Environmental goods and services negotiations at the world trade organisation: key issues and state of play
No other item on the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) negotiating agenda on trade and environment seem to raise as many questions or provoke as much speculation on possibilities as Para 31 (iii) of the Doha Ministerial Declaration which calls for the “the reduction or, as appropriate, elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers to environmental goods and services.” The evolution of the debate and statements made by WTO Members indicate that the issue has taken on dimensions that might not have been anticipated at the time EGS was, for the first time, singled out for liberalization as part of a formal WTO mandate. While the special sessions of the Committee on Trade and Environment (CTE) and the Negotiating Group on Market Access (NAMA) mandated to discuss Environmental goods have seen some constructive discussion and submissions, WTO Members still seem to be uncertain about how to proceed. Submissions on both procedural modalities and substantive aspects have taken place in parallel mode. Most Members still await concrete proposals or submissions by developing countries. Environmental services being negotiated within the special sessions of the Council for Trade in Services have witnessed a number of requests primarily from developed countries but few offers from developing countries so far. Here too the political emphasis contained in Para 31 (iii) seems to have done little to speed up the process.
The slow pace seem partly to have been affected by the deadlock on other WTO negotiating issues in the months leading up to Cancun as well as in the immediate post-Cancun phase. It remains to be seen whether the positive note for the WTO negotiations struck by the ‘July Framework’ Agreement as embodied in the 1st August General Council Decision (WT/L/579) will result in meaningful progress. Meanwhile developments in other for a such as regional trade negotiations could have more immediate sustainable development implications that will need to be taken into account both by domestic policy makers as well as for the Doha Round negotiations as well. The present chapter will attempt to analyse the significance of these negotiations, particularly from the trade and sustainable development perspective, the evolution of the negotiations as well as some important issues and ‘fault-lines’ characterising the talks and conclude with comments on the possible outlook ahead.