WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/TE/9 
28 June 2004  
 
(04-2770) 
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 
 
TRADE AND ENVIRONMENT NEGOTIATIONS:   
STATE OF PLAY 
  
1. This report is intended to provide the Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC), at its meeting 
of 30 June – 1 July 2004, with an overview of  the progress achieved in the trade and environment 
negotiations.
1 
I. PARAGRAPH 31  (I) 
2. In Paragraph 31(i), participants we re instructed to negotiate on: "the relationship between 
existing WTO rules and specific trade obligations set out in multilateral environmental agreements 
(MEAs).  The negotiations shall be  limited in scope to the applicability of such existing WTO rules as 
among parties to the MEA in question.  The negotiations shall not prejudice the WTO rights of any 
Member that is not a party to the MEA in question."  
3. Since the commencement of the negotiations, de legations have pursued two approaches under 
this part of the mandate: the identification and di scussion of specific trade obligations (STOs) in 
MEAs;  and a broader, more conceptual, discussion of the WTO-MEA relationship.  
4. There have been two major submissions unde r this item since the Cancun Ministerial 
Conference, one by the European Communities (EC) on global governance principles, and another by 
the United States (US) on the negotiation and implementation of MEAs.   
5. The EC proposal, presented at the April 2004 meeting, suggested that certain global 
governance principles be considered.  These included:   emphasizing the importance and necessity of 
MEAs;  designing environmental policy within mu ltilateral environmental fora;  ensuring close 
cooperation and increased information flow at the na tional and international levels for the mutual 
supportiveness of trade and environmental policies;  recognizing the fact that MEAs and the WTO are 
equal bodies of international law;  and not interpre ting WTO rules in "clinical isolation" from other 
bodies of international law.   
6. The US submission, presented at the June 2004 Meeting, addressed the issue of national 
coordination, transparency, and accountability in th e negotiation and implementation of MEAs.  More 
specifically, it explored the US experience in  the negotiation and im plementation of export 
restrictions in three MEAs.  The submission emph asized the importance of national and international 
coordination between trade and envi ronmental experts, and identified a number of features in the 
design and implementation of STOs that contribute to  their effective operation.  A key conclusion of 
the US paper appeared to be that the MEA-WTO relationship has been working well, as evidenced by 
                                                      
1The report builds on the previous "state of play" submitted by Ambassador Yolande Biké (in TN/TE/7 
and TN/TE/7/Suppl.1) prior to the Cancun Ministerial Conference.  TN/TE/9 
Page 2  
 
the fact that MEA-WTO conflicts have not arisen.  The US has called on other delegations to also 
share their national experiences.  
7. In general, views continue to diverge on Pa ragraph 31(i), and more discussion is clearly 
required before an outcome may be reached.  Nume rous participants maintain that the CTESS must 
first build a firm, factual and analytical foundation under this part of the mandate. 
II. PARAGRAPH 31 (II) 
8. The mandate of Paragraph 31 (ii) st ipulates that participants negotiate: "procedures for 
regular information exchange between MEA Secret ariats and the relevant WTO committees, and the 
criteria for the granting of observer status."   It involves two components; one, regular information 
exchange;  and, two, criteria for the granting of observer status.  
Information Exchange 
9. With respect to information exchange, delegati ons seem to be in agreement that the existing 
forms of cooperation and information exchange between the WTO, MEAs and UNEP have proven to 
be valuable and should be enhanced.  My pred ecessor, Ambassador Yolande Biké, had summarized 
some of the concrete ideas that had been advanced by delegations: 
- Formalizing MEA Information Sessions in th e CTE, and organizing them on a regular 
basis; 
- holding MEA Information Sessions on specific themes by grouping the MEAs that share 
a common interest; 
- organizing meetings with MEAs in other WT O bodies, either together with the CTE or 
separately; 
- organizing WTO parallel events at the COPs of MEAs more systematically; 
- organizing joint WTO, UNEP and MEA technical assistance and capacity building 
projects; 
- promoting the exchange of documents, while  respecting confidential information; 
- creating avenues for information exchange between government representatives from the 
trade and environment sides;  and 
- establishing an electronic database on trade and environment. 
 10. Many of these ideas are, of course, already bei ng implemented today.  While more ideas may 
be brought to the negotiating tabl e, I would encourage delegations to reflect on how the ideas above 
may be packaged towards a potential outcome.  In so doing, it would be critical for flexibility to be 
maintained in the WTO's relationship with other or ganizations, as some delegations have pointed out, 
so as not to lock the WTO into too tight an arrangement. 
Observer Status 
11. On observer status, while several delegations have argued that the outcome of the 
General Council and TNC deliberations on this matter must be awaited,  others have stated that the 
CTESS has an important role to play.  I would enc ourage delegations to reflect on how best to carry 
this part of the mandate forward.  It may be help ful to remember that the mandate is only designed to 
deal with environmental, and not all, organizations.  TN/TE/9 
 Page 3 
 
 
III. PARAGRAPH 31(III) 
12. In Paragraph 31 (iii), participants  were instructed to negotiate: "the reduction or, as 
appropriate, elimination of tariff and non-tar iff barriers to environmental goods and services."   Broad 
support has been expressed in the CTESS for conducting the negotiations on market access in 
environmental goods and services in the Negotiati ng Group on Market Access for Non-Agricultural 
Products (NAMA) and the Council for Trade in Services Special Session (CTSSS) respectively.  
Participants in the CTESS have activ ely engaged in clarifying the con cept of environmental goods.  In 
the process, several references were made to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and 
Development (OECD) and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC) lists of 
environmental goods. 
13. Since the Cancun Ministerial Conference, encouraging progress on this particular part of the 
mandate has been made.  A US proposal on the deve lopment of a "core" and a "complementary" list 
of environmental goods was discussed.  The core list would embody products on which there was a 
consensus that they constitute environmental goods, and the complementary list would include 
products on which a definitive consensus could not be  reached, but for which there was a "high degree 
of acknowledgment" that they were significant for environmental protection, pollution prevention or 
remediation, and sustainability.   
14. While two delegations had tabled  their own lists of environmen tal goods prior to the Cancun 
Ministerial Conference (Japan and Qatar), Chinese Taipei  informally tabled its preliminary list at the 
June 2004 meeting.  Furthermore, China proposed  the creation of two environmental goods lists, a 
"common" and a "development" list. 
15. I am pleased that discussions under this item are becoming more concrete, and would urge 
participants to continue submitting specific exampl es of products, or product categories, that they 
would like to include in the negotiations.  This would be a useful complement to the definitional 
discussions that the Committee has been pursuing.   I note that the OECD, the World Customs 
Organization (WCO) and the United Nations Conf erence on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) 
have all been invited to brief the Committee on their work on environmental goods at the next 
meeting. 
IV. JULY PACKAGE 
16. For the July package, I would propose that th e CTESS be encouraged to continue pursuing its 
Paragraph 31 mandate, with a view to achievi ng a positive outcome in the negotiations. 
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