Trade and environment in the WTO: The status of unilateral trade measures taken for environmental purposes

Environmentally motivated unilateral trade measures have been at the center of attention in the World Trade Organization's (WTO) dispute settlement fora and in its various organs. The controversy around these measures concerns, first and foremost, their legality under the WTO rules. The thesis aims to answer whether environmentally motivated unilateral trade measures are allowed in the WTO. It argues that such measures are allowed in the system only as a last resort and only if their application runs congruent to the values and objectives recognized by the system. The thesis suggests a technique by which the status of unilateral trade measures may be clarified. It is hoped that the discussion and proposition in this thesis will contribute to the efforts for the clarification of the status of environmentally motivated unilateral trade measures in the WTO.