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2-1 Waive of Obligations
One of the challenges the WTO faced with is how to coordinate contradictions between provisions in the WTO law and trade provisions in MEAs. To this end, to waive members’ obligations under the WTO law is a wise choose. When there are conflicts between obligations under the WTO law of a member and obligations under MEAs, provision in Article XXV “Joint Action by the Contracting Parties” of GATT can be applied to waive obligations imposed upon member related by the WTO law and to permit that member to implement obligations under MEAs. But trade measures taken by members pursuant to MEAs must meet following restrictions: the measure should be suited to those protected environmental factors, and be the less-restriction trade measure available with adequate transparency; it should be consistent with non-discrimination principle of the WTO law and “polluters pay”, prevention and precaution, and management of “life cycle” principles in the field of environment. This method could ensure trade measures proposed to take by members to focus on relevant environmental issues and to meet the requirement of transparency, which could get support from most members and prevent members to abuse trade measures to apply protectionism in name of environmental protection. However, its weakness is also clear: it can’t considerate environmental protection issue from a global perspective and a long-term perspective because obligations can only be waived temporarily and it will waste much time and energy in waiving obligation case by case.
2-2 Interpretations of Specific Terms
In view of that trade disputes caused by environmental issues among members lie, to a large extent, in that many provisions and terms are ambiguous and vague so that members usually have different understandings on the same conception, it is a effective approach to interpret officially those provisions or terms which have caused divergence or are likely to cause divergence in order to prevent trade disputes caused by environmental issues. There are two methods of interpretation: one is to adopt a new understanding of interpretation by members under the chair of the General Council of the WTO; the other is to make use of the dispute settlement mechanism of the WTO, namely, the General Council adopts reports including interpretation of relevant provisions or terms of panels or the Appellate Body. In the first case of the WTO --- Venezuela v. United States-standards for reformulated and conventional gasoline, the Appellate Body made use of rules of treaty interpretation in Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties and made broad interpretation favorable to environmental protection on the introduction and other relevant terms of Article XX, which was a valuable attempt of the WTO to coordinate trade and environment and to promote reform and development of the WTO law.
2-3 Amendments of Existing Agreements
As mentioned above, many agreements of the WTO law added contents of environmental protection in the final documents of Uruguay Round Negotiation; however, these new provisions are either declarations in principle with simple content or exceptions of general principles without substantive norms. All these make the rules of environmental protection in the WTO law unable to operate and make trade measures taken by members without farsightedness, which is likely to cause trade disputes easily in the practice. Therefore, it is necessary to amend all relevant provisions in the WTO law in order to enhance their operation nature in the practice. On one hand, as to those agreements that only have provisions in principle, the WTO shall add substantive content, develop special provisions for environmental protection, and form a norms system including principles, rules, and regimes embodying thoughts of environmental protection. On the other hand, as to exceptions of principles, the WTO shall stipulate definitely its concrete citation conditions, application criteria, and implementing procedures. The strength of this method is that it can provide definite legal ground for trade measures taken by members and raise the transparency of those measures so that it can lay a good foundation for preventing divergence between trade and environmental decision-making and trade disputes relating to the environment from arising.
2-4 Conclusion of a New Specialized Agreement
Several facts have proved that the existing rules of the WTO law aren’t enough to suit to the needs of environmental protection in the field of international trade. So, some scholars held that to this end a new negotiation should be held. For example, Mr. Jan McDonald advocated that the WTO shall, through cooperation with United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and other national organizations, initiate a new multilateral trade negotiation --- the Green Round and investigate law and practice of the WTO from three levels: the substantive obligations and disciplines imposed by various trade agreements; the procedural mechanisms by which disputes are resolved and decisions are taken; and the philosophical outlook of the major participants to both real and perceived areas of conflict. At the same time, the WTO shall prepare a list including all kinds of environmental laws, policies, and measures of each country and international community, analyses their impacts on international trade, and study coordination and contradiction between them and relevant provisions of the WTO law, and then, try to negotiate a specialize agreement which we can call it the Agreement on Trade and Environment (ATE). This method is, within the framework of multilateral trading system, a way greening the WTO law in the most thorough form and with the largest dynamics, and also a way facing with the largest obstructions.
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