Carbon Tariffs On Legal Issues. Wto Perspective Study

Environmental pollution is the negative effect of economic development. In order to solve this problem, balancing different costs of domestic and imported products, compensating for competitiveness, preventing carbon leakage, the United States and the European Union are considering implementing carbon tariff. This paper first introduces the general situation of carbon tariff, especially the background and effects of this concept.The European Union has implemented an ETS Scheme which forces producers to purchase emission allowance in order to set a cap for carbon dioxide emission and protect the environment. The United States does not take such actions, while it has taken many legislation attempts, especially the"Climate Stewardship Act","Climate Security Act"and"Clean Energy and Security Act". In the latest act, the International Reserve Allowance Program is regarded as an example of carbon tariff.Many scholars have discussed the characteristic of the carbon tariff and border tax adjustment has been introduced in the discussion. Through analysis, Carbon tariff is a kind of border tax adjustment is reaffirmed in this paper. By further study of the WTO rules and regulations and cases judged by DSB, it can be conferred that WTO permits the use of BTA to balance the different charges between domestic and foreign products. However, the measures of the United States'acts treat different while face domestic and foreign products and domestic producers take more advantages in the procedure of implementing such measures. This will breach the commitment of the WTO, and will be an obstacle of the international trade.China is one of the largest carbon dioxide emission countries. In the international environmental protection field, China meets many challenges and chances. While carbon tariff is not constrained with the"Common but Differentiated Responsibilities", and is treated as a unilateral action and trade protectionism, it is an uptrend of the world. China is a member of the international community, take this chance to cooperate with other countries, encourage the development and use the clean energy, actively response to the potential problems and difficulties are the best solutions.