. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/TE/13 
12 October 2005 
 (05-4643) 
Committee on Trade and Environment 
Special Session  
 
 
 
REPORT BY THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE SPECIAL SESSION OF 
THE COMMITTEE ON TRADE AND ENVIRONMENT 
TO THE TRADE NEGOTIATIONS COMMITTEE 
  
 1. The thirteenth meeting of the Committee on Trade and Environment in Special Session 
(CTESS) was held on 15-16 September 2005. 
I. STATUS OF WORK 
2. Discussions at this meeting focused mainly on Paragraph 31(iii) of the Doha Declaration, 
following calls by many delegations at previous CTESS meetings to intensify the work in this 
particular area towards the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference.   
3. Some Members nonetheless reiterated the importa nce of all three parts of the mandate in 
Paragraph 31.  Under Paragraph 31(i), one delegation provided some clarification of how the 
principles of no hierarchy, mutual supportiveness and deference, which in its view should govern the 
relationship between the WTO rules and MEAs, relate d to other principles of international law.   
4. With respect to Paragraph 31(iii), delegations pursued their discussions focussing mainly on 
the issue of environmental goods liberalization.  Se veral submissions made by delegations have been 
discussed in the Committee, leading to two separate approaches.  Some delegations have identified 
specific products that they would like to be consider ed in the context of the negotiations.  In total, 
nine lists of environmental goods have been s ubmitted by delegations, and are now before the 
Committee.
1  While there may be some elements of convergence among these lists, in-depth analysis 
and intensive technical work would be required in  order to determine what products may qualify as 
"environmental goods" for the purposes of the negotiations .  The alternate approach is referred to as 
the "environmental project approach".2  According to this approach , environmental goods and services 
would be liberalized within the framework of enviro nmental projects undertaken at the national level.  
It has been suggested that the broad criteria to select these "environmental projects" could be agreed 
upon in the CTESS.   
5. As a general comment, many delegations have st ressed that the outcom e of the negotiations 
would have to be faithful to the spirit of the ma ndate in Paragraph 31(iii).  In other words, the 
negotiations should result in a balanced outcome in terms of delivering benefits from the perspective 
of trade, the environment and development.  
  
                                                     
 
1 These have been submitted by New Zealand, the Un ited States, Qatar, Japan, Chinese Taipei, Korea, 
the European Communities, Canada and Switzerland. 
2 This approach was proposed by the delegation of India.  TN/TE/13 
Page 2  
 
 6. While there remain differences of opinion among Members on the issue of approach, it 
emerged from the discussion that there were so me underlying questions common to the list and 
environmental project approaches, which delegations  could usefully address in order to make some 
further progress in their work.  In this context, de legations agreed to engage in a more technical 
discussion, without prejudice to issues of procedure or approach, or to their negotiating positions.   
7. Many delegations considered, for instance, th at there was room for further discussing the 
environmental attributes of some of the products that  had been proposed by Members.  In this regard, 
some delegations have rais ed concerns regarding the multiple uses  of certain products identified in the 
lists, and their relationship to the protection of the en vironment.  At the same time, in response to the 
environmental project approach, some delegations ha ve expressed an interest in sharing their national 
experience with respect to the implementation of si milar projects or initiatives.  For example, it was 
suggested that specific examples of environmental goods and services that had been used within the 
framework of such projects could be discussed.   
8. It was therefore agreed that an Informati on Exchange Session on Environmental Goods and 
Services would be organized.  This information ex change will provide an opportunity to delegations 
that have proposed lists of products to further el aborate on the considerations that have guided their 
identification of the various items, including the potential environmental benefits associated with 
individual products or groups of pr oducts.  Moreover, this discussion will also enable delegations to 
consider examples of relevant environmenta l goods and services in the context of ongoing 
environmental projects.   
9. In the course of our discussions, some delega tions have mentioned the need to address the 
various components of the mandate in Paragraph 31( iii) in a more comprehensive manner.  In this 
regard, it was noted that the issues of environmental services and non-tariff barriers were important aspects of the mandate.  
II. FUTURE WORK  
10. The CTE in Special Session will be holding an  Information Exchange Session at its next 
meeting in October.
3   
11. This information exchange session should assi st the CTESS in identifying the kind of 
products that could be designated as "environmen tal goods" for the purposes of the negotiations, in 
addition to providing an opportunity to further examine some of the elements proposed under the "environmental project approach".  In order to help  structure the discussion, delegations were invited 
to focus on five broad areas, namely:  Wastewater Management;  Solid and Hazardous Waste 
Management;  Air Pollution Control;  Renewable Ener gy Products;  and Environmentally Preferable 
Products.  This practical focus, based on conc rete examples of products and case studies, will 
hopefully contribute to sketch out areas of commona lity to proceed further in the negotiations under 
Paragraph 31(iii).   
12. The next formal meeting of the CTESS is sche duled for 14 October, the last before the Hong 
Kong Ministerial Conference.  Delegates will be aw are of the little time we have left in the final 
stages of our preparations.  I am hoping that, at the meeting on 14 October, delegates will indicate 
what they hope to see at Hong Kong in respect to this part of our mandate, and how they expect the 
negotiations to be carried forward into 2006.   
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3 This Information Exchange Session has been scheduled on 12 October 2005.