- My reports, as Chairman of the Group on Environmental Measures and International Trade, to the 48th and 49th Sessions of the CONTRACTING PARTIES. Discussions in the Group in 1993 indicate that the Group considers that the three items of its agenda (i.e. trade provisions in multilateral environmental agreements vis-à-vis GATT principles and provisions; transparency of national environmental regulations likely to have trade effects; and new forms of packaging and labelling requirements) anticipated a significant number of the UNCED recommendations to the GATT. These include recommendations 2.22(c) relating to transparency, 2.22(f) relating to environmental regulations or standards such as packaging and labelling requirements, and 2.22(j) relating to the relationship between GATT provisions and multilateral environmental agreements. The Group's past work on this agenda, in the Group's view, constitutes an important contribution to GATT's UNCED follow-up task, and I believe that my two reports to the CONTRACTING PARTIES provide a comprehensive and detailed overview of the progress made.

- The minutes of the Group's meetings of July and October 1993 and January 1994 in which it substantively debated the UNCED recommendations contained in Section B of Chapter 2 of Agenda 21. These are contained in documents TRE/12, TRE/13, and TRE/14 respectively. I would like particularly to draw attention to the Appendix in TRE/12 which includes my first impressions on the Group's UNCED follow-up work, and provides indicators of the direction in which this work may move in the future. In addition, TRE/14 records an exchange of views on the possible ways in which a report could be forwarded to the Commission on Sustainable Development.