Study On Legal Issue In Environmental Protection Of The International Trade

With the development of the global economic integration, international trade makes great effect to environment protection. The development of international trade helps to distribute resources worldwide rationally and effectively, thus pushes global economics forward and provides environment protection financial support and better technological assistance. However, the negative effect international trade imposes on environment cannot be omitted. As the scale of international trade enlarges, over-exploitation of natural resources and trans-boundary movements of hazardous wastes worsen ecological environment. While humans feel proud of the high-speed economic development, we have to face the environmental deterioration resulting from the increasing international trade at the cost of environment. Therefore, the environment protection in international trade has become the focus of attention of the international community since the 1990s, and"Sustainable development"becomes the guideline of settling and harmonizing the environment protection problems in the international trade.World Trade Organization, as the biggest trade organization in the world, pays more attention to the environmental issue. Through 30 year's research, discussion and dispute settlement, WTO has gradually set up its attitude to environmental protection, clearly regard sustainable development and environmental protection as one of its aims, and involve the clauses on environmental protection into every agreement of WTO, providing legal basis for reconciling the relationship between trade and environment, and contributing to maintaining and perfecting the global environment, promoting the sustainable development of international trade. However, in the final analysis WTO is an international organization aiming at maintaining and promoting international free trade, the maintenance of stable and harmonious international trade order make WTO somewhat imperfect on environmental protection. Perfecting the present regulations will be propitious to the harmony of international trade and environment protection.China has entered WTO for five years. We have met the complexity, difficulty and challenge of the environment protection problems brought by international trade in practice. We should seize the opportunities to meet the challenges on legal issue, make efforts to realize the sustainable development of economic growth and environmental protection. At first, this dissertation expatiates actuality and rootstock of the environment protection problems in international trade. Secondly, explains the relationship between the international trade and environment protection as the point of international environment law, and deepens the theory base through analyzing the sustainable development theory, free-rider theory and the internalization environmental cost theory. Thirdly, analyses the rules related to environment protection in WTO legal framework by cases. In the end, with a view to the development tendency of WTO, makes legal suggestion from two aspects to deal with the environment protection problems in international trade.