. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/CTE/GEN/18 
2 March 2005  
 (05-0900) 
Committee on Trade and Environment Original:   English 
  
 
RECENT ACTIVITIES BY UNCTAD ON THE INTERFACE OF  
ENVIRONMENTAL REQUIREM ENTS AND MARKET ACCESS 
 
Statement by UNCTAD at the Regular Session
 
of the Committee on Trade and Environment of 22 February 2005  
 
 1. This intervention gives a short overview of activities by UNCTAD on the interface of 
environmental requirements and market access held since the autumn session of the CTE.  
2. The first substantive session of UNCTAD’s ne w Consultative Task Force on Environmental 
Requirements and Market Access for Developing Co untries (CTF) took place back-to-back with the 
autumn session of the TBT Committee on 4-5 Novemb er last year.  The meeting launched some 
specific and time-limited project activities, whose results will aid the substantive debate in the 
Consultative Task Force.  They include three clusters:  
(i) exchanging national experience among China,  Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand on 
adjustment strategies to environmental requirements for electrical and electronic 
equipment in overseas markets;  
 (ii) exploring national or sub-regional codes on good agricultural practice for horticultural 
exports benchmarked to Eurep GAP for Kenya, the Republic of  Tanzania and Uganda, on 
the one hand, and Malaysia, Thailand, Philippi nes and Viet Nam, on the other hand;  and 
 
(iii) creating a working group that will review the feasibility of linking existing international 
information systems on environmental requirements and improving collection of and access to information on voluntary requirements set by the private sector or NGOs.  In this regard, the working group will explore th e shape of a suitable platform, most likely 
an internet portal, for guiding users on and easing access to existing market intelligence 
systems. 
 
3. The next session of the Consultative Task Force is indicatively planned to be held back-to-
back with the next session of the CTE.  
4. Mr. Chairman, at the last Committee session, some Members suggested that UNCTAD should 
report to the CTE on its findings of recent c ountry- and sector-focused studies on environmental 
requirements and market access.  In this regard, I would like to bring to the attention of the Committee that the UNCTAD Trade and Environmen t Review 2005 will focus on this very subject. 
Environmental requirements and market access will al so be discussed  as a specific subject at the 
forthcoming session of UNCTAD's Trade Commission in mid-March.  This said, UNCTAD would be 
prepared to present the main findings of its recent work to a future session of the CTE. 
5. On 7 and 8 October last year, UNCTAD and th e Foundation for International Environmental 
Law and Development (FIELD) organized in Bru ssels a stakeholder discussion on the draft REACH 
regulation and developing countries. The meeti ng brought together representatives of various WT/CTE/GEN/18 
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 Directorates of the European Commission with go vernment and private sector representatives of the 
main chemical exporting developing countries, including Brazil, China, India, Philippines and Thailand.  The meeting provided an opportunity to clarify the scope of the draft regulation, discuss 
specific implications for exporters of chemical s and downstream products from developing countries, 
as well as exchange views on the participati on of developing countries in the stakeholder 
consultations on the draft REACH regulation.  The discussion at the meeting highlighted that the 
European Commission had launched an extended imp act assessment of the draft REACH regulation, 
but that this comprehensive analytical effort did not include the external impact on developing country exporters.  It was generally considered th at there was insufficient impact analysis of REACH 
on developing countries and that there was a need fo r further efforts to cons ider the economic, social 
and environmental impact of RE ACH in developing countries.  The meeting therefore recommended 
that an analysis of the specific impact on developing countries be undertaken by the European Commission, including both chemical substances and substances in articles, from an economic, 
environmental and social perspective.   
6. The report of the meeting is downloadable fro m the Trade, Environment and Development 
Website of UNCTAD, but I have also brought along a number of hard copies that interested delegates 
can obtain. 
7. On 23-24 November and on 2-3 December, UNCTAD organized national policy dialogues on 
environmental and related health requirements and market access fo r horticultural products in Phnom 
Penh, Cambodia, and in Manila, Philippines.  Bo th meetings highlighted that mandatory and 
voluntary environmental and related health require ments in key export markets underpinned a trend 
towards high precision agricultural that could largel y only be followed by estate producers and very 
well managed outgrowers networks in exporting de veloping countries.  Sm all and medium-sized 
enterprises faced very big adjustment problem s. The meetings recommended that concerned 
developing country governments s hould carefully study whether it is worth assisting SMEs in meeting 
very stringent requirements in conventional horticul tural export markets or rather encourage exports 
of conventional horticultural pr oducts to neighbouring countri es and a transition to organic 
agricultural exports. 
8. The third meeting of the UNCTAD/FAO/IFOAM International Task Force on Harmonization 
and Equivalence in Organic Agriculture was held  on 17-19 November 2004 at FAO Headquarters in 
Rome.  This meeting discussed two analytical pa pers on the long- and short-term options for 
harmonization and equivalence. Like for the othe r events I mentioned in my intervention, all 
information on the meeting in Rome are access ible at UNCTAD’s Trade, Environment and 
Development website. 
9. In conclusion, as regards forthcoming meeti ngs, as part of our UK-DFID-funded project, a 
regional workshop on environmental requirements,  market access and trading opportunities for 
organic agricultural products, jointly organized by  the ministry of external commerce (COMEX) and 
UNCTAD, is scheduled to take place in San José, Costa Rica, on 30 and 31 March 2005.  
 
 
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