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BRIDGES
Trade BioRes
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6
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Number
4
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Date: 3 March 2006
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MOP-3:
Labelling For Biotech Exports Up For Discussion Again
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After
Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety failed to reach
agreement at their last meeting, documentation requirements
for shipments of living modified organisms (LMOs) are again
likely to dominate the agenda of the third Meeting of the Parties
(MOP-3), to be held from 13-17 March in Curitiba, Brazil. Parties
will be under some pressure to finalise this issue which they
had been mandated to agree on within two years of the Protocol's
entry into force in September 2003.
more |
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EC,
Others Table Request For Liberalisation Of Environmental Services
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On
28 February, Australia, Canada, the European Communities, Japan,
Korea, Norway, Switzerland, the Separate Customs Territory of
Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu, and the United States circulated
a collective request for a number of large developing countries
to open their environmental services markets to foreign services
providers. Specifically, the request asks them to open up their
sewage; refuse disposal; sanitation; cleaning of exhaust gases;
noise abatement; nature and landscape protection; and other
environmental protection services in specific ways. However,
it explicitly excludes any request for water for human use (i.e.
the collection, purification and distribution of natural water).
more |
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"Step-By-Step"
Approach To Environmental Goods Liberalisation Considered
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During
an formal 21-22 February meeting of the WTO Committee on Trade
and Environment Special Session (CTE-SS), Members decided on
a work plan to consider the products that have been notified
as potential environmental goods, but differed on what criteria
should be used to evaluate them and whether single-use products
should be addressed first, or simultaneously, with dual-use
products. Divisions, however, remain about the broad approach
to follow when liberalising trade in environmental goods, as
well as on the overall scope of products to be discussed. Members
also remain uncertain about how to address issues such as special
and differential treatment for developing countries and non-tariff
barriers. more |
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UNFF
Looks For Relevance In International Forest Governance
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Delegates
meeting in New York from 13-24 February for the sixth session
of the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF-6) adopted a set
of measures that officials hoped would strengthen the International
Arrangement on Forests (IAF) that the UNFF administers and make
the IAF more relevant and influential in global forest governance.
In the draft resolution forwarded to the UN Economic and Social
Council (ECOSOC), countries agreed to four global objectives
for forests, identified three aspects of the IAF to strengthen,
and decided to forgo efforts to create a legally binding instrument
(LBI) on forests. Notwithstanding the agreement on the resolution,
which comes in marked contrast to the failure to adopt any text
at UNFF-5 in 2005 (see Bridges
Trade BioRes, 29 April 2005), low civil society interest
and participation and a lack of enthusiasm amongst delegates
themselves led to questions on the impact of the UNFF on international
forest governance, and in the longer-term, sustainable forest
management and livelihoods on the ground.more |
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