. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/TE/15 
27 April 2006 
 (06-1997) 
Committee on Trade and Environment 
Special Session  
 
 
REPORT BY THE CHAIRMAN OF THE SPECIAL SESSION OF 
THE COMMITTEE ON TRADE AND ENVIRONMENT 
TO THE TRADE NEGOTIATIONS COMMITTEE1 
 
 I. INTRODUCTION 
1. At the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference, Ministers have instructed Members to intensify 
the negotiations, without prejudging their outco me, on all parts of Paragraph 31 of the 
Doha Declaration to fulfil the mandate.  Furt hermore, Ministers have called upon Members to 
complete the work expeditiously under Paragraph 31(iii).   
2. Since Hong Kong, the CTE in Special Session (CTESS) has held one formal meeting 
on 21-22 February 2006.
2  The meeting focused mainly on th e way forward under Paragraph 31(iii), 
which relates to environmental goods and services.3  At this meeting, Members agreed to engage in 
technical work to examine products, systems and projects falling under different categories identified 
by delegations in their submissions.  It was underst ood that this technical work would not prejudge the 
approaches to be followed to fulfil the mandate.  The CTESS held a first technical discussion under 
Paragraph 31(iii) on 4-5 April 2006.   This status report focuses on progress in the work undertaken 
pursuant to the mandate in Paragraph 31(iii).   
II. STATUS OF WORK  
3. At the meeting on 21-22 February, Members ex changed views on indicative parameters that 
could guide future discussions under Paragraph 31 (iii), as well as the categories to which these 
parameters could be applied.   
4. The categories of Renewable Energy and Air Pollu tion Control were selected for the technical 
discussion of 4-5 April 2006.4  Four delegations circulated non-pape rs for the purpose of this meeting, 
namely the European Communities (JOB(06)/70), Canada (JOB(06)/73), Japan (JOB(06)/74) and 
Chinese Taipei (JOB(06)/75).  The Secretariat had also prepared a compilati on list of pr oducts put 
forward by Members in the two above-m entioned categories (JOB(06)/58).   
5. On the basis of the non-papers submitted, the discussions initially focused, under each 
category, on products of single environmental end- use followed by a consideration of other products 
with multiple uses.  Questions were raised regardi ng the application of different parameters to some 
of the products within the relevant categories, and how  such parameters could he lp define the scope of 
environmental goods.  It was noted that the paramete rs applied in the examination of products and 
                                                      
 1 This report is submitted on the Chairman's own responsibility.   
2 TN/TE/R/15.   
 3 The mandate in Paragraph 31(iii) calls for nego tiations on "the reduction or, as appropriate, 
elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers to environmental goods and services".   
4 These two categories cover some 150 items out of the 480 put forward in the various lists tabled by 
Members.  See TN/TE/W/63, "Synthesis of Submissions on Environmental Goods – Informal Note by the 
Secretariat", 17 No vember 2005.   TN/TE/15 
Page 2  
 
systems may not always reflect the environmental a nd developmental priorities of all Members.     
The parameters used in the discussion included "si ngle environmental end-use", "clear environmental 
use or benefit", "predominant environmental end-use" , and "otherwise environmentally beneficial".   
6. Moreover, a number of specific questions were ra ised with regard to individual products, in 
particular concerning their classification under the Ha rmonized System (HS).  Some of the difficulties 
highlighted related to the fact that the HS was not based on the criterion of end-use.  Furthermore, it 
was noted that many of the products that coul d potentially qualify as environmental goods were not 
described at the 6-digit level under the HS and ma y therefore require the use of a narrower product 
description or ex-out.  Classification issues were also raised, in particular under the Renewable 
Energy category, with respect to products traded  as part of a system or an entire plant.   
7. Other cross-cutting issues such as special and differential treatment, non-tariff barriers and 
transfer of technology have been highlighted as impor tant questions to address in the context of these 
discussions.  Members may wish to revert to these issues as the Committee proceeds with its work.   
8. While there was a good level of engagement on the part of delegations in the discussions, 
a number of technical issues still need to be addresse d.  Furthermore, divergences remain on the most 
appropriate way to fulfil the manda te in Paragraph 31(iii).  Beari ng in mind the overall timeframe for 
the negotiations, delegations will need  to further intensify their efforts to bring the work of the CTESS 
to fruition in this area of the negotiations.  
III. FUTURE WORK 
9. The CTESS will be holding its second technical discussion under Paragraph 31(iii) from 
10-12 May 2006 where two further categories of pr oducts will be examined, namely Waste Water 
Management and Solid and Hazardous Waste Management.
5  In addition, delegations will have an 
opportunity to revert to the categories covered at the April meeting.  Members have agreed to invite to 
this meeting the following organizations:  th e WCO, UNCTAD, UNEP, the OECD, the Basel 
Convention on the Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Waste and their Disposal and the 
Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. 
10. In order to be able to carry out the next series of discussions in an effective way, I would urge 
delegations to come forward w ith detailed explanations on the environmental and developmental 
aspects of products that have been identified under th e two new categories.  I would also urge other 
delegations to come prepared to the discussions with specific questi ons on the products that have been 
reviewed thus far, as well as on those that will be taken up at the meeting in May.  As before, this 
technical work will be carried out without prejudice to  the issue of approach to fulfil the mandate in 
this area.   
11. Finally, while more attention has been given to the work under Paragraph 31(iii) in the early 
part of 2006, it should be noted that much work  still remains to be done by Members to fulfil the 
mandate in Paragraph 31(i) and ( ii) of the Doha Declaration.  
 
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5 JOB(06)/81.