In Brief

FIVE POLLUTING CHEMICALS TO BE CONSIDERED FOR TRADE BAN

On 11 November, the persistant organic pollutants review committee (POPRC) agreed to begin a process to assess whether an additional five persistent organic pollutants should be added to the Stockholm Convention's list of chemicals to be banned from trade. The POPRC, which was created by the last Conference of the Parties to the Convention (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 13 May 2005), agreed to consider subjecting lindane, pentabromodiphenyl ether, chlordecone, hexabromobiphenyl and perfluorooctane sulfanate to the Convention's rules in discussions that delegates described as "constructive" and "surprisingly smooth". The flame retardant, pesticide and insecticide chemicals will now go to smaller groups that will develop risk profiles for each of them for the next year, after which the groups will consider socio-economic issues and risk management questions for a year. Once this last step is completed, the POPRC will meet and forward a recommendation to COP-4 of the Convention, which will likely decide in 2009 whether to stop production, import and export of the chemicals and any necessary exemptions.

The Stockholm Convention is a global treaty to protect human health and the environment through the reduction and elimination of the production and use of a list of highly hazardous chemicals called POPs. POPs share four characteristics: they are toxic; they are persistent, resisting normal processes that break down contaminants; they accumulate in the body fat of people and animals and are passed from mother to foetus; and they can travel great distances on wind and water currents.

For additional information about the meeting, see http://www.pops.int/documents/meetings/poprc/default.htm

ICTSD Reporting.

TO BIND OR NOT TO BIND: CLIMATE CHANGE MEETING CONSIDERS FUTURE

Between 28 November and 9 December, the future of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and whether binding targets for cuts in emissions should be continued will be taken up at the Eleventh Conference of the Parties (COP-11) to the Convention in Montreal, Canada. The first Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (COP/MOP-1), which will be held at the same time, will mark the start of critical negotiations on how efforts to address climate change will move ahead after 2012, when the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol ends. Under the Protocol, which entered into force in February of this year, about 40 developed countries have committed to cutting emissions of heat-trapping carbon dioxide by 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2008-12. The recent accession of Saudi Arabia has raised the profile of the Protocol in the WTO, as Members consider that the impact of emissions reduction targets on competitiveness and the nature of the energy sector in energy-producing countries could become more important in trade negotiations in the future as more of these countries join the WTO and are impacted by the Protocol. The political emphasis given to climate change abatement in the Kyoto Protocol and its successor could also legitimise calls for including energy-reducing technologies as an environmental good in negotiations in the Committee on Trade and Environment Special Session (CTE-SS).

In addition, European Parliament representatives have raised the question of whether countries that do not sign onto the Kyoto Protocol's binding limits are effectively giving their businesses a subsidy which could be subject to redress in the form of countervailing duties or border tax adjustments under WTO rules (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 18 March 2005). They argued that since countries, including those in the EU, have to bear costs for climate abatement measures (such as technologies that reduce emissions) which in turn have impacts on competitiveness, there should be border adjustment measures to account for imports of products that are produced in a climate-unfriendly way without internalising the environmental costs. However, the EU has for the time being decided against raising the issue in the WTO and has not described how such measures could work, and the possibility of instilling such rules under the WTO or UNFCCC in the contentious new post-2012 regime will likely be undermined by the US disinterest in signing onto the Protocol or a successor agreement with binding targets. Instead, the US prefers to focus on technological development without committing to binding targets -- something environmental groups have said is ineffective with regard to achieving serious emissions reductions. The US has also launched a voluntary, multi-national plan to sequester and store carbon dioxide.

ICTSD reporting; "Nations set to feud over new global warming plan," REUTERS, New York Times, 22 November 2005; "Bid for Second Phase of Kyoto Faces Major Battle," REUTERS, 22 November 2005; "Britain opens way for new climate deal," OBSERVER, 20 November 2005; "India Unlikely to Agree to Kyoto Emission Caps," REUTERS, 18 November 2005; "US to Push at UN Meeting for Voluntary Carbon Plan," REUTERS, 17 November 2005.

