Voluntary Environmental Standards Effects On Our Foreign Trade

Voluntary Environmental Standards are the new emerging series of standards which attract most countries' attention. It aims to protect the environment, augment people's environmental protect consciousness and reasonably use the natural resources. Although these standards are still voluntary at present, especially for the developing countries, they will still have some preferable periods, it is certain that the development of the voluntary environmental standards will be on the road, and it will greatly impact our foreign trade and the international trade, so it should be highly concerned.As the different economic development standards between the developing countries and the developed countries, they will require the different environmental standards. The standards ruled by the developed countries are always higher than that in the developing countries, this will unavoidably develop contradictions, making some products from the developing countries be refused by the developed market, it is called the "green trade protectionism". It is roughly calculated that our trade will be ill affected by the "green protectionism", the lost amounts to at least 70millon dollars every year. And in 2001, one garment company in Jiangsu province was punished with USD $160,000 by the Germany importing company, for a failure to abide by ecological standards. Another company in Zhejiang Province was informed that the buyer in Belgium would return 300,000 jackets because the jacket zippers contained a banned chemical content nickel that would have endangered the public health and environment. With the expanding of the voluntary environmental standards applying scope, its side effects will become more serious.The Voluntary Environmental Standards is a very complicated standards system, as to it, how will China deal with it? Should it actively face it or passively cower? In view of its great effects on our trade, we must realize the graveness of the problem, actively take part in the relative activities, improve the scientific level, and reduce its trade barrier. This article tries to deeply analyze the Voluntary Environmental Standards effects on our trade, and propose some proper suggestions for the problems, making our nation greatly gain the profit and avoid the loss on our foreign trade basis at present.