Fish @ The WTO: Subsidies, Market Access And Anti-Dumping	As talks heat up in the weeks before the WTO Hong Kong Ministerial Conference in December, fisheries-related issues have cropped up in draft texts submitted by the chairs of two WTO negotiating groups for inclusion in the draft Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration. The text put forwarded by the Chair of the Negotiating Group on Rules refers to the need to strengthen disciplines on subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing, while the status report by the Negotiating Group on Non-Agricultural Market Access (NAMA) points to progress on sectoral agreements, including fish. Meanwhile, Ecuador initiated WTO dispute proceedings against the US for the anti-dumping duties it imposed on shrimp imports from Ecuador. more
Forest Update: ITTO, UNFF and FLEG - Pressure building for new timber agreement at ITTO	Concerns were raised by some members of the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) about the decision at the 39th International Tropical Timber Council's (ITTC-39) meeting in Yokohama, Japan on 7-12 November to include so-called "environmental" elements in the 2006-2007 work programme of the ITTO. These countries feared that including such elements could lead to the broadening of the scope of the International Tropical Timber Agreement, which is currently being renegotiated (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 4 March 2005, http://www.ictsd.org/biores/05-03-04/inbrief.htm#4). Environmental elements included in the work programme are increased monitoring and assessment of the social, economic and environmental costs and benefits of sustainable management of natural forests; field-testing draft Guidelines on the Conservation of Biological Diversity in Tropical Production Forests; as well as assistance to Members to implement the rules of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) on listed forest species. more
WTO: Environment Chair Submits Draft Text For Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration	Along with the Chairs of other WTO negotiating groups, the Chair of the Committee on Trade and Environment Special Session (CTE-SS), Toufiq Ali of Bangladesh, on 22 November submitted his draft text to WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy for the draft Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration he is preparing for the Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) meeting on 30 November. Differences over the approach to the environmental goods and services (EGS) negotiations continued to divide Members during informal discussions on 24 and 25 November, reflected in bracketed text in the submitted draft. more

In Brief

Five Polluting Chemicals To Be Considered For Trade Ban To Bind Or Not To Bind: Climate Change Meeting Considers Future Expert Group Identifies Gaps In Biotech Risk Assessment EU To Establish Free Trade Zone For Fish And Agriculture In Mediterranean European Parliament Approves REACH Chemicals Legislation

Events    &   Resources
Events	28 November, Paris, France: TRADE AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT: CHALLENGES AHEAD FOR A SUCCESSFUL CONCLUSION OF THE DOHA TRADE ROUND IN HONG KONG. This conference examines the implications of the Doha Trade Round in Hong Kong on Africa, and on sustainable smallholder agriculture in France and other developed economies. With the concluding talks of the Doha round looming, the seminar aims at dismantling the technicalities of the debate surrounding the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and is an opportunity to engage in a constructive dialogue with French leadership. For further information contact Julie Cohen, fax: 01 45 49 53 90; email: julie.cohen@sciences-po.fr
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Resources	THE TRADE AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS OF ECOLABELS: ASSESSMENT AND RESPONSE. By Tom Rotherham (UNEP, November 2005). This paper reviews what is known about ecolabelling as an environmental policy tool and as a potential trade barrier. It finds that two problems are particularly worthy of attention, namely the lack of checks or balances in regard to the proliferation of ecolabels, including the lack of any way to harmonise existing and new ones; and the cost of conformity assessment (often the most significant barrier for developing country producers), which is related to the proliferation of ecolabels. It finds that the spread of environmental requirements can be expected to continue to increase due to the actions of private market actors, particularly through supply chain contracts and big retail chains.
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BRIDGES Trade BioRes is made possible in 2005 through the generous support of the Swiss Agency for the Environment, Forests and Landscape (BUWAL) and the State Secretary for Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment of The Netherlands (VROM). It also benefits from ICTSD's core funders: the Governments of Finland (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Denmark (DANIDA - Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Netherlands (DGIS - Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Sweden (SIDA - Swedish International Development Agency), Switzerland (SDC - Swiss Development Cooperation) and the UK (DFID - Department of International Development); Christian Aid (UK), the Rockefeller Foundation, MISEREOR, NOVIB (NL), Oxfam (UK), and the Swiss Coalition of Development Organisations (Switzerland). ISSN 1682-0843