The texts reproduced in this section do not have the legal standing of the original documents which are entrusted and kept at the WTO Secretariat in Geneva.
Ministers,
Meeting on the occasion of signing the Final Act Embodying the Results of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations at Marrakesh on 15 April 1994,
Recalling the preamble of the Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization (WTO), which states that members’ “relations in the field of trade and economic endeavour should be conducted with a view to raising standards of living, ensuring full employment and a large and steadily growing volume of real income and effective demand, and expanding the production of and trade in goods and services, while allowing for the optimal use of the world’s resources in accordance with the objective of sustainable development, seeking both to protect and preserve the environment and to enhance the means for doing so in a manner consistent with their respective needs and concerns at different levels of economic development,”
Noting:
— the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, Agenda 21,
and its follow-up in GATT, as reflected in the statement of the
Chairman of the Council of Representatives to the CONTRACTING
PARTIES at their 48th Session in December 1992, as well as the
work of the Group on Environmental Measures and International
Trade, the Committee on Trade and Development, and the Council of
Representatives;
— the work programme envisaged in the Decision on Trade in
Services
and the Environment; and
— the relevant provisions of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights,
Considering that there should not be, nor need be, any policy contradiction between upholding and safeguarding an open, non-discriminatory and equitable multilateral trading system on the one hand, and acting for the protection of the environment, and the promotion of sustainable development on the other,
Desiring to coordinate the policies in the field of trade and environment, and this without exceeding the competence of the multilateral trading system, which is limited to trade policies and those trade-related aspects of environmental policies which may result in significant trade effects for its members,
Decide:
— to direct the first meeting of the General Council of the WTO
to establish a Committee on Trade and Environment open to all
members of the WTO to report to the first biennial meeting of the
Ministerial Conference after the entry into force of the WTO when
the work and terms of reference of the Committee will be reviewed, in
the light of recommendations of the Committee,
— that the TNC Decision of 15 December 1993 which
reads, in part, as follows:
“(a)
to identify the
relationship between trade measures and environmental measures, in
order to promote sustainable development;
(b)
to make appropriate
recommendations on whether any modifications of the provisions of
the multilateral trading system are required, compatible with the
open, equitable and non-discriminatory nature of the system, as
regards, in particular:
— the need for rules to enhance positive interaction between
trade and environmental measures, for the promotion of sustainable
development, with special consideration to the needs of developing
countries, in particular those of the least developed among them; and
— the avoidance of protectionist trade measures, and the adherence
to effective multilateral disciplines to ensure responsiveness of
the multilateral trading system to environmental objectives set
forth in Agenda 21 and the Rio Declaration, in particular
Principle 12; and
— surveillance of trade measures used for environmental purposes,
of trade-related aspects of environmental measures which have
significant trade affects, and of effective implementation of the
multilateral disciplines governing those measures;”
constitutes,
along with the preambular language above, the terms of reference of
the Committee on Trade and Environment,
— that, within these terms of reference, and with the aim of
making international trade and environmental policies mutually
supportive, the Committee will initially address the following
matters, in relation to which any relevant issue may be raised:
— the relationship between the provisions of the multilateral
trading system and trade measures for environmental purposes,
including those pursuant to multilateral environmental agreements;
— the relationship between environmental policies relevant to
trade and environmental measures with significant trade effects and
the provisions of the multilateral trading system;
— the relationship between the provisions of the multilateral
trading system and:
(a) charges and
taxes for environmental purposes;
(b) requirements
for environmental purposes relating to products, including standards
and technical regulations, packaging, labelling and recycling;
—
the provisions of the multilateral trading system with
respect to the transparency of trade measures used for environmental
purposes and environmental measures and requirements which have
significant trade effects;
—
the relationship between the dispute settlement mechanisms
in the multilateral trading system and those found in multilateral
environmental agreements;
—
the effect of environmental measures on market access,
especially in relation to developing countries, in particular to the
least developed among them, and environmental benefits of removing
trade restrictions and distortions;
—
the issue of exports of domestically prohibited goods,
— that the Committee on Trade and Environment will consider the
work programme envisaged in the Decision on Trade in Services and the
Environment and the relevant provisions of the Agreement on
Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights as an integral
part of its work, within the above terms of reference,
— that, pending the first meeting of the General Council of the
WTO, the work of the Committee on Trade and Environment should be
carried out by a Sub-Committee of the Preparatory Committee of the
World Trade Organization (PCWTO), open to all members of the PCWTO,
— to invite the Sub-Committee of the Preparatory Committee, and the Committee on Trade and Environment when it is established, to provide input to the relevant bodies in respect of appropriate arrangements for relations with inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations referred to in Article V of the WTO.
Download in:
> Word format
(2 pages;
26KB)
> pdf format
(2 pages;
10KB)