A4-0319/96

Resolution on the communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament on trade and environment (COM(96)0054 - C4-0158/96)

The European Parliament,

- having regard to Article B of the Treaty on European Union (economic and social cohesion) and Article 2 of the EC Treaty (sustainable development),

- having regard to the communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament (COM(96)0054 - C4-0158/96),

- having regard to its resolution of 10 October 1995 on the Green Paper 'For a European Union Energy Policy' (COM(94)0659 - C4-0026/95) ((OJ C 287, 30.10.1995, p. 34.)),

- having regard to the common position adopted by the Council on 25 July 1996 with a view to adopting a European Parliament and Council Directive concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity (C4-0457/96 - 00/0384 (COD)),

- having regard to the conclusions drawn at UNCED and in Agenda 21 on trade and the environment,

- having regard to its resolutions of 22 January 1993 on the environment and trade ((OJ C 42, 15.2.1993, p. 246.)) and 24 May 1996 on the negotiations in the World Trade Organization (WTO) on trade and the environment ((OJ C 166, 10.6.1996, p. 260.)),

- having regard to the report of the Committee on External Economic Relations and the opinions of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and Industrial Policy, the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection and the Committee on Development and Cooperation (A4-0319/96),

A. whereas the industrialized countries of the North bear a particular responsibility for global sustainable development,

B. whereas, given our shared responsibility for a healthy environment, all economic activity and all trade must be undertaken within limits imposed by the preservation and restoration of the environment,

C. whereas concern for the environment should not be abused for protectionist purposes and whereas, in particular, the OECD study of May 1995 shows there to be no systematic link between high environmental standards and loss of competitiveness,

1. Welcomes the Commission's intention to participate fully in the debate at the WTO Ministerial Conference on trade and the environment;

2. Assumes that its active involvement in the preparation of this subject for the Ministerial Conference through its appropriate committees will be ensured by the Commission;

3. Stresses once again, in the light of the recent US-Venezuela Gasoline Panel ruling, that, if the World Trade Organization (WTO) is incapable of reconciling the needs of environmental protection with existing WTO rules and disciplines, the entire multilateral trading system will come under serious threat from outraged public opinion;

4. Recognizes that the Singapore Ministerial Conference in December 1996 is only a staging post in this process; nonetheless reaffirms its view that public confidence in the WTO will be seriously undermined if no decisions leading to a system of rules which will ensure the conduct of responsible free trade are taken at Singapore;

5. Calls on the Commission and the Member States, therefore, to make the following elements the absolute minimum outcome of the Singapore Conference acceptable to the European Union:

(a) to secure a mandate agreed by WTO Member States to seek the revision of Article XX of the General Agreement, with the specific purpose of reconciling trade law and environmental protection; the texts concluding this revision will have to be adopted at the 1998 Ministerial Conference;

(b) to secure agreement to those measures necessary for the implementation of Article V of the WTO Statute concerning relations with other international organizations and non-governmental organizations, particularly with regard to the WTO's transparency as an organization and its relations with parliamentary bodies;

(c) to find a definitive legal solution to the problem of making Trade Related Environmental Measures adopted under a Multilateral Environmental Agreement compatible with the rules of the WTO;

(d) to achieve a definitive commitment by all WTO Member States to the maintenance of the life-cycle approach to eco-labelling requirements and to secure a mandate to negotiate the principles that are to be applied to production and processing methods, to be agreed at the 1998 Ministerial Conference;

(e) to ensure that the package of agreements emerging in Singapore is properly balanced to the benefit of all WTO Member States, notably through the inclusion of agreements on the transparency of environmental measures and an agreement on domestically prohibited goods;

6. Urges the Commission and the Member States of the European Union to do everything in their power to persuade the other Member States of the WTO to agree to give genuine and serious consideration to the drawing up of a set of principles or an understanding on the application of Article XX(a) of the General Agreement, which concerns the protection of public morals, including animal protection legislation;

7. Advocates the establishment of a separate UN agency initially to monitor existing multinational environmental agreements, but eventually to encourage the acceptance and continued development of other agreements, including agreements on trade and the environment;

8. Proposes that disputes, including those concerning the relationship between trade and the environment, should be settled within the WTO framework;

9. Proposes that in the interim environmental experts should be consulted by WTO panels considering trade and environment matters in order to ensure greater transparency and participation by environmental experts;

10. Advocates a general ban on the export of domestically prohibited goods;

11. Calls on the industrialized countries of the North to make further financial resources available to the developing countries for their economic development through additional trade concessions, debt cancellation and the transfer of environmental technologies without increasing costs;

12. Proposes that the EU's first step should be to amend its Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) so as to reward not only sustainably managed tropical timber but also other environmentally sound production processes with special tariff preferences;

13. Advocates complete tariff exemption or special quotas for 'fair trade' products (such as bananas, coffee and tea) in the long term;

14. Suggests that, in implementation of its opinions of 12 October and 12 December 1995 on the proposal for a Council Regulation (EEC) amending Regulation (EEC) No 404/93 on the common organization of the market in bananas, Regulation (EEC) No. 1035/72 on the common organization of the market in fruit and vegetables, and Regulation (EEC) No. 2658/87 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the common customs tariff (COM(95)0114 - C4-0211/95 - 95/0084(CNS)) ((OJ C 287, 30.10.1995, p. 180 and OJ C 17, 22.1.1996, p. 25.)), the first step should be an amendment to the organization of the market in bananas with the aim of establishing a progressively rising quota for bananas produced and traded fairly in compliance with minimum ecological and social standards (fair trade quota);

15. Calls for the establishment of a code of conduct for transnational corporations, monitored by the Commission and possibly guided by the OECD's and UN's preparatory work in this sphere;

16. Believes that a thorough study should be made of the possibility of introducing new, independently monitored eco-labels, which should be geared to the 'life-cycle' principle;

17. Calls for new resources to be allocated and particular attention to be paid to the process of increasing awareness of and awarding the eco-label, the only Community ecological label currently recognized by the European Union, which covers all products and services - except food and pharmaceuticals - intended for consumption;

18. Calls for new studies on pollution caused by trade-related traffic flows;

19. Considers it absolutely essential for environmental impact costs to be internalized in the prices of energy, so that all costs are revealed and concealed dumping is prevented;

20. Joins with the Commission in emphasizing that, even after the establishment of the WTO, the contracting parties may continue to restrict or prohibit the import of goods for reasons of consumer health and environmental protection provided that such measures are product-related and such import restrictions are non-discriminatory;

21. Points out that a restriction or prohibition of the import of goods for reasons of consumer health and environmental protection must not be discriminatory;

22. Welcomes the opportunity of introducing border taxes on products manufactured by processes which do not comply with generally accepted environmental standards; emphasizes that the revenue collected should be made available (in the form of a UN-administered fund) to the developing countries for the environmentally friendly conversion of their industries;

23. Calls for increased integration of environmental aspects into the TRIPs, TRIMs and GATS agreements;

24. Welcomes the creation of new criteria for measuring trade-related increases in prosperity, emphasizes that they should also include environmental criteria and refers in this context to the UNDP's Human Development Index;

25. Emphasizes that the social and human rights dimension is inseparable from the environmental dimension of trade issues and advocates appropriate institutional treatment of this aspect in the EU;

26. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the governments of the Member States, the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) and the appropriate WTO bodies.