环境与贸易
ENVIRONMENT AND TRADE
张悦欣
【摘要】在WTO的体系下，环境政策应该扮演怎么一个角色呢？WTO是否破坏了多边环境协议呢？WTO与区域或多边环境协议的关系是怎么的呢？作者将要主要讨论上面的几个问题。
【全文】
I. INTRODUCTION
The global GDP increase six-fold over last 50 years with the development of information and communication technology, the reducing of trade barriers and the reducing barriers of foreign investment. At the same time, the environment degradation is serious obviously. For instance, the global warming problem principally bases on the greenhouse gas emissions rising, which due to the reliance of fossil fuel. Since 1971, global energy use has increased nearly 70 percent. Another example is depletion of the ozone layer. If people want to make the ozone layer return to normal levels, it will take 50 years. As people know, the reason of ozone-depleting is the trade in CFCs and other ozone-depletion substances. Of course in environmental problems, there are numerous examples, such as acid rain due to sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions, water shortage, deforestation, etc. From above examples, degrading of global environment is impacted by the increasing of global economy and trade. Furthermore, many reports and information show the sustainability of economic growth has influenced natural resources, specially, the non-renewable resources. Does it mean human beings must sacrifice the environment for the economy increase? The answer should be no without doubt.
Thereof, people are giving more attention to the environmental issues. Meanwhile, both developing and developed countries and international organizations lay down rules about it.
Whether the domestic environmental policies or the related provisions of international agreements, they provided protections for the poor environment in some degree. This paper will argue that the effect of environmental policies in WTO system; as a part of international agreements, provisions of WTO promotes or undermine other MEAs; and the relationship between the WTO agreements and REAs and MEAs.
II. ROLE OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES IN WTO SYSTEMT
A. Background of Environmental Polices in WTO System
People had not argued environment initially, when the international trade system reconstructed before 50 years, and the GATT 1947 was established. There just was an exception clause of GATT 1947 about environment, which was Article XX—General Exceptions.
Until the beginning of the seventies, the contracting parties of GATT realized the environment problems influenced their trades and economic growth, the Group on Environmental Measures and International Trade was set up in 1971. At the end of the Uruguay Round, at the Marrakesh Ministerial Conference, the CTE was set up, which acted in two roles, one hand is “should not be contradictory to safeguard the multilateral trading system” , the other is “the protection of the environment and promotion of sustainable development” ; even so, until now, there are no specific agreement in GATT 1994 yet, nevertheless, in other words, environmental provisions have been embodied in different parts of WTO system.