EXPERT GROUP IDENTIFIES GAPS IN BIOTECH RISK ASSESSMENT

The Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group (AHTEG) On Risk Assessment Under The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, meeting on 15-18 November in Rome, Italy, concluded that countries need additional guidance and assistance in order to base their decisions whether to import living modified organisms (LMOs) on an adequate assessment of all the risks. The risk assessment process, which is spelled out in Annex III of the Protocol which was negotiated under the auspices of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), is aimed at ensuring that all parties are able to base advance informed agreement (AIA) decisions to import LMOs upon an accurate analysis of environmental, health and socio-economic risks. However, the fifteen country representatives pointed to specific LMOs or types of risk in which international guidelines, academic work and scientific research is lacking. At the same time, the AHTEG recognised that the capacity to implement a thorough risk assessment of LMOs is linked to the level of development of the country in question. A paper prepared by the CBD Secretariat showed that although the EU and Eastern European countries have for the most part implemented the full risk assessment described in the Annex, African, Latin American and Caribbean countries either did not submit their interim national reports on implementation of the Protocol or reported that they did not have the capacity to undergo the full risk assessment process. In addition, discussion revolved more broadly around the special needs of assessing the risk of LMOs in the context of the import approval process, a discussion which could enable the Parties to gain ownership over the risk assessment process set out in the Protocol and thereby augment their motivation to enhance national assessment frameworks. The meeting prepared a report that will go to the Meeting of the Parties (MOP) to the Cartagena Protocol in March 2005 as an information document, while the Secretariat will prepare recommendations to the MOP based on discussions of the meeting.

Documents from the meeting are available at http://www.biodiv.org/doc/meeting.aspx?mtg=TEGRA-01

ICTSD Reporting.

EU TO ESTABLISH FREE TRADE ZONE FOR FISH AND AGRICULTURE IN MEDITERRANEAN

The European Union started negotiations on 14 November with its Euro-Mediterranean partners to reduce tariffs on imports of fish and agriculture products as planned in the 1995 Barcelona Declaration. Senior officials kicked off the process, which aims to have a EuroMed Free Trade Area (EMFTA) by 2010, at the first meeting of the Follow-up Committee for the Euro-Mediterranean Roadmap for Agriculture in Brussels. "I believe that trade liberalisation in fisheries products will bring economic benefits and help strengthen co-operation in ensuring sustainable fisheries in the Mediterranean," Joe Borg, EU Commissioner of Fisheries and Maritime Affairs, said. Environmental group Friends of the Earth, on the other hand, said that negotiations should be halted until the end of 2006 when the Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA) commissioned by the EU will issue its recommendations on the proposed fish and agriculture liberalisation. The EuroMed countries, which include Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestinian Authority, Tunisia and Turkey, have substantial fisheries sectors that, according to WWF, are characterised by widespread violation of management rules that could make them vulnerable to overfishing. In the Mediterranean tuna fishery, for example, WWF has pointed to fishing levels that are over two times higher than the bluefin tuna populations can sustain.

"EU to open farm trade talks with Euro-Med countries," EUROPEAN UNION, 15 November 2005; "EU to open farm trade talks with Euro-Med countries," FISHUPDATE, 16 November 2005; "Letter to Director General DG RELEX," FOE MEDNET AND COMITÉ DE SUIVI, 26 September 2005; "2005 fishing season decimates Mediterranean bluefin tuna," WWF, 16 November 2005.

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT APPROVES REACH CHEMICALS LEGISLATION

The European Parliament on 17 November voted by a significant majority to approve REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals), the new European chemicals legislation. The agreement, which was based on a cross-party deal hammered out the week prior to the Parliament vote (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 11 November 2005), includes basic registration requirements for quantities of chemicals between 1 and 10 tonnes and supports the possibility for waivers of safety testing for 10 to 100 tonnes "based on satisfactory justification of risk". Although environmental groups criticised these compromises on the required safety information, they welcomed two new provisions that were added to the final text as relatively pro-environmental while opponents criticised them for being unnecessarily burdensome. One new provision refers to the 'substitution principle' which requires companies to cease production and use of dangerous chemicals and replace them with safer alternatives when these are available, while another new provision limits the duration of authorisations to five years. The approved text incorporates several thousand amendments, including some that respond to concerns raised by the US, Japan and African countries that the new measures may be pose barrier to trade. John Bowis, a member of the Parliament's Environment Committee, said that although he thought the EU should promote REACH-type standards in multilateral trade negotiations to ensure a "level playing field that includes environmental and health requirements", it was necessary to "take account of the very real worries among developing countries, especially on the issue of minerals and mining products, and ensure that we do not damage their fragile economies". Sources suggest that more than 30 governments in the WTO have raised concerns about the trade and competitive impacts of REACH.

EU member states will discuss the new legislation on 28-29 November in the Competitiveness Council, but the vote itself will take place on 19 December.

ICTSD Reporting; "Parliament backs safety assessment of chemicals," EURACTIV, 17 November 2005; "Britain sets December date for EU chemicals deal," REUTERS, 18 November 2005; "EU Parliament Passes Chemical Legislation In First Reading; Ministers to Review in Dec," WTO REPORTER, 21 November 2005, "Parliament backs new EU law on toxic chemicals," REUTERS, 17 November 2005; " America's Chemical Makers Dismayed by E.U. 'REACH' Vote," PRNEWSWIRE, 18 November 2005.