary training for them to be put  to use in the receiving country, without 
discrimination between receiving countries. 
 
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