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TWN Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (Jul14/04)
9 July  2014
Third World Network  

Green goods initiative to ‘kick off' next week

Published in SUNS #7836 dated 3 July 2014
 
Geneva, 2 Jul (Kanaga Raja) -- The WTO Committee on Trade and Environment, at its meeting on Monday, was informed by Canada that the new initiative launched earlier this January by a small group of WTO Members aimed at eliminating tariffs on a broad range of environmental goods, will "kick off" on 8 July.
 
Presented as an environmental initiative, the "initiative" appears to be part of the zero-for-zero sectoral tariff negotiations that the US had been seeking as a part of the non-agricultural market access (NAMA) chapter of the Doha Single Undertaking. At the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference in 2005, it was decided that these sectoral initiatives were to be on a voluntary basis.
 
[Paragraph 16 of the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration states: "In furtherance of paragraph 7 of the NAMA Framework, we recognize that Members are pursuing sectoral initiatives. To this end, we instruct the Negotiating Group to review proposals with a view to identifying those which could garner sufficient participation to be realized. Participation should be on a non-mandatory basis."]
 
Canada, one of the participants in the new initiative, told the Committee meeting, under the agenda item of ‘other business', that the first round of negotiations among this small group of countries will commence immediately afterwards.
 
The initiative was launched by some 14 WTO Members on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum held in Davos earlier this January.
 
The countries involved in this initiative are Australia, Canada, China, Costa Rica, the European Union, Hong Kong-China, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Switzerland, Chinese Taipei and the United States.
 
In a joint statement released in Davos on 24 January 2014, the participants in the initiative had announced their commitment "to achieve global free trade in environmental goods."
 
The participants in the initiative, which they claim together to account for 86 per cent of the global trade in environmental goods, had also declared that their work will build upon the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders' commitment to reduce tariffs on the APEC List of 54 Environmental Goods.
 
(The list of 54 environmental goods on which the APEC economies committed to reduce applied tariff rates to 5 per cent or less by the end of 2015 include such goods ranging from steam or other vapour generating boilers, gas turbines, solar water heaters, wind powered electric generating equipment, filters, furnaces and ovens including waste incinerators, waste water treatment equipment, catalytic converters to solar cells. See SUNS #7731 dated 29 January 2014.)
 
At the Committee meeting on Monday, Canada said that it would keep Members appraised on the progress in the negotiations.
 
According to trade officials, China, also a participant in the initiative, said that the green goods initiative would provide impetus to the Doha Round.
 
It expressed hope that the regular transparency exercise in the Committee on Trade and Environment would attract other Members to participate in the initiative.
 
According to China, this initiative is a "win-win-win" for trade, environment and development.
 
According to trade officials, China also reported that at the meeting of APEC ministers responsible for trade that it hosted in May, the ministers reaffirmed their commitment to implement the liberalisation of a list of environmental goods by the end of 2015.
 
Ecuador said that it expected the tariff cuts resulting from this initiative to be applied to other Members, as in the Information Technology Agreement (ITA).
 
Peru said that the negotiations must include products of interest to developing countries, such as organic food.
 
According to trade officials, Canada confirmed that the results of the negotiations will be applied on a most-favoured-nation (MFN) basis.
 
The Committee also heard presentations by the European Union, Indonesia and Ghana on their Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Voluntary Partnership Agreements, trade agreements that are aimed at curbing the practice of illegal logging and encouraging sustainable forestry.
 
Australia also gave a presentation on its programmes against illegal logging, while Switzerland and the US expressed support for the campaign against the trade in illegally-cut logs.
 
According to trade officials, New Zealand reported on a recent roundtable on fossil fuel subsidy reform that was hosted by the US and the World Bank.
 
It informed the Committee that the roundtable featured peer reviews of national experiences of a number of countries and the benefits of such a reform.
 
It also said that it is the coordinator of the Friends of Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform, a group of non-G-20 countries, which includes Denmark, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.
 
Saudi Arabia, with support from Qatar, said that this subject is a G-20 process and that there is no linkage with the WTO.
 
On the other hand, New Zealand, Norway, Canada, Chile and the EU were of the view that the Committee's mandate is sufficiently broad to cover this subject.
 
The OECD gave a presentation at the Committee on labelling requirements for environmental purposes. It said that this would have implications on market access and international competition.
 
It also drew attention to the spread of self-made environmental claims, and the possible use of labels to provide an advantage to domestic goods.
 
The next meeting of the Committee is scheduled to take place on 21 October 2014.

 


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