Research, And The Problem Of Trade-related Environmental Laws

Using trade measures to protect environment is one of the new areas of the international trade law and international environmental law. In this thesis the problem is viewed in the area of international trade law in five chapters. Chapter 1 is the introduction that consists of five sections. The first section is about the occurrence and the development of environmental problems. The second section is about the relationship between environment and trade. The author points out it is market failure and intervention failure, not the trade that is the basic reason which leads to environmental problems. Environment protection measures will do harms to the free-trade system only in the circumstance that they form non-tariff barrier by using trade-restriction to protect environment. The third section i~ talked about the conflict between environment policy and free trade policy. Such conflict is a conflict of result not of porpoise. The forth section introduces the concerns on this question under GATT/WTO. The fifth section gives out the conception and different types of Environmental Trade Measures (ETM). ETM are trade-restriction measures and those measures that are for environment protection purposes but have potential influence to trade. Environment protection purposes include protection on the lives and health of human animals and plants, protection on the regenerative environmental resources. According to the legal basis, the ETM can be divided into unilateral ETM and multi-ETM, According to the form of expression it can be divided into environmental standards, environmental duty trade restriction and trade sanction. Environmental protection-related articles, agreements and cases under GATT/WTO are discussed in four sections in Chapter 2. Because there are no specific articles on environmental protection under GATT/WTO, trade-restriction measures or trade retaliation which are on the purpose of environmental protection are often appealed of breaking the legal system of GATT/WTO. The second section discusses several principles. Such as non- discrimination, tariff concessions elimination of quantitative restriction and general exceptions the author has studied the conceptions of these principles and the relations between each of them and ETM. Non-discrimination principle is, 搇ike product?shall be accorded same treatment of national origin in any party抯 market. (IATT never gives the definition to 搇ike product? According to the temporary study the products will be regarded as 搇ike product?if they have same internal characters, no matter in what ways they are made. It will violate non-discrimination principle that accord products different treatment if they are made in different product processes without considering their same characters. Although GATT has restriction on tariW it doesn抰 prohibit anti-dumping and countervailing duty on unfair competition interest by using lower environmental standard; it also doesn抰 prohibit the contract parties charging fees and charges on imported products for the purpose of environmental protection. But such fees and charges will not be higher than the internal like product. The results of strict elimination of quantitative restriction restrict the quantitative restriction measures which are adopted by the contracting party to protect environment. From this point of view, to generally eliminate quantitative restriction will affect the environment protection. But, in some instances such restrictions will lead the trade distort...